> The hens show their teeth
Hens have a notable advantage over other working classes: they are both their own tool and their own subject of work. They therefore have control over the means of production. In other words, if they go on an egg strike, the farmers who exploit them are very annoyed, and have little other solution than to accede to their demands. This is what Bertille and Balthazar do, who, faced with the ire of the doyenne of the birds, build a spacious and cozy henhouse. And won the omelette contest in stride. Everyone wins…just like in real life?
> A few golden rules
In the “Explain Me” collection, Nathan didactically explores themes of collective life: Rules for living together, Racism and intolerance, Protecting the Earth… In this opus, it is about universal rights. It explains that the desire (for new toys for example) is different from the need, and that these needs are protected by rights: access to care, to knowledge, to work, to justice, freedom of belief… It says that some countries do not guarantee the rights of their citizens, and that we are not all equal in the world. Simple, fair words, to open your eyes to the great laws that govern us.
> Hard fought
It’s a nice idea, and a nice execution. A chaptered book, which tells in simple words, in a sometimes elliptical way, of great peaceful protest movements: the Rosa Parks bus boycott, Gandhi’s “salt march”, the Liberian women’s movement for peace or Black Lives Matter again. The illustrations are superb, colorful and lively, punctuated by cut-outs in the pages. Enough to make you want to invent slogans.