Sunday, September 27, 2015

Madeline




Reach back to my childhood, or that of my kids, reading Madeline by the illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans. This is a short story, with almost as many pictures as words, well close.  The story is written in rhyming couplets (for the most part).  Bemelmans tells the story of Madeline, a young orphan, who lives in Paris with a group of twelve young girls and is overseen by Miss Clavel, who runs the orphanage.  Madeline is the tiniest of the girls, but also the ‘risk-taker’ of the group as she runs up to the animals in the zoo and attempts to scare them!  One night Miss Clavel hears a cry from the bedroom where all twelve girls sleep and runs to see what is happening.  Madeline is crying as she seems to be in pain.  Miss Clavel brings in Dr. Cohn to examine her and notes it may be her appendix.  They rush to the hospital.  Meanwhile, all of the other children are sad and scared.  A few days later the girls are allowed to visit Madeline in the hospital.  To their amazement she is happy, surrounded by books, toys and treats provided by concerned donors.  Madeline is all better, happy, and stands up to show her big scar from the operation.  The girls all return to the orphanage.  Later that evening, Miss Clavel hears crying from the room again.  All of the girls are crying of pain with their appendix, hoping they too can receive toys and candy from others.  Cute story which captures how kids are jealous and following the behavior they think will get them the same outcome.  Much like what we see with peer pressure on college campuses, right?  Loved the pictures, nice rhyming sentences, and a story that captured the hearts of many.  Love the favorite books that are given to me!

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