The Incorrible Children of Ashton Place

Dear Readers,

I have started to read a new book series entitled "The Incorrible Children of Ashton Place" by MaryRose Wood.  I have to admit, the first thing that drew me to the book was the cover page illustration (by Jon Klassen).  It reminded me of "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë and that couldn't be a bad thing!

Coincidentally, this story is also about a young and poor governess, Miss Penelope Lumley, who is hired to take charge of three very unusual pupils.  The series consists of 6 volumes but the 6th volume is not released yet.   All the books are written by the same author but the illustrator changed: from books 1-3, it's Jon Klassen and for books 4-5, it's Eliza Wheeler.

I loved reading "Jane Eyre" and so without much hesitation, I bought the first book:

"The Incorrible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling"

I read it in three hours and was instantly hooked! I decided to buy all four remaining volumes!  Each book apparently ends with a cliffhanger so if you don't want to wait for the next delivery, you should buy all of them at once like I did! LOL

The target age range is 8-12 years old (or Grade 3-7) but I think adults can enjoy this book series as well.  The is a lot of humor in the story and Mrs. Wood's writing style is fluid and very likeable.  The story reminded me very much of the 1970 French movie "L'Enfant Sauvage" by François Truffaut which was about a teacher trying to educate a young boy who was apparently raised without or with little contact with human beings.

I found myself rooting for Miss Penelope Lumley and hoping that she would be able to solve the mysteries surrounding the children in her charge and the strange people who gravitate around them.

The Snow Queen

This is possibly the most gorgeous book version I have ever seen of The Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen.  It is illustrated by Mary Engelbreit and it is a delight to the eyes!

My boy first heard of this story a few months ago, but not in its entirety so he asked me if I could get him the book.  There are many many picture books of this story but I chose the one from Mary Engelbreit because I love her illustrations.  Also, this story could be quite dark and scary for a child so I was hoping Engelbreit's adorable and innocent style of drawings would be more age appropriate for children.

If you are not familiar with the story, here is a quick summary: Kay and Gerda are two young children and they are the best of friends. One day, Kay gets an evil glass shard in his eye and heart and he becomes mean and sees the world differently.  He is then kidnapped by the Snow Queen and Gerda goes on a quest to find him. 

The story is full of magic and suspense!  It is quite long, especially for young children, but it was captivating from start to end and I think it will be something that my son would want to re-read on his own.  I can't wait for my baby girl to be old enough to understand the story too!

I ordered the book via Amazon a month ago and hid it for the Christmas Book Advent.  Two days ago, my son opened the wrapped book and he was very glad to read the whole story at last.  He loved the pictures and I couldn't be happier with this purchase.  It is a BIG book and it's worth every penny!

I posted some pictures on my Instagram account this morning but if you don't have Instagram, I am showing them here below.

Aren't those the sweetest illustrations you have ever seen?  Please pardon my enthusiasm for I am such a fan of Mary Engelbreit!

Do you like this story?  I loved re-reading this tale and I must say that I now want to buy all the illustrated Snow Queen books out there!  If you have a different version of this book, please let me know!  Which one would you recommend?


 

Les Malheurs de Sophie - The Books

In my previous post I wrote about the movie Les Malheurs de Sophie.  It was based on the famous novel written by La Comtesse de Ségur, a Russian aristocrat who married a Frenchman and later on wrote many novels in French dedicated to her grand-children (after whom she named all her book characters).

Photo Credit : Comtesse de Segur

The novel was first published in 1858 by Hachette with illustrations by Horace Castelli.  The adventures of Sophie is her most famous novel and is actually followed by 2 other books, forming a trilogy: Les Petites Filles Modèles (1858), and Les Vacances (1859).

Photo Credit : Library Mice

In French:

Volume 1 - Les Malheurs de Sophie

Volume 2 - Les Petites Filles Modèles

Volume 3 - Les Vacances
 

In English (translation by Stephanie Smee):

Book 1 - Sophie's Misfortunes

Book 2 - Camille and Madeleine

Book 3 - The Holidays

Photo Credit : Booktopia 

 

The English books are sold in Australia (but available worlwide via Booktopia) but I have not read them so I can't give you a review about them. But if you can't read French at all, they are the only English translation available to my knowledge. Please let me know if you find another version!

Photo Credit : Booktopia

The second book focuses on Camille and Madeleine but Sophie is still there. This novels introduces a new character, the little Marguerite, who is befriended by Camille and Madeleine and butts head with Sophie.  There is such a great camaderie among the characters and their adventures are riveting!  SPOILER: The story gets very sad at times though because Sophie is mistreated by her stepmother and I remember crying very much because the poor little girl was so unloved.


Photo Credit : Booktopia

The last novel in the trilogy is probably one of the best book I have read as a child.  There are many more characters added to the novel by now and our little girls have grown since the last two books.  If there could be a perfect summer vacation, this would be it.  It's like the tale of a summer camp vacation filled with adventures but set in the 19th century, in a French Castle.  It is really an amazing ending to the serie and it gave me a lasting impression of the story.

There have been many editions of this book and the two sequels, including a comic book version.  Other books from La Comtesse de Ségur are also available in that format.

Photo Credit : Amazon FR

I am fond of the Casterman edition with illustrations by Jobbé-Duval. But  I also like very much the  drawings by Castelli for the Collection from La Bibliothèque Rose, a book collection created by the publishing house Hachette for children from 6 to 12 years old.  There is a new collection by Hachette with new illustations by Iris de Moüy.

Another publisher house, FLEURUS, has launched a new edition of  Les Malheurs de Sophie in September 2012!  The illustrations are from Ariane Delrieu and they are absolutely fabulous! You can check her WEBSITE to see a glimpse of her art!



Photo Credit : Fleurus Editions

All the French books from the Countess are available online WikiSource La Bibliothèque Libre, but I would definitely recommend buying the paper version, not just because I am old school but because the pictures are half the fun!

Below are the links to the trilogy:

Volume 1 - Les Malheurs de Sophie

Volume 2 - Les Petites Filles Modèles

Volume 3 - Les Vacances

Warning: The stories of La Comtesse de Ségur often include physical punishments and sometimes very serious violent abuse of children so one should be aware of this before letting their children read the novels.  I personally loved the books because it depicted in great detail an era that was totally different from mine and that is the magic I think the books still convey.  
 

The Gruffalo & The Gruffalo's Child

It was supposed to rain but not a single drop fell from the sky so instead we had muggy hot weather aka a typical Texan summer day.  It probably felt even hotter now that my 24th week belly is getting quite heavy. Heavy and hot.  Thank goodness I work in a perfectly air conditioned office so I can't complain at all.  I don't like to be outside at times like these though so I went home right after work and stayed indoors for the remainder of the day.

Well it was just a great time to stay home because a lovely package was waiting for me!  Two new books and two new DVDs that I had ordered from amazon.com last week!

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and The Gruffalo movie as well.

The sequel: The Gruffalo's Child and of course the movie The Gruffalo's Child in DVD too.

We saw the Gruffalo's movie for the first time last year and my boy and all his cousins were in awe and wanted to watch it over and over again.  So after I learned there was a sequel called the Gruffalo's Child, I decided to go ahead and buy the books and both the DVDs too.  Not regretting one bit as the kids once again fell in love with the short animated cartoons and they can now read the books as well.

If you are not familiar with the story, here is a quick recap.  A little mouse scares away a fox, an owl and a snake by telling them about a monster he calls a Gruffalo.  But when the mouse really meets such a monster and is about to get eaten, he does not lose his cool and tricks the Gruffalo as well.  A very clever mouse he is!

The sequel is about what the title says: The Gruffalo's child.  The daddy Gruffalo tells his little one to not wander in the woods alone because of the Big Bad Mouse.  The little Gruffalo goes out in the woods anyway to find this Big Bad Mouse.  This story is hilarious and charming as well but I think the first story was better.

Julia Donaldson's rhymes are fun to read and the pictures by Alex Scheffler are more funny than they are scary.  Even my little 2 year-old nephew laughs and enjoys looking at the pictures and hearing us read the story.

I do prefer to watch the movies though because they are so well made. The voices, the flow, the music, everything is just perfect and the kids can't watch them enough.  A warning though, the first movie does show quite a lot of animals eating other animals so it may seem gruesome at first and some explaining will be needed for the little ones.

Malheureusement, la version française des dessins animés n'exite pas encore.

Il existe cependant une version française de ces livres intitulés Gruffalo et Petit Gruffalo mais comme je n'ai pas lu ces versions, je ne peux vous donner une opinion quant à la traduction.

Tea, ginger snaps and Beatrix Potter

I went to school today to meet my boy's teacher.  She is so friendly and sweet. The kid loved her instantly and wanted to start school right away!  He won't have to wait for long; next Monday is the first day of school and I am glad he is so enthusiastic about it.

The weather is as hot as ever and standing so long outside for the school's doors to open and then for the ride home was a bit too much and I came home with a bad headache.  After some time in bed, I finally got up, took a hot shower (the cure for some headaches) and indulged with hot tea (that too, is a cure for some headaches) and Anna's ginger snaps (which do not cure anything but they sure are delicious).

Instead of reading books tonight, I let my boy watch some of the cartoons from The Complete Beatrix Potter Collection which is a 2-pack DVD.  It is a very sweet and slow-paced cartoon which captures perfectly the spirit of Beatrix Potter's charming stories.

There are 9 episodes in total and they last 26 minutes each.  Each episode is preceded with a short scene with real actors playing Beatrix Potter in her house, painting, or going to the market.  It's very well made and my boy enjoys both the cartoon and the live scenes.  But he is always a bit scared when the rats were trying to eat the little cat in The Roly-Poly Pudding and he did not like the dark setting in The Tale of Pigling Bland.

I was surprised he would actually like watching these episodes for they are so slow compared to the usual cartoons he likes such as Spiderman, Batman, etc.  His favorite episode remains the Tailor of Gloucester which makes him automatically ask me to read him the story afterward.  He also likes the live sequence with actors because it's Christmas and Beatrix Potter listens to a choir of children singing Christmas carols. It's my favorite scene too!   

Here below are the episode titles:

Disc One:

1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny
2. The Tale of Mr. Tod
3. The Tale of Two Bad Mice and Johnny Town-Mouse
4. The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
5. The Tailor of Gloucester

Disc Two:

1. The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding
2. The Tale of Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck
3. The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and Mrs. Tittlemouse
4. The Tale of Pigling Bland

There is apparently a French DVD coming out on October 9, 2012 Beatrix Potter : les contes de Pierre Lapin et ses amis but I don't know yet if this is the French version of the 9 episodes in English. We'll see!

Je suis allée à l’école aujourd’hui pour rencontrer la maîtresse de mon garçon.  Elle est très gentille et le petit l’a adoré tout de suite et voulait commencer les classes immédiatement.  Il n’aura pas à attendre longtemps car les classes recommencent le lundi prochain et je suis bien heureuse qu’il soit aussi enthousiaste.

Il faisait toujours aussi chaud et après avoir longuement attendu pour que les portes de l’école ouvrent et pour le trajet du retour, je me suis retrouvée avec une migraine une fois revenue à la maison.  Après un peu de repos au lit et une douche chaude (qui guérit parfois les maux de tête), j’ai bu un bon thé chaud (ça aussi, ça guérit un mal de tête) et un goûter de biscuits suédois au gingembre (qui ne guérissent rien du tout mais qui, parcontre, demeurent délicieux).

Au lieu de lire un livre à bébé, je l’ai laissé regarder un des films animés de The Complete Beatrix Potter Collection qui contient 2 DVD. C’est un film animé adorable au rythme lent qui saisi parfaitement l’atmosphère des charmantes histoires de Beatrix Potter.

Il y a 9 épisodes en tout et ils sont de 26 minutes chacune.  Chaque épisode est précédée d’un court-métrage avec de vrais acteur jouant les rôles de Beatrix Potter et les gens de son entourage.  On la voit dans sa maison, en train de peindre des aquarelles, ou allant au marché.  C’est très bien fait et mon garçon aime les épisodes animées ainsi que les courts-métrage.   Il a cependant toujours un peu peur quand il voit les rats qui essaient de manger le chaton dans The Roly-Poly Pudding et il n’aime pas l’histoire sinistre du Tale of Pigling Bland.

Je suis étonnée qu’il veuille regarder cette série animée car l’action y est si lente comparée aux films animés tel que Spiderman, Batment etc.  Son épisode préféré demeure celui du Tailleur de Gloucester et il me demande toujours de lui lire l’histoire après avoir regardé le film.  Il aime aussi la scène avec les vrais acteurs car c’est Noël et on peut y voir Beatrix Potter qui écoute des enfants chanter des chants de Noël.  C’est l’épisode que je préfère aussi!

Paraît-il qu’une version en français sera en vente le 9 octobre 2012!  Beatrix Potter : les contes de Pierre Lapin et ses amis.  Je ne sais pas encore si cette version reprendra les 9 épisodes de la version anglaise. On verra bien!