Review by Frank Plowright
Anuki is a young native American boy living at some indeterminate time before the 19th century. He has the curiosity and temperament of his age, and has been the star of ten graphic novels to date, this being the first of them, as of 2023 on its eighth printing. Don’t be put off by the French title, which translates as The Chicken War, as this, and indeed the following nine books, is a wordless comic.
We first see Anuki leaving his tent, and follow him through a somewhat turbulent day, many of his misfortunes of his own making. Initially drawn by Stéphane Sénégas as a gloriously slouching specimen, he’s pulled through a range of emotions as the day progresses. Because this is without words and aimed at young children, Sénégas exaggerates emotion and reactions, and his Anuki goes through a wonderful range of them. The various animals Anuki meets are also greatly expressive, which is some achievement when it comes to the scrawny chickens of the title. In addition to avoiding Anuki there’s a fox constantly on their trail.
There’s a war because Fréderic Maupaumé has Anuki take delight in first knocking a family of chickens off a log bridge. Their means of revenge are slim, but they’re continually present at his subsequent troubles, from angering a bear to having the stones he throws at a totem pole bounce back and hit him instead.
The inventive plot and clear art make this book any youngster will enjoy, and with his adventures being such a success in France, why hasn’t an enterprising English language publisher picked them up?
