Changing Moon: Book 1

Alta Donna #1

by Mathieu Mariolle, MiniKim (Illustrations)

In Alta Donna, the weather is great, the sunsets are super, and the stars twinkle brightly. Perfect, right? No! It's super boring. Nothing real ever happens. Everybody says I spend too much time daydreaming in my own little world. At least my dreams are more interesting than Alta Donna. But what if Alta Donna is hiding a secret? The two new kids in town are up to something. No one could be as good a baseball player as Damiano, and no one could be as charming as In�s. The moment they arrived, life in Alta Donna stopped being perfect and started getting weird. Who are they really?

I always say, if you need a puzzle solved, look for someone with a BIG imagination. And that's me. Nola.

-- "Journal"

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Mystery, Comics, Humor, Friendship

136 pages, ebook

Published August 1, 2010

Reviews

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for the story or the characters at all. Not hate, just a deep and abiding disinterest. But what a pretty book to look at! What I'm responding to most strongly is the beautiful coloring work by Pop. It's a gorgeously soft palette, and the whole book is saturated in wonderful color. I loved looking at it. Reading it, on the other hand... Not so much.

[Madeleine]

Brooo this was one of my favorite books as a kid and I just found out it was originally in French ??

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

The French. What is it they put in the water over there? French people (and Belgians) can DRAW. Minikim takes the best energetic manga style and superimposes it onto meticulously-drawn settings that incorporate believable volumes, texture, and architecture. Good old-fashioned draftsmanship plus sweeping, pretty, cool-looking characters. NICE.

And then this art was colored to within an inch of its life by a woman who goes by Pop. The lines are colored, skies are colored and clouded, highlights and shadows are deftly applied, and the color palette is delectable. Teals, pinks, plum, lovely oranges from burnt to sherbet - it's like a candy shop you'd never want to leave, not too sweet.

My library has this shelved as juvenile, but it's been nominated as a Best Graphic Novel in the Cybils Awards in the Teen category, which might make more sense, given the vocabulary and the persistent loneliness experienced by Nola as she is consistently ignored by her mom.

The story is maybe a trifle scattered, but this is the first in a series after all, and is translated to boot. Quite nice.

[Eimear · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last time I read this I was 9-12 years old probably

Was absolutely obsessed with this one - I read it cover to cover and back again since I didn’t have the next two in the series

This is peak literature

[Giovanni Gelati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changing Moon is not just French but also a YA graphic Novel at that. I have posted on YA before but not on anything French. Yes, I admit to being that Giovanni Gelati, the one that put up the Monty Python You Tube video entitled ”Taunting The French”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbW.... Oops there it is again, my bad. Seriously, this is an excellent graphic novel. I want to give an insight into the plotline and also a little something about the author:
“"In Alta Donna, the weather is great, the sunsets are super, and the stars twinkle brightly. Perfect, right? No! It's super boring. Nothing real ever happens. Everybody says I spend too much time daydreaming in my own little world. At least my dreams are more interesting than Alta Donna.
But what if Alta Donna is hiding a secret? The two new kids in town are up to something. No one could be as good a baseball player as Damiano, and no one could be as charming as Inés. The moment they arrived, life in Alta Donna stopped being perfect and started getting weird. Who are they really?
I always say, if you need a puzzle solved, look for someone with a BIG imagination. And that's me. Nola.”
And now the author:” Mathieu Mariolle was born in 1978 in Paris, France. After studying to be a translator, he returned to his childhood dream of writing books. He had been passionate about graphic novels ever since his father gave him a copy of the long-running Wild West comic book series Blueberry when he was five years old. His graphic novels include the series Pixie (with art by Aurore), published by Delcourt in French and TokyoPop in English. He blogs at petitsbiscuits.blogspot.com.”
The entire graphic novel for me was like a breath of fresh air. The artwork, although not usually my cup of tea really was a nice marriage with the dialogue and age group, it was definitely fun. Recently I have been on a quest to find graphic novels that are different and out of my comfort zone. The search hasn’t been difficult and I am amazed at the amount of quality work being done today. Changing Moon is a fine example of what a graphic novel should look like, feel like, and read like when all the right elements are placed together and fit like a glove.
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[Mery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nola adalah gadis kecil yang kesepian. Dia tinggal bersama ibunya, yang selalu bekerja tanpa pernah punya waktu untuk bersama Nola.
Hidup Nola selalu dalam keadaan yang membosankan.
Setiap hari bangun pagi, sekolah, dan pulang sekolah sendirian di rumah. Kota tempat dia tinggal juga sangat membosankan. Tidak ada apa-apa selain pemandangan laut nan indah.

Tapi suatu hari Nola kenalan sama cowok di kelas matematika, namanya Damiano. Dan ada sesuatu yang misterius dari Damiano. Terlebih keadaan keluarga Damiano yang mencurigakan. Demi mengatasi rasa bosannya, Nola pun mencoba mengorek-ngorek tentang Damiano dan kakaknya Inez.

Seiring berjalannya waktu, Nola semakin menyukai Damiano dan menganggapnya teman. Sering bersama-sama dengannya.Namun ada yang misterius yang membuntuti Damiano dan kakaknya.

Berhasilkah Nola mengungkap siapa Damiano? :P



Jujur saja, pertama kali lihat covernya sangat amat tertarik. Karena lucu kartunnya.

Ternyata isinya emang lucu. Grafik novelnya penuh warna. Gambar-gambarnya begitu hidup. Apalagi pas ngegambar badai. ishhh keren.

Si Nola ini juga lucu banget. sering cembetut. bikin gemes aja. nih lihat deh mukanya kalo lagi cembetut.




lucu kan >.<

[Andrea Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time I checked this out from the library and I'm not sure why I didn't read it the first time. Enjoyed the artwork and trying to figure out what was going on. My favorite part was the behind the scenes at the end :) Will grab the next two books next week!

[ag :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so captivating and fun! I could not put it down once I started reading it 😂 The characters were absolutely amazing! (I loved Nola especially) The art was so beautiful too! I would just stare at it because it looked stunning!! I’m not exactly sure on the date that I read this book, but I took a close guess!💛

[natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like the art style so much!! i take a lot of inspiration from this book, and it is very aesthetically pleasing! but if you are looking for something to actually read and enjoy, this book is alright.

[Erica Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorable. I love the style of French graphic novels.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: This is a Cybils '10 nominee and required reading for me as a graphic novels panelist.

Nola is a typical middle schooler, not popular, a daydreamer, who is consistently late for school. She's a latch key kid who lives with her mom, who is career driven and hardly ever at home with Nola; while her dad is busy with a new family and brings her gifts to make up for never seeing her. Nola's town, Alta Donna, is a slow boring place where nothing happens and Nola's life is mostly spent alone when not with her best friend, two years older than her and an outcast herself. But two new kids come to school and Nola picks up right away that something is not quite right about them. Then when she hears the brother and sister mysteriously arguing in the hall one day she determines to find out what it is that makes Damiano so agile and such a good baseball player and why Ines is able to charm anyone into getting anything she wants.

It's been a few days now since I've read this and it is lingering in my mind. My enjoyment of it is more the longer I think of it. This book is the first in a trilogy with it's purpose obviously a set up for the rest of the series whose plot barely gets off the ground here in Book 1. Instead the characters are all introduced and well portrayed; Nola is fully developed and a real, flawed character that the reader cares for. All the plot points are put in motion in this book, and near the end the science fiction theme is put into play, we get some reveals and the book ends with the certainty that things will never be boring for Nola again. Book 2 in the series is anxiously on my mind. All 3 books have been published.

The art is decidedly French and yet also interestingly, manga. I've read French comics before but this is the first French manga I've come across. There are plenty of typical manga elements used including little chibi scenes and yet there are distinct French elements combined which makes for an interesting graphic and artistic style which is very pleasing and appealed to me on an aesthetic level that normal Japanese manga does not.

re-read Sept. 10, 2010 - My purpose in re-reading is that I am finally going to read the other two books in the trilogy and I read this again to refresh my memory and read all 3 books together. I think I probably enjoyed this even more the second time around as I probably would have given it a rating of 5 this time instead of the 4 from last time. It has not been quite a year since my first read and review.

[GRPLTeens Grand Rapids Public Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appeal Characteristics: visualizations, plot development, adventure, fun, high school life

This is by a French comic team! i really liked exploring this world. The characters were fun and the plot unravelled a little bit at a time. I’m still not quite sure what Nola’s friends or who Nola’s friends are and I wouldn’t mind exploring further if other issues are released. I liked the bright almost cheery tone the comic has...I feel that I enjoyed spending time reading it...I’m not sure if I was crazy about it though! I’m not sure what it was missing... I mean it had all the ingredients... I just felt that besides admiring the art and following the storyline...that it was “okay.” I think just because of the high volume of novels I read...this one doesn’t “jump” right out at me.

Stylistically, the colors were a lovely pastel shade and just bright and shining. I felt that since in you are “in Nola’s” world...you really are seeing or viewing the world through her eyes. I might be stretching here, but I felt the team really nailed it as you are immersed in Nola’s “plain, ordinary if albeit a bit boring life.” The story set-up was sorta predictable and a bit different...I feel that they are drawing out exactly what the different mysteries and questions are... It’s almost as if its this tricky balance of you get the ‘sneak peek’ that they’re different, but you have to wait until Nola finds out “exactly” how different they are. Being an avid sci-fi reader and watcher...I’m mulling over all possibilities from aliens to alternate universe people. Haha. So you know there could be hundreds of possibilities of what exactly Nola’s friends are...but the point being is the translation from English to French (like any other comic) was understandable and relatable. I really liked Nola’s personality and her interaction with her surroundings. It was a cute little adventure into her world...and it was quite literally her world!

I was most fascinated with how team designed the book. They have a short spread about how Nola’s World was developed. You are let inside their art studio as they show you how they design, write, and color the Nola's strips. it’s always fascinating going behind the scenes of how a graphic novel is designed.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is by a French comic team! i really liked exploring this world. The characters were fun and the plot unravelled a little bit at a time. I’m still not quite sure what Nola’s friends or who Nola’s friends are and I wouldn’t mind exploring further if other issues are released. I liked the bright almost cheery tone the comic has...I feel that I enjoyed spending time reading it...I’m not sure if I was crazy about it though! I’m not sure what it was missing... I mean it had all the ingredients... I just felt that besides admiring the art and following the storyline...that it was “okay.” I think just because of the high volume of novels I read...this one doesn’t “jump” right out at me.

Stylistically, the colors were a lovely pastel shade and just bright and shining. I felt that since in you are “in Nola’s” world...you really are seeing or viewing the world through her eyes. I might be stretching here, but I felt the team really nailed it as you are immersed in Nola’s “plain, ordinary if albeit a bit boring life.” The story set-up was sorta predictable and a bit different...I feel that they are drawing out exactly what the different mysteries and questions are... It’s almost as if its this tricky balance of you get the ‘sneak peek’ that they’re different, but you have to wait until Nola finds out “exactly” how different they are. Being an avid sci-fi reader and watcher...I’m mulling over all possibilities from aliens to alternate universe people. Haha. So you know there could be hundreds of possibilities of what exactly Nola’s friends are...but the point being is the translation from English to French (like any other comic) was understandable and relatablel. I really liked Nola’s personality and her interaction with her surroundings. It was a cute little adventure into her world...and it was quite literally her world!

I was most fascinated with how team designed the book. They have a short spread about how Nola’s World was developed. You are let inside their art studio as they show you how they design, write, and color the Nolas strips. it’s always fascinating going behind the scenes of how a graphic novel is designed.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very rarely review graphic novels for the same reason I don't like to analyze poetry. I frustrate myself trying to decode the "correct" meaning, and I end up ruining any enjoyment I got out of the book. But every now and then I feel compelled to update myself on what's in my library's graphic novel collection, and that is how I stumbled upon Nola's Worlds #1: Changing Moon.

Nola Stein is an adorable pink-haired tween whose life is completely and utterly boring. On top of being bored, she is also chronically late to school and pretty disorganized and careless with her schoolwork. Her single mother is also frequently absent, leaving Nola to fend for herself.

Things become more exciting, however, when Nola befriends Damiano, and begins to realize that he and his sister, Ines may not be like all the other students at her school. Her friend Pumpkin thinks she's just fascinated with them, but Nola knows there is something more. And the reader comes to know the same, as we see the two siblings pursued by robot-like characters throughout the panels of the final pages of the book.

This is a really interesting story. It begins in the real world, but slowly evolves into a fantasy story, culminating in a surprising and confusing ending that hints at events to come in the rest of the series. I love the bright, fun illustrations, and I liked rooting for Nola, who is a definite underdog. I also really enjoyed the variations in layout from page to page. Sometimes a panel takes up an entire page; other times, one image is divided into multiple panels. The result is a shifting perspective that changes based on what's happening in the scene. I would definitely like to read the next book to see if it can shed some light on what the ending of the story actually means. I would recommend this book to fans of Amelia Rules, Fashion Kitty, and other girl-positive, feminine graphic novels.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Graphic/Comic and I read it for Book Riots 2017 Read Harder Challenge. THANK YOU BOOK RIOT!! for encouraging me to read outside my comfort zone. I found this storyline, appropriate for ages 8-18, to be charming. It brought back memories of being a preteen in a town where nothing ever happens, and I found Nola to be a curious and funny character. My absolute favorite thing about reading this though, were the illustrations. The pictures of Nolas world were full of cute little surprises (those snails!)and the color palette used was really beautiful: soft yellows and corals, pastel pinks and purples, and turquoise. My eyes were happy! The ending left a few questions, but it was a quick enjoyable read and I will definitely be checking in on the other two stories in this series.

[Kristen Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot: Nola's world and life is perfect, so when two students start at her school that are a little out of the ordinary, she can't help but try to find out what their secret is. I loved the way the Nola searched after the two, but that we also get to see it from their side. The story picks up and there's more mystery added to where the two kids came from along with a sinister force. I love that the book ends with a bit of a realization on Nola's party along with the bad guys.

Characters: I fell in love with Nola, an energetic girl who is more perceptive than others give her credit for. She's a bit over the top and I love the way she was designed to stand out in the panels. Nola has a lot of freedom because of her single mother who is often working or out with friends. It gives her the freedom to explore the possibility of the secret of the two new students.

Graphics: I love the design. It's so cute and a different kind from what I'm used to. I love that this was a French team that was designing and writing the series. Definitely gives a different twist to the graphic novel.

Final Verdict: A fun graphic novel that is great for upper elementary or middle grade ages. I will definitely be reading on in the series to see what will happen next!

Read more reviews at The Book Monsters

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adoring this cover. If I saw this at the bookstore, it would come home with me. It’s just too cute and it looks very entertaining. And let me tell you it was!

Nola is a fun character She has a great imagination and a best friend called Pumpkin. How awesome is that name? Nora makes these comments that are just pretty funny, and they make the story more fun to read. She also has this vivid imagination and takes action immediately.

The plot is fun and has a mystery feel to it. We don’t get the answers of who Damiano and his sister Ines are, but we do get a hint and then it’s pretty obvious. But you never know for sure until the second book.

A lot of younger readers will adore this story. The illustrations that are done by Pop are so colourful and so detailed. I like it. Scrap that, I adore it. It looks like a candy store.

What I also really liked is that at the last pages of this book there is “The Behinds the Scenes”. That is so cool. It’s a sort of introduction to the people who made Nola’s Worlds.

Changing Moon is an excellent book to begin a series and I am looking forward reading number 2.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nola lives a seaside town that is the epitome of perfection. Too bad it's the most boring thing ever. When the school librarian has an accident, Nola gets sucked in b/c she is sure the two new kids Damiano and Ines have something to do with it. She tries to follow them around but ends up making friends with them. She is still very aware that they are hiding a secret though because there is waaay more to the two of them then meets the eye.

Nola is adorable but her age was a little tough to figure out. Some illustrations and actions make her come across as very young and others put her straight in the teenager camp. I loved her best friend Pumpkin and I'm hoping she will play a bigger part in future stories. There were definitely a lot of unanswered questions in this volume and the end was teeny bit cliff hangery.

I love the art style. Alta Donna is just as beautiful as it's supposed to be. The bright colors and anime happy drawing style definitely serve as a reminder about how idyllic the setting is and keep the mystery from becoming to heavy handed. How Nola is drawn fits her personality perfectly.

[Emily "The Bookworm" Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art style for this book was very cute, and the colors were vibrant! For the storyline, it was difficult to tell what was going on for most of the book, haha. Maybe I should give it a reread, we'll see if I end up doing so!

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, first the good things: the drawings and colours are wonderful; the author does a great job of building the suspense; love the best friend (pumpkin). Now, the not so good things: the story was originally written in French, and you can tell (the dialogue is a little bit jumbled, so even if I hadn't read that it was translated before I started, it would have been obvious); though there is suspense, I didn't feel that there was enough resolution by the end to make me want to pick up the next one, and there were too many threads; my favourite character got dropped for newer, cooler friends. Surprising, really, since the protagonist is so often dropped by her mom, that she would turn around and drop the one who's always stood by her. I get that this is sometimes how this goes, and I'm assuming that I care more because I like the character, but it got under my skin.

Now, the next book is in the house, so I'll probably end up reading it someday soon. Let's see if they resolved their weaknesses by the next book...

[Colleen AF · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2! Book 2 NOW! I devoured this after I saw it at BEA. One of my favorite french imports ever to grace our lovely side of the publishing world, and if I hadn't just told you it was a french import you probably wouldn't have guessed! It's so perfectly Tween, from the super stylized character designs to the bubblegum palette all along with a super funny and intriguing storyline. It's brilliant. I'm personally in love with the wobbly giant legs, drawn in such a way I know exactly how they would walk and exacly how they are feeling. It's not everyday you come across a drawing where you can read a characters emotions so well through just their feet. Page 101: can I PLEASE have a poster of this for my wall?! This volume both metaphorically and literally ends on a rollercoaster. It's a trilogy so if the second one is half as good as the first, I'm gonna be begging for book 3 soon enough!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

12-year-old Nola spends her days trying to stay awake in school, hanging with her best friend Pumpkin, and looking for a little attention from her workaholic mother. Nothing happens in the outwardly perfect town of Alta Donna, and Nola is bored senseless... until Damiano and his sister Ines move to town and strange things start happening. The school librarian has a mysterious accident, Ines seems to be able to bend people to her will, rain clouds move in on previously blue skies, and two strange creatures seem to be trying to kidnap Damiano and Ines. While beautiful artwork will draw in tween anime fans, the story line and dialog are choppy, and the purpose of this first installment seems to be only to set the stage for forthcoming installments. If volumes 2 and 3, which have been published, can get the story moving a little more quickly and evenly, this is a promising series.

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boh, l'avevo comprato attirata dai colori della copertina...

Ma non mi ha detto assolutamente nulla! Si tratta del primo volume di una serie di tre e ancora non si è svelato chi siano Damiano e Ines. L'han tirata talmente lunga che non hanno avuto lo spazio per le spiegazioni!! È una cosa che non sopporto!

C'è Nola che odia la scuola e si sveglia tardi. Ha una mamma che pensa soltanto al lavoro e una migliore amica che tra poco andrà al liceo. Poi arrivano Damiano e Ines e catturano il suo interesse. Ines sembra in grado di convincere la gente a fare quello che vuole lei; Damiano sembra avere delle doti fisiche eccezionali. Ci sono poi due creature che li seguono. Ma non si sa chi siano, donde vengano e cosa vogliano dai due "fratelli"...

I disegni sono molto morbidi e i colori sono favolosi, questo bisogna dirlo.

Vedrò cosa fare della serie...

[Raina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really sure why I finished this. Ok, maybe because the art is pretty dang cool, and I wanted to see as much of it as there was. But I didn't connect with this really at all.

There's some kind of mystery with a girl on another planet who suspects two other kids of being aliens or something. And there are monkey-like creatures following the two kids around that are serving some big boss.

Yeah, I didn't really get it either.

Some of that I've gotta put on the translation - it feels very literal, and the kids do not talk anything like kids.

Oh, and besides a very negative mother-daughter relationship, this should really be a J.

Meh.

The art could be four stars, but get a new translator, please! And maybe a new writer too.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface this looks like your normal teenage slice-of-life story, but it actually has a fantasy element mixed in. Nola finds herself mixed up with these two as-of-yet unidentified beings when her reality is already rough enough:, her parents are divorced, her mom always at work, her friend is two grades ahead of her, she essentially feels alone. Already in volume one, Nola shows great potential for growth. As a whole this is a lighthearted story full of lessons, as for the humour, it is mostly visual. The style is bright and colourful, and suits all the different story elements very well; it is a graphic novel with manga inspired attributes.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not that bad, really. It's just that it suffers from the old problem of being the first in a series. In this book a girl notices that two of the new students in her class are . . . different. Befriending the both of them (they claim to be siblings) she discovers that they have abilities far and beyond anyone else's. What's more, they seem to be chased by something, and now Nola's being watched as well. Beautiful colors (extreme Candyland hues) and a fun story, but it leaves too much in the balance by the end. - B

[Wandering Librarians · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, you can tell it's got plans for more depth and development. The entire thing was just a tease though. Nothing was really fleshed out, you just got the surface view of the aspects of the story. Yet, SO INTRIGUED! Who are Damiano and Ines? What do they do? Who is the mysterious man trying to get them and why does he have weird doll minions? Will Nola's mother get a clue and actually become involved with her daughter instead of being an extreme absentee mother? The artwork is super fun, and I'm totally reading the next couple books. Awesome.

[Emilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very witty, and very relatable. Being an adolescent tween, i completely understand Nola's feelings towards the world, her parents, her friends, and most of all, Damiano. Young love is what it's called. This is something that i get because it surrounds me all day - young couples out and about, their naive minds thinking hard. I get that because I am one of them, too. Nola is like a 50% computerized 50% graphic novel version of me, and that was why I enjoyed the book so much. Too bad i read it in one day!!

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nola lives in a perfect, pastel-colored town where nothing ever happens until two odd new kids start at her school. The book is translated from the French and it's hard to put my finger on what makes it different but the sensibility is not quite U.S. and not quite Japanese, though there are elements of girly-manga in the artwork. I like Nola but I wanted to slap her neglectful, workaholic mother and absent father; what is wrong with parents in kid’s books?

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

It makes me sad to see low reviews of this series. I read it in middle school, I'm now 24 and still pick it up to just live in the beautiful world. I even named my ferret after Nola. He was a boy, so I called him Nolan. It was also the only book that he chewed on 😆 he never chewed on anything, so I loved that he did. I promise it's worth your time. It's so beautiful and just an all over cute read.