“You are animals like us” with Cyril Dion

You are animals like us by Cyril Dion, illustrated by Sébastien Mourrain, Actes Sud junior. Read for ages 5 and up (December 2021).

“Every night, I have a dream. Always the same. I’m in the garden behind the house, at the foot of the big lime tree, And I’m looking at a blackbird…”

Cyril Dion

to franceinfo

A little girl dreams of a blackbird every night. And in this dream, the bird tells him how another animal, “the 2-legged monkey”, to put it mildly, is killing the planet.

The blackbird bears witness because it is a spectator of this sinking world and also a victim of human excesses. Through it, all ecological truths, even if they are dramatic, are spoken in simple and powerful words. The little girl listens to the blackbird, a condition for realizing the urgency of the situation and for taking action.
Through the poetry of the story, Cyril Dion awakens the consciousness of the youngest without traumatizing them, by instilling in them the idea of ​​taking their ecological destiny in hand, and Sébastien Mourrain’s drawings also contribute to this.

“You are animals, like us. Different. But we are all different. Useful. But we are all useful. Beautiful. But we are all beautiful. When you wake up, you will think you have dreamed, and then you will open your eyes and you will watch. Perhaps then you will dream awake. Perhaps the world is a dream that we dream together. And our path on this earth is to wash away nightmares before we resume our journey. “

Cyril Dion at franceinfo

There is no generation difference, everyone must act at their level. In this tale, the little ones have a role to play in order to better inhabit this planet. The older ones are not left out, next to this album Cyril Dion declined his speech for teenagers with a novel and a film (in theaters since December 1), the two are called Animal.

The Tales from Broca Street: the complete, by Pierre Gripari and Claude Lapointe, Grasset Jeunesse editions (March 2012).

Director, writer, environmental activist, guarantor of the Citizen’s Climate Convention, co-director of the documentary tomorrow with Mélanie Laurent, her latest film Animal just hit the big screen on December 1st.

The children’s juries at the Salon du livre et de la presse jeunesse en Seine-Saint-Denis, and after deliberation, chose:

Nugget Illustrated Book: Spirit, are you there? Dominique Ehrhard, Anne-Florence Lemasson, The Great People

Junior Fiction Nugget: Girls don’t usually go so high, Alice Butaud, François Ravard, Gallimard Jeunesse

Cartoon nugget: Nowhere girl, Magali Le Huche, Dargaud

Teen Fiction: Polly, Fabrice Melquiot and Isabelle Pralong, La Joie de lire

Gold nugget : Queen kong, Hélène Vignal, Thierry Magnier Éditions

All these Nuggets are of course to be discovered on the site of kibookin or there are always plenty of other reading ideas to offer as well. For all ages and for all tastes, there are no more excuses not to find something to read!