This text is part of the special Le Petit D
With Christmas just a few weeks away, here are three reading ideas that are as diverse as they are stimulating.
A cheese for Santa Claus
In a big house lives alone a little mouse. On Christmas Eve, he had the idea of offering a piece of cheese to Santa Claus, “the kind of cheese that makes angels want to sing!” She gets ready, brushes her teeth and meets Santa Claus, who makes her his tour companion. Written in 1966 and republished here by Albin Michel, Santa, Santa’s Mouse carries with grace and candor all the magic surrounding this annual celebration. There is first the generous soul of the heroine, then this way that Michael Brown has to tell at the height of a mouse. At the top, this cheese wrapped in “chewing-gum paper”. The text also takes on its full meaning in the expressive illustrations of Elfrieda De Witt, a meticulous line bursting with details such as this can of sardines serving as a bed for Santa. An album to (re)discover while waiting for the great night of Christmas.
Santa, Santa’s Mouse
★★★ 1/2
Michael Brown and Elfrieda De Witt, Albin Michel, Paris, 2022, 40 pages. 3 years and over.
play with the tongue
In this little hardcover with great possibilities, Nicolette Humbert has fun playing with language, highlighting its subtleties and tricks, while offering an art lesson to readers. Lighthouse or water lily? Horn or glasswort? Little wood or peas? she says here and there throughout the album. Each of these questions is accompanied by a double page on which a visual allows you to discover the universes suggested in the text. Photographs of the author rub shoulders with paintings by Bruegel, Timoléon Lobrichon or other paintings taken from advertisements. References that we find gathered at the end of the album. Suitable for small handcuffs, Peach or butt? ensures interaction with readers who will let themselves be carried away by the sounds that open up unique universes.
Peach or butt?
★★★ 1/2
Nicolette Humbert, Joy of reading, Geneva, 2022, 18 pages. 3-6 years old.
mythical forest
At the edge of a forest that is said to be haunted – and from which many have never returned – flows a river on which Leina, the only boatwoman in the area, transports passengers who nevertheless want to venture into the woods. One evening, while waiting for her suitor to return, she sees a lantern shining in the dark. She rushes and meets a toad there, Sir Bombifrons, lord of the Amanites. The visit to his lair, comprising 19 rooms, including one forbidden, allows him to shed light on the disappearances. winking at Blue Beard, the story transports the reader to a marvelous universe where the transgression of prohibitions and courage make it possible to restore the order of things. The forest, a place as mythical as it is a fetish for the authors of Wolf talisman, is meticulously directed by Julie Sarda. His paintings, intriguing and surreal, are full of details that contribute to the enigmatic effect of the whole.
Leina and the Lord of the Amanites
★★★★
Text by Myriam Dahman and Nicolas Digard, illustrated by Julia Sarda, Gallimard, Paris, 2022, 48 pages. 9 years and over.