Little by Little You Can Change the World

An inspiring graphic novel about how one person can use their gifts to affect change, Little By Little You Can Change the World by Sonya Ballantyne, Rhael McGregor and Toben Racicot is the story of Michael Redhead Champagne and how he uses his voice to create change.

Michael lived with the Champagnes as a child, first as a foster child and later adopted by the family. The Champagnes fostered 300 children and adopted two. Through the kindness of many people in his life, Michael realized he had a gift and that gift was his voice. When he used his voice, he noticed he could make people think and question, he could be a changemaker. This beautiful graphic novel is his story and a story that will inspire future agents of change.

Sonya Ballantyne creates a beautiful narrative throughout, showing Michael’s struggles as a young child and his strong feelings of justice and right from wrong. It’s such a gentle story that leaves room for readers, especially those who may be experiencing the same feelings and circumstances as Michael. It’s a story that can show adult readers the importance of fostering the gifts we see in young people and a story that can show young people just how powerful their gifts can be. How their gifts, no matter how small, can help their communities.

The art by Rhael McGregor and lettering by Toben Racicot is warm and welcoming. This graphic novel has very little text so the illustrations do a lot of the heavy lifting. I love the colour palette, heavy on the cooler colours of the colour wheel and I love how unique the panels are throughout the book. The panels vary from page to page in size and shape while also incorporating splashes throughout to provide a lot of depth to this beautiful work of art.