author / illustrator: Tess Alexandre / Camille Deschiens
ages: 15+
92 pages
16 x 22 cm
softcover
Les Éditions des Éléphants
Love(s)
There is more than one way to love… A collection of short stories exploring love, desire and self- acceptance.
These love stories, are free of labels in order to show the powerful and unique feeling that is love. This book for teenagers is a plea for love and acceptance of oneself and others in a society where it is still difficult to be yourself. These gentle and tender texts are perfectly illustrated by Camille Deschiens’ coloured pencil drawings.- Shortlisted for the 2022 Prix cendres (French award for debut authors of teen and YA fiction)
IN THE MEDIA
"Love(s) are much more than a matter of gender, as Tess Alexandre rightly reminds us in her novel, illustrated in soft pastels by Camille Deschiens. This book is set to become a reference for its intelligence and subtletly. The author takes us through a number of situations, the most complicated of which are not necessarily the ones we think of. Whether it's Imane, plagued by self-doubt and suddenly aware that loving Albane also means freeing herself from the gaze of others. Or Lise, who loves Thélio until the day Thélio meets Léon.... As for Cléo, she feels "the sadness that crushes, the laziness that bogs her down" but not the desire... A gallery of portraits depicting the complexity of the feeling of love." - La libre Belgique
"Imane. Lise. Gaël. Cléo. Fatia. Maä. Marco. Nine. Safia. Rebecca. Joshua. Solal. Jo. 13 characters who have just fallen in love, discover feelings, desire, discover themselves and the transformative power of love. They have doubts, they ask themselves questions because their love is not what they expected, not what society expected. But there is always this delight.
A magnificent book with short texts, like so many poetic and dizzying snapshots of love. Here, love is plural and goes beyond prejudice, and that's infinitely beautiful. The texts are extremely gentle, and do a marvellous job of putting into words what goes through us when feelings are born, when we're all turned upside down and know that after that, we'll never be the same again. As for the illustrations, they too are infinitely beautiful, and serve the story magnificently.
In short, this is a little gem that everyone (aged 15 and over) can get their hands on to explore love, desire and sexuality." - chroniquesculturelles.com