Winner of the 2020 Bologna Ragazzi Award COMIC category!
Winner of the Grand Prize in the Children's Literature Category at the 2020 Angoulême Comics Festival

“The weather was great and the place was lovely, but the picnic with my new family was just boring.
So Joe decides to take a walk in the nearby forest.
She stumbles into an enchanting world filled with happy animals and the color pink.
There, the dictator cat emperor's birthday party was being held.
“A unique storyteller, Camille Jourdy creates a pink universe with vibrant, beautiful illustrations and warm watercolors, creating a wonderful experience for Jo and her readers.”
- Comments from the Ragazzi Award Selection Committee -

Everyone has a secret space that only they know about when they were young.
I found myself feeling surprisingly at ease when I snuck in there when no one was paying attention to me.
The burdensome expectations that have been directed at me from outside and the disappointed looks when I couldn't meet them, the strange and unreasonable reality that I have to pretend not to understand even though I don't understand at all, my stupid and useless siblings, and my parents and adults who somehow only take their side... When I turn my back on all of this world of mine and close the door, a completely different world appears inside where I can think only of and protect myself.
In this world, I can be anything.
From superheroes to beautiful princesses, from the top student in the school to the most popular star in our school, nothing is impossible.
Not only that, but everything you want is spread out before your eyes.
Limited edition goods from your favorite idol singer are a given, but there are also cool supercars and luxury high heels that you definitely want to own when you grow up.
In my world, the only protagonist is, of course, ‘me’.


However, the main character of this book, 'Joe', gradually learns that there is no easy philosophy like 'do as I please' in the adventure of the pink world that he was so excited about at first.
At first, I hated my divorced parents and was annoyed by my new sisters who were forced to become my sisters because of my remarried father, so I thought that this wonderful world I had come to live in would be completely different from my boring reality.
An adventure filled with cute and magical fairies, a fox named Maurice with a cream puff on his head, a one-eyed crocodile, and a stylish Bichon Frise with rainbow shoes on his four paws... I thought it would be a series of fun and wonder.
But the reality of this world was sadly similar to the reality that 'Joe' belonged to.
There is a dictator cat who tries to brighten up his birthday party by trapping the colorful pony 'Vermeille' who runs freely in the field, and there is a group of foxes called Maurice who constantly fight against danger to save his friends who have been captured by him, and above all, the conflicts and reconciliations that arise in the process, and the arduous journey, finally make the young girl 'Jo' vent her anger.

'I'm sick of this adventure!'

As everyone in the pink Vermeille Forest returns to their places, Joe, watching the late afternoon sunset from the returning carriage, suddenly thinks.
I guess I should go home now.
And when I return the way I came, cut through the bushes, and reach the family's camper van again, I see that they have not changed since I left.
As they prepare dinner and call Joe, Joe now turns his back and reveals his new self instead of the one he had hidden in the bushes.
Starting by waving to my family.


In the west, in the country of Vermeille,

Camille Jourdi sends her heroine to the other side of the tunnel.
Dive into a colorful and passionate 160-page adventure!
- Daily newspaper Liberation

This book is bright pink.
The soft pink hue that spreads from the cover is visualized as a fantastical light in the book's inside pages, in Vermeil's appearance, and in Joe's adventures.
It's bright pink...
Isn't this the color that young girls of Jo's age would love the most? Despite the myriad of colors available, the artist expresses them with a natural touch, without being at all outdated.
These diverse colors bring to life a character that could otherwise become ordinary.
Pompon's six boots, Vermeil's feathers, and even Maurice's cream-filled hat come to life in bright colors.

They are new mothers and new sisters from divorced families.
It's a huge cliché, but isn't the reality that's the hardest, most painful, and most forgotten for a little girl not her perfect dictation score or her friend next door who acts all smart and good with her dolls, but the fact that her parents are separated?

In fact, Jo may be the youngest sister who is a burden to her new sisters.
When the older sister, absorbed in her phone, mutters, "Joe hates us," or when the father sighs, "Joe is giving us such a hard time these days," it is an expression of the burdensome feelings toward Joe, who is unable to integrate into the new family and disappears into the forest at the campsite.
The loss Joe feels due to his mother's absence will be just as great as the difficulties his family will face in dealing with him.


The two 'fake' step-sisters who said Joe was terrible, 'Joe who hates us, Joe who is annoying and clingy,' are just teenage girls whining.
The environmental change due to their mother's remarriage must have been difficult for those adolescent girls.
The new mother, who is a 'witch' in Joe's eyes, does not just ignore the complaints of her daughters who badmouth Joe.
She was also the one who most warmly welcomed Joe when he returned.
Dad, more than anyone else, would have spared no effort in preparing for camping for Joe.


Joe just hates this situation and misses his mom.
This worried and discontented girl eventually leaves home, leaving behind her family's efforts.
New friends appear in every new space Joe enters.
Joe is so much fun to meet them.
Who knew he was such an accommodating kid!

The first word I said when I saw the elephant cliffs of Etretat on the Normandy coast was 'Merveille'.
The French word 'merveille' means something wonderful, admirable, mysterious, and beautiful.
In France, Wonderland, the fantasy land that Alice fell into through the rabbit hole, is called 'the land of Merveilles'.

The colorful little ponies, the Vermeilles, are the most mysterious and merveilleous creatures in the forest.
The ethereal Vermeil, who loses her light when confined and hates being forced...
I wonder if I, driven by the arduousness of life and forced to do something, am losing my light, if I am living a life where the imaginary friends in my heart are disappearing one by one...
It's as if our lives, having forgotten the adventure, are like watching an awkward performance by Vermeille, caught and forced to do.


The girl says we can play again tomorrow.
is it so..
The games we play with our childhood friends never end.
As long as our lives are lived, everywhere and at all times is play.
If you go on a picnic to a place of dreams, hope, and adventure, Vermeille will definitely be there.
If you see the dazzling colors of Vermeil, you will exclaim like this.
Wow, Merveille!

From the translator