Soap Lady

Renee French, The Soap Lady (Top Shelf, 2001) Renee French creates small, unassuming, quietly devastating graphic novels that have gotten far less exposure than they deserve. The Soap Lady, a cautionary tale about the hazards of xenophobia, is no different. Drawing inspiration from an exhibit at the Mutter Museum, French tells the story of a lady made of soap (as you might be able to guess from the title) who emerges from the water and befriends a young boy. Unfortunately, the boy's fellow villagers are not as fond of the soap lady as he is, with the expected results, but French doesn't let the narrative drown in despair at any point. Not that the narrative is the centerpiece of any Renee French release; her drawings command attention. It's possible to spend half an hour or more just staring at a French drawing, finding all the odd little details and appreciating the art for what it is. I am extremely fond of the work of Renee French, and The Soap Lady is just another example of why. ****

This is a very well-done, creative book that our granddaughter loved. Her second grade teacher read it to the class and they also enjoyed it. It's refreshing to see a nice new style without all the bright colors that are usually seen in children's books.

I was happy to see that Ms. French now has a children's book available, and was curious to see what it was about. The book had a surreal "feel" to it. It was in no way offensive or horror based,yet not like Disney and Barney(maybe 5-9 years of age would enjoy it best). While "counting bunnies" with my kids....I found that there was MUCH more to be seen in each drawing, as SO typical of French's in depth drawings. From the sheep fireflies, to the "clean" footsteps it was a delight to look for all of the humor in each page. I especially liked the Lost and Found posters. The main character of the Soap lady was not scary to my kids after I explained the real phenomonon to them....and she had a very "motherly" disposition which made her very endearing. The book was complete with a moral lesson of befriending EVERYONE even if they are different, and was good CLEAN reading. As always, Ms. French's drawings were the basis of the story and well worth every penny, beautiful illustrations. Published by Top Shelf Productions Inc. it is one book that does NOT need to be on the top shelf. Leave it out. Let everyone enjoy this delightful picture book.

This book is a pleasant surprise. As the works collected in Marbles in My Underpants illustrate, Renee French is very capable of producing stories that wonderfully capture the surrealism of childhood. However, unlike Marbles, this book is far more innocent and avoids her usual themes of sex and death, and manages to be delightful instead of depressing. That is because in this case instead of writing about childhood for an adult audience she has created a book for children that can also be enjoyed by adults.The Soap Lady is in the format of a hardcover children's book (large illustrations with minimal text) and contains some of her best artwork ever. The blue and white illustrations have a haziness and surrealistic atmosphere to them although they are in her usual cartoony style, but here the art's cuttiness does not have a disturbing undertone to it. The story itself is about a young boy who has the habit of getting himself muddy befriending a woman who is made entirely of soap. They have lots of fun playing together, creating artwork on trees, etc., until they are discovered by some nasty children who report their friendship to the adults (who of course don't want their kids playing with a freak). It has a bitter-sweet yet happy ending unlike most of French's works (which tend to be depressing). Overall, the book is a wonderful examination of friendship and tolerance, and the joys of imagination, not to mention cleanliness, and will have you longing for the days when you felt free to go outside and just roll in the grass.