Themed Reviews: Focus on France

Paris was the first place I ever visited outside of the U.S. I was fourteen and on vacation with my parents. I had such a great experience that I think my love of travel owes a lot to those two weeks in France. When I travel I always think about my favorite children's books that remind me of whatever place I'm in—when I think of France I think of Eloise in Paris, Madeline or Amy March, and Mirette on the High Wire. Bastille Day is this month, so what better time to create a feature that focuses on France, a country with such a rich history and dazzling culture.

Bastille Day is a French national holiday celebrated with parades and fireworks every July 14th. It commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14th, 1789. Originally, the Bastille, constructed in 1370, was used as a fortress to protect the walled city of Paris from English attack, but in the 17th century it was converted into a state prison for upper-class felons, political activists, and spies. By 1789, the French people were fed up with the monarchy and feudal system. The destruction of the Bastille by the mob of revolutionaries was a historic event that kicked off the French Revolution and immediately became a symbol of liberty, democracy, and the struggle against oppression.

The recently children's and young adult titles featured here focus on France and its rich culture. Through fiction and nonfiction many titles present famous historical figures such as Marie-Antoinette, Jacques Cousteau, Joan of Arc, Lafayette, and the artists Monet, Degas, Piccasso, and Renoir. While other titles take readers on a tour of France's beautiful monuments and scenery, such as Adele and Simon and Dodsworth in Paris. To search for more titles, learn about awards, and find curriculum tools search the CLCD database at http://www.childrenslit.com/.

To see the entire feature from July's CLCD newsletter visit:
http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/th_france.html

For more information about France visit:
http://www.history.com/topics/bastille
http://www.ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?rubrique92
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/france

Paris in the Spring with Picasso

Joan Yolleck

Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

Yolleck takes us to Paris for a charming, imaginary soirée at Gertrude Stein's in the early twentieth century. The characters we meet are all real, however, and we see them first early in an ordinary day. The poet Guillaume Apollinaire is distracted from writing a poem by the visit of Marie Laurencin, bringing sketches of him and friends. Up the hill lives Max Jacob with Pablo Picasso and his girlfriend Fernande upstairs. Max has written a rhymed couplet; Picasso is painting. As the sun sets over Notre Dame Cathedral, we follow the friends past a circus and a cabaret. At Gertrude's, her friend Alice B. Toklas is preparing for the soirée. The friends arrive for an evening of talking, laughing, and enjoying the arts. There is looseness to the gouache-and-ink illustrations reminiscent of Bemelmann's Paris, a lively place filled with recognizable landmarks, active artists, and intense colors splashed across, around, and even up and down the pages. There are occasional French words to spice the breezy text. Priceman has included interpretations of two Picasso paintings. There are also added notes about the important characters introduced. 2010, Schwartz & Wade Books/Random House Children's Books, $17.99. Ages 5 to 9. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 9780375837562
ISBN: 9780375937569


Contributor: Emily Griffin