“Charlie Chaplin, the child of cinema” with Brigitte Kernel

Charlie Chaplin, the child of cinema, by Brigitte Kernel, Flammarion jeunesse editions, is to be read from 8 years old.

Right now is available in replay, on france5, a great documentary: Charlie Chaplin, the genius of freedom, directed by Yves Jeuland. For her part, Brigitte Kernel also pays her a very beautiful tribute with this new book which evokes the childhood of Charlie Chaplin.

Brigitte Kernel’s story is focuses on Chaplin’s childhood, so too early to really approach the cinema to which he devoted his life, but it gives him a nice wink all the same, with an imagined encounter with the Lumière Brothers. These first years recounted in this novel are those of which the artist will speak in The Kid (1921, Chaplin’s first feature film).

The story begins in 1899, Charlie Chaplin is 10 years old and lives in London. His childhood is sad, he is tossed between a rather absent alcoholic father, and an adored mother, unfortunately ill and often confined. However, the young boy manages to sublimate his difficulties thanks to his precocious taste for comedy. A vocation that his music-hall artist parents passed on to him very early on.

Throughout the pages, Brigitte Kernel shows the incredible personality of Charlie Chaplin, who takes his apprenticeship as an actor very seriously. Gifted with a unique sense of observation and a genius for imitation, he will never stop loving making others laugh all his life!

“People, when you observe them carefully, they all have a funny side. That’s what you have to love about them: their little flaws, those that make them endearing. Well, I see things like that .I like people who aren’t pretentious and are moving in their little everyday details.”

Brigitte Kernel, “Charlie Chaplin, the child of cinema”

at franceinfo

Magic Peri, Flop pot! by Fabienne Blanchut and Illustrated by Ariane Delrieu, volume 3 of which, to be read from the age of 7, has just been published by Albin Michel jeunesse editions.

After having been producer-host of various literary programs on franceinter, Brigitte Kernel has published several youth novels, including The world according to Albert Einstein, Flammarion jeunesse (2021). This novel was adapted for the theater at Studio Hébertot and the play will be revived very soon in a new Parisian venue. So to be continued…

Find lots of other reading ideas on the website of kibookin. For all ages and for all tastes, no more excuses for not finding your nugget to read!