The Midnight Gang

I'm always pleased to see a new Walliams' title hit the bookstores. The Midnight Gang came out in late 2016, and I've just got to it now. I'd just spent three weeks reading Ballet Shoes (see my review) and as a consequence I was already one book behind on my Goodreads Challenge for the year, so that I knew I needed a lightning fast read. The Midnight Gang it was. Although it's getting harder to blitz through Walliams books- they are indeed getting longer each year. The Midnight Gang is a chunky 478 pages. 

The Midnight Gang is set in the Children's Ward of Lord Funt Hospital in London. Naturally it is no cozy, mural painted kids ward. The Children's Ward of Lord Funt Hospital is on the 44th floor of the building, right at the very top, and it is presided over by a mean, callous, child-hating Matron. Naturally it is peopled with great characters, like Raj the Newsagent, and Nurse Meese.

A large older lady in a blur-and-white uniform with a hat leaned over and examined the boy's head. Dark circles framed her bloodshot eyes. Grey wiry hair squatted on her head. Her face was red raw, as if she had scrubbed it with a cheese grater.

Tom Charper has just been admitted to the Children's Ward of Lord Funt Hospital after a tragic cricket accident. He has been hit on the head by the ball, concussed, and left with rather a large bump.  Tom is a lonely boy at his boarding school. His parents never contact him, and he is on the outer with the kids. Not in the rugby team, not in the cool gang of kids, but he finds firm friends in the other children in the ward.

Each night at midnight the children leave their beds for a series of adventures in the nooks and crannies of the hospital. Naturally Tom wants to join them in their exploits. Like all of David Walliams books there is a beautiful heart at the centre of The Midnight Gang. Readers learn that they shouldn't judge someone by their looks and that 

"life is precious. Every moment is precious. We should be kind to each other. While there is still time."

I just love that David Walliams did publicity for the book in his pyjamas!

Fascinating to see that David Walliams based Porter on one of his favourite childhood characters, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It's obvious when you know. 

Sunday Times Britain's 100 Favourite Children's Books

I love a good book list and it seems a lot of other folks do too. So much so that this list was turned into a 90 minute BBC special, hosted by David Walliams! There's some kid lit cred right there. I hope we outside Britain get the chance to see it soon too. In the meantime here's the list. It even has it's own twitter hashtag #britainsfavouritechildrensbooks. The list was selected by Nicolette Jones, Children's Books Editor of The Sunday Times. The criteria included books suitable for children up to 12 years, so it excludes YA. It's a killer list though.

1. Winnie the Pooh (especially The House at Pooh Corner) - A.A. Milne (illustrated by E.H. Shephard)

2. The Chronicles of Narnia (especially The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) - C.S. Lewis (illustrated by Pauline Baynes)

3. Harry Potter (especially Harry Potter and the Philosohper's Stone) - J.K. Rowling

4. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (illustrated by Quentin Blake)

6. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (illustrated by E.H. Shepard) (see my review)

7. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

8. A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond (illustrated by Peggy Fortnum) (see my review)

9. The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson (illustrated by Axel Scheffler)

10. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (see my review)

11. The Cat in the Hat - Dr Seuss

12. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (illustrated by John Tenniel)

13. We're Going On a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen (illustrated by Helen Oxenbury)

14. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

15. Alfie and Annie Rose (especially Dogger) - Shirley Hughes

16. Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren (illustrated by Lauren Child)

17. The Tiger Who Came to Tea - Judith Kerr

18. Finn Family Moomintroll - Tove Jansson

19. The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter (especially The Tale of Peter Rabbit) - Beatrix Potter

20. Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson

21. The Story of Tracey Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson (illustrated by Nick Sherratt)

22. Kensuke's Kingdom - Michael Morpurgo (see my review)

23. Goodnight Mr Tom - Michelle Magorian

24. Rooftoppers - Katharine Rundell

25. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness (illustrated by Jim Kay) (see my review)

26. The Railway Children - E. Nesbitt

27. Millions - Frank Cottrell Boyce

28. The Snowman - Raymond Briggs

29. The Arrival - Shaun Tan (see my review)

30. The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen

31. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

32. Famous Five (especially Five on a Treasure Island) - Enid Blyton

33. Just William (especially Just William) - Richmal Crompton

34. Holes - Louis Sachar (see my review)

35. Stig of the Dump - Clive King

36. The Boy in the Dress - David Walliams (illustrated by Quentin Blake) (see my review)

37. Charlie and Lola (especially I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato) - Lauren Child

38. The Jolly Postman - Allan and Janet Ahlberg

39. Horrid Henry (especially Horrid Henry Strickes it Rich) - Francesca Simon (illustrated by Tony Ross)

40. How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell

41. The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett

42. Alex Rider (especially Stormbreaker) - Anthony Horowitz (see my review)

43. Mortal Engines (especially Mortal Engines) - Philip Reeve

44. The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett (illustrated by Inga Moore) (see my review)

45. Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling

46. This is Not My Hat - Jon Klaassen

47. Fortunately, the Milk - Neil Gaiman (illustrated by Chris Riddell)

48. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White (illustrated by Garth Williams)

49. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

50. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

51. The Borrowers - Mary Norton (see my review)

52. Gorilla - Anthony Browne

53. The Poems of Edward Lear (especially Owl and the Pussycat) - Edward Lear

54.  Pig-Heart Boy - Malorie Blackman

55. Orlando the Marmalade Cat - Kathleen Hale

56.  The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier

57. Elmer (especially Elmer the Patchwork Elephant) - David McKee

58. Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery

59. Guess How Much I Love You - Sam McBratney (illustrated by Anita Jeram)

60. The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goodge

61. Tom's Midnight Garden - Philippa Pearce (illustrated by Susan Einzig) (see my review)

62. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster (illustrated by Jules Feiffer)

63. Flour Babes - Anne Fine

64. Centrally Heated Knickers - Michael Rosen (illustrated by Harry Horse)

65. The Way Home - Oliver Jeffers

66. Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie

67. Asterix - Uderzo and Goscinny

68. The Family from One End Street - Eve Garnett

69. Mr Gum - Andy Stanton (illustrated by David Tazzyman) (see my review)

70. Fairy Tales - Berlie Doherty (illustrated by Jane Ray)

71. Wolves - Emily Gravett

72. The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy

73. The Blue Kangaroo (especially I Love You, Blue Kangaroo) - Emma Chichester Clark

74. The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams (illustrated by William Nicholson)

75. Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (see my review)

76. The London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd

77. The Sheep-Pig - Dick King-Smith

78. Chrestomanci (especially The Lives of Christopher Chant) - Diana Wynne Jones

79. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

80. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot (illustrated by Nicholas Bentley) (see my review)

81. 101 Dalmatians - Dodie Smith

82. Emil and the Detectives - Erich Kästner (see my review)

83. A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicker

84. Handa's Surprise - Eileen Browne

85. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (see my review)

86. Babar - Jean de Brushoff

87. Carrie's War - Nina Bawden (see my review)

88. Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey

89. Mary Poppins - P.L. Travers

90. The Tom Gates (especially The Brilliant World of Tom Gates) - Liz Pichon (see my review)

91. The Casson Family (especially Saffy's Angel) - Hilary McKay

92. The Percy Jackson (especially Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) - Rick Riordan

93. Thomas the Tank Engine - Rev W Awdry (illustrated by Peter Sam)

94. The Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin

95. The Inkworld Series (especially Inkheart) - Cornelia Funke

96. War Boy - Michael Foreman

97. The Wizard of Oz - L Frank Baum

98. Goosebumps - R.L. Stine

99. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome (see my review)

100. Tintin - Hergé (Georges Remi)

59/100

March 2017 60/100

June 2018 61/100

Grandpa's Great Escape

David Walliams is certainly leading the charge of the comedians who are the new children's writers. He published his first book for kids The Boy in The Dress (see my review) in 2008, and he has released a best selling book each year since. I didn't read any til 2013, but have now caught up and can sneak in a quick read of his latest each year when it is released. Although they do seem to be getting bigger each year. Grandpa's Great Escape is a bit of a brick and comes in at 461 pages. 

Grandpa's Great Escape is rather unusual, even amongst the Walliams books. It is the story of 12 year old Jack and his grandfather. Jack's grandfather is dementing, and his behaviours are becoming increasingly erratic. 

One day Grandpa began to forget things. It was little things at first. The old man would make himself a cup of tea and forget to drink it. Before long he would have lined up a dozen cups of cold tea on his kitchen table. Or he would run a bath and forget to turn off the taps, flooding his neighbour's flat downstairs. Or he would leave the house with the express purpose of buying a stamp, but return home with seventeen boxes of cornflakes. Grandpa didn't even like cornflakes. 

Jack and his grandfather get along famously. Jack loves to hear his grandfather's tales of adventure when he was an RAF pilot during the Second World War. They share the stories, reenact the battles, and form a truly special bond. 

The boy couldn't help but smile. Everyone else always saw Grandpa's condition as a problem. For Jack, the way his grandfather's mind worked was nothing short of magical. 

But things get difficult after Grandpa recreates a few too many of Wing Commander Bunting's exploits. The police take an interest, and Grandpa faces the reality of going into a Nursing Home. Naturally the local nursing home, Twilight Towers, is not a nice place, run by Miss Swine, the Matron, and an odd assortment of rather hairy, tattoed nurses. A rather odd premise for a children's book, but it does work. Part 2 is the most exciting. And of course most of the adults don't come off all that well. 

An extremely large security guard was looking up at him. It was like the museum had captured the biggest gorilla in the jungle, stuffed it not a uniform and placed a peaked cap on its head. Thick tufts of black hair sprouted from his nose, neck and ears. 

Jack's parents are naturally a bit clueless and it is up to Jack and his grandfather to save the day. It's a shame we all have a year to wait for the next fun Walliams story. 

Kizmet And The Case Of The Tassie Tiger

Comedians are the new children's authors it seems. And why not? Kids certainly love humour, and they love humorous books. Just look at the phenomenon that is Andy Griffiths. And David Walliams has really hit the big time writing children's books. I saw recently that Julian Clary has released his first children's book! The Bolds. You know that I bought it immediately don't you? I also have Russell Brand's The Pied Piper of Hamelin sitting amongst my TBR. And you know that if Keith Richards can write a kids book, then I guess anyone can.

Recently Australian comedian Frank Woodley released his first two children's books simultaneously. Which seems a slightly odd move perhaps. Both books feature a young girl, Kizmet Papanicillo, her father Detective Spencer Papanicillo, and Kizmet's personal assistant, Gretchen- who just happens to be a currawong. And when comedians get involved naturally the story is narrated by the currawong.

Kizmet's father works for IMPACT- International Mysteries, Puzzles and Crimes Taskforce. He takes Kizmet along on his cases- which is a good thing because of course Kizmet is the brains behind the operation. Here the trio are called down to Tasmania to investigate sightings of a large Tasmanian Tiger. Rather impossible as Tasmanian Tigers have been extinct since the last one died in captivity in Hobart in 1936. But goats have been attacked and there have been fearsome noises in the night. It all needs sorting out. 

Kizmet and the Case of The Tassie Tiger is much more adventure/mystery story than I expected it would be. But there are plenty of laughs along the way. It's great fun for young readers.

As I was reading I was admiring the fantastic illustrations, and flicked back to check who the illustrator was. Odd to not have one acknowledged on the front cover... Were they done by Frank Woodley? Yes it seems so!  Mr Woodley has some little known talents. In this Melbourne radio interview Frank tells that he initially wanted to be an artist as a young man. He could well have done so it seems. I look forward to reading his other book Kizmet And The Case Of The Smashed Violin.

I love the Wizard of Oz reference!

Bathurst Writers Festival

I have a long term goal to get to all of Australia's Writers Festivals. So far I've been to Melbourne Writers Festival ( a few times), Sydney Writer's Festival (twice now), Newcastle Writers Festival, Mudgee Readers Festival (did you see what they did there? Love it). And just recently I accidentally went along to the Bathurst Writers Festival.

How can you go accidentally? Well you see I thought I was going to a Sydney Writers' Festival Regional Live Streaming event, which I think was a new concept for this year.

And I did. I got to see David Walliams' session- which naturally was great, and I should tell you about it sometime. But I also went along to a live event that day, and it turns out that this was part of the inaugural Bathurst Writer's Festival. 

The live event I went to was Writing for Children. It featured four local authors and illustrators. I've seen Freya Blackwood speak quite a few times before, but I admire her work greatly and am always interested in what she has to say. The other three authors were all completely new to me- it was great to learn that there are so many local authors working away. Greg Bastian. Louisa (L.J) Clarkson. Jeffery E Doherty. 

Each of the authors spoke about their work. Freya is of course the most well known. She is an illustrator who considers herself a story teller too, which is obvious when you think about it, particularly with those exceptional illustrators such as Freya who do more thoughtful and deliberate work. Freya enjoys the amount of extra story she can add through her illustrations.

Greg Bastion writes historical fiction for upper primary/lower secondary schools. He spoke of writing his latest book The Goldseekers, about two Korean children living on the Australian goldfields of the 1850s.

Louisa writes as LJ Clarkson and seems to write aimed at the American market, which I must admit disappointed me a bit. She writes magical YA, and mainly spoke of her novel, The Silver Strand, where a girl has a magical grey hair. Her books often have a bullying theme.

Jeff Doherty was the most exuberant of the authors this day- obvious before he even spoke as he was resplendent in a colourful vest. He is an author/illustrator who works in a school and writes junior fiction. Interestingly he said that he hated reading as a child and didn't read his first novel until he was in Year 11. He wants to write the book he would have liked to read as a kid.

At one stage the panel recommended their favourite books for young people. And they're a great selection of books.

Greg Bastion - The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Freya Blackwood - Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
LJ Clarkson - Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer (see my review)
Jeff Doherty - The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (see my review) and Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher (which sounds amazing, straight to the TBR).

I hope the Bathurst Writer's Festival continues to develop and evolve and look forward to seeing how it progresses.

Demon Dentist

I recently used a short break in Sydney to read the last of David Walliams' books that I hadn't read previously. This of course puts him (and me) in a rather enviable position- I've now read all of David Walliams' published books for children- well the novel length ones, I do have a few picture books to go still and there will be a new book again in September 2015, but this time I'm ready for it.

Demon Dentist was published in 2013, around the time that I started reading his work. It's certainly no wonder that he is phenomenally successful and wildly popular with kids- his books are fun, and a bit naughty and clever, and I think it is right that he is the most likely successor to Roald Dahl that we have writing today.

Poor 12 year old Alfie Griffith has terrible teeth.

Alfie hated going to the dentist. As a result the boy's teeth were almost all yellow. The ones that weren't yellow were brown. They bore the stains of all the goodies that children love, but dentists hate. Sweets, fizzy drinks, chocolate. The teeth that were neither yellow nor brown simply weren't there any more. They had fallen out. One had bitten into a toffee and stayed there. Assorted fruit-flavoured chews had claimed others. 

Alfie lives with his father who is very unwell as a result of his work as a coal miner.

A great big bear of a man, he had loved working down the pit and providing for his beloved son. However, all those years he spend down the mine took a terrible toll on his lungs.

Alfie's Dad is confined to a wheelchair, and can no longer work. Alfie acts as a carer for his father, and they get by on very little money. So when a do-gooder social worker turns up intent on getting Alfie to the dentist and on eating every chocolate biscuit in the house there was always going to be trouble.

Demon Dentist is probably the most scary of David Walliams' books. So scary it even comes with a warning.

It is also perhaps his most plot driven book- it gets pretty exciting towards the end. All of David Walliams books have a warm heart, but are never preachy. Here he shows us that you can find happiness after sadness, and seamlessly incorporates multiracial characters to represent a modern Britain/world.

Demon Dentist plays on the widespread fear of dentists- who doesn't hate going to the dentist? Kids growing up now do fare much better, but the concept of pain free dentistry certainly didn't exist when I was a kid, and I think for most adults a trip to the dentist is at least a drudge, if not downright terrifying. Children of course like to eat lollies and other sugary things that are not good for their teeth, and tooth decay is still a very modern problem. Of course it is all dealt with in traditional Walliams style with fart jokes and teachers underwear on display.

"But tooth fairies aren't real..." protested the boy.
The witch smiled. "Oh yes, they are. Annoying little do-gooders flapping all over the place."

Check out my David Walliams link to read my other reviews and ponderings. Billionaire Boy is still my favourite.

Andy Griffiths and Roald Dahl's Enduring Influence

I almost read this Sydney Morning Herald article on time. Well, pretty close for me. I actually found it the weekend that it was printed. Andy Griffiths is of course one of our most popular Australian writers writing for children. I've seen him speak at several writers festivals and he always has tremendous queues of kids eager to meet him and have him sign the huge stack of his books that they've brought with them. Certainly they were in Melbourne in 2012, and he was the best selling author at the Sydney Writer's Festival just last week. He spent seven hours signing books for kids!

Andy writes in a comedic style, and obviously sees humour as an important, as did Roald Dahl. According to the article Road Dahl once wrote that the four ingredients of children's fiction were suspense, action, eccentricity and magic. Plots with ghosts were good, and so were those with chocolates, toys, treasure or money. Children, he wrote, loved to be spooked and "made to giggle". Read Roald Dahl's full advice here.

The books and authors Andy Griffiths suggests are keeping the Dahl legacy alive:

Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky: Grubtown Tales - Phillip Ardagh

My Life Series- Tristan Bancks

Horribles Histories - Terry Deary (some not all of course there's so many, see my reviews)

Gasp! - Terry Denton

Two Weeks with the Queen - Morris Gleitzman

The Un Series - Paul Jennings

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series - Jeff Kinney (again some not all)

Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey (quite a few, but still not all)

Holes - Louis Sachar (see my review)

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales - Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket (read 1/13)

You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! - Andy Stanton (review coming soon)

The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling (read 1/7)

Demon Dentist - David Walliams (wouldn't you know it? The only Walliams I haven't read! But you can read all my other gushing Walliams reviews) July 2015-  I've read it now! (see my review)

The descriptor in the article about You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! sounds fantastic. It's so good to live now, so that even if a book isn't published in Australia (and why would that be?), you can get your hands on it very quickly online. It will be mine, oh yes it will be mine.

Awful Auntie

I had very high hopes for Awful Auntie. Of course I am a great David Walliams fan. I've read nearly all of his books in a little over a year (I've just got Demon Dentist to go now). So of course I was excited to see Awful Auntie hit the shelves recently. And then I saw this article in The Guardian, where Philip Aardagh proclaimed Awful Auntie the best Walliams book yet. It had to be read. And soon.

Awful Auntie is a little different to David Walliams' other books. For starters, it is a historical novel set in 1932. All his other books have been modern, and all the kids have frequented Raj's newsagent. Here, we have recently orphaned Stella Saxby, the sole heir to Saxby Hall. Stella lives in Saxby Hall with her awful Aunt Alberta and the deliciously confused butler Gibbon.

Aunt Aberta is quite the owl fancier, and her constant companion is Wagner, her Great Bavarian Mountain Owl.  Aunt Alberta wants nothing more than to take control of Saxby Hall and become Lady Saxby. And she does like dessert.

She never had a main course. Or a starter. No, Aunt Alberta went straight to the pudding. She would scoff desserts for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which was why she was as wide as she was tall. 

Aunt Alberta makes an excellent villain, and Awful Auntie is a typical, fun Walliams read. Full of his trademark lists and humour, and still with the poignant heart.

"Ya wanted naffing more than to be older, but bein' a child is such a special fing. When yer a child, ya can see all the magic in the world."

No wonder Awful Auntie was Britain's bestselling children's fiction book for 2014. Though Billionaire Boy remains my favourite Walliams read. I was delighted to see, and perhaps a little bit surprised, that David cited Miriam Margoyles as his real life inspiration for Awful Auntie! Cheeky boy. I can't find a book trailer, but you can hear David Walliams read the opening of Awful Auntie here.

Gangsta Granny

I do love David Walliams and his phenomenally successful kids books. He published his first book, The Boy in the Dress, back in 2008, but I didn't get to read it until just over a year ago. It's quite astonishing for me to see that just in the past year or so I've already read four of his books. Mr Stink. Billionaire Boy. Ratburger.

David Walliams has published one book a year since he began, and it was the arrival in the stores of his latest, Awful Auntie, that prompted me to get Gangsta Granny off the shelf. I now see that Philip Ardagh in The Guardian has called Awful Auntie his "best book yet"- oh dear, I won't be able to leave that one for too long now.

My favourite thus far remains Billionaire Boy. Billionaire Boy was a story about a lonely, rich boy. Gangsta Granny is about another rather lonely boy. Eleven year old Ben is a slow reader and has been held back a year at school. He visits his Granny every Friday night for a sleepover. Dumped there by his parents each week so that they can go to Strictly Stars Dancing. "But Granny is soooo boring".

"I hate spending time with her," protested Ben. "Her TV doesn't work, all she wants to do is play Scrabble and she stinks of cabbage."

Ben has trouble with his parents too, they favour glamorous ballroom dancers to his own interests. Ben dreams of being a plumber one day while his parents want him to follow their passion into dancing. Only David Walliams could write a fun and silly book about dancing, plumbing, cabbage, jewel thieves, grannies who fart without realising it and bumbling parents.

It was a Saturday, so after the show had finished the family were going to be having Cheesy Beans and Sausage. Neither Mum nor Dad could cook, but of all the readymade meals Ben's mum took out of the freezer, pricked with a fork and placed in the microwave for three minutes, this was his favourite. 

Gangsta Granny is full of the trademark Walliams humour, lists and Raj the newsagent. Once again Tony Ross' illustrations are perfect. And like all David Walliams books Gangsta Granny has a lovely heart. In amongst the humour David Walliams is reminding us that old people were young once, that perhaps they haven't all led boring lives, that you should spend time with them while you can, and tell people you love them if you do.

The lovely folks at Harper Collins gave me a review copy of Gangsta Granny way back in May at the CBCA Conference (my first ever review copy, I'm somewhat disappointed in myself to take six months to read it, but hey at least it was only six months, I have many, many books sitting about the house unread for years).

L'Heure Joyeuse

I like visiting bookshops when I travel of course. They're always interesting. Even if most of the books aren't available in your native tongue, and not particularly readable for you. I like visiting libraries too, even though sometimes it's not so successful- you can get asked to leave libraries for no apparent reason. 

Thankfully just before I left for Paris my friend Deb at Readerbuzz did a post on visiting bookish places. It reminded me of library visiting, and so I decided to search out and visit the local library in Paris. Paris has many, many libraries of every sort, but by pure luck the closest public library to my initial Left Bank residence last month was the delightful L'Heure Joyeuse, one of the specialised children's libraries run by the city of Paris. My days were full in Paris, and I got there with just 15 or 20 minutes to spare before they closed for the evening. It was still a very special visit for me though.

Such a great name

It's tucked away behind Eglise Saint Severin

L'Heure Joyeuse is celebrating it's 90th anniversary this year. There was a wonderful display celebrating their librarians and their books. 

 

 

 

A highlight for me was the absolutely gorgeous
translated editions of Peter Rabbit (Pierre Lapin)
hand made by the first librarians

Then it was on upstairs to the library proper. The librarian was lovely, very helpful, and showed me around just before closing time. 

Tintin everywhere of course

Manga and comic books (bands desinée) are huge in France

The favourites shelf 

Great to see David Walliams well represented 

and Jacqueline Wilson

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by some of the translations

A great room for younger kids
where they do weekly reading and singing sessions

Foreign language selections

Just a part of the room for older children 

Great that she needs her own section

L'Heure Joyeuse
6-12 Rue des Pretres Saint-Severin
Paris 75005

Tuesday 4-7
Wednesday 10-6
Thursday 4-7
Friday 4-7
Saturday 10-6
Closed Sunday/Monday

Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita at An Accidental Blog