I didn't know a lot about Florette before I picked it up recently. I'd seen the cover a few times somewhere, maybe in a catalogue, or on a blog, and just knew that it would be charming. All that green on the cover is so pretty, so lush, so inviting. Florette just asks to be opened. The endpapers are just as green, just as delightful, and have a few hidden animals to delight young readers and old women.
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| Green is so hard to photograph The illustration is so much more lush |
Mae and her family leave behind their country home with their apple trees and daffodils and move to the city.
Mae is sad that her new home has parks filled with tiny stones and empty chairs. She tries to recreate gardens and nature in the city.
Until she finds a beautiful enclosed garden called Florette. Florette is a beautiful book about the love of nature and the power of a one child's imagination to change the world.
As I read it I was increasingly sure that the city was Paris.
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| Haussmann style |
It had to be Paris. Even though there is no specific mention of it, the imagery is so Paris. Or do I just see Paris everywhere?
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| You certainly can't walk on the grass in Paris |
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| The chairs. The chairs. Does anywhere else have Paris park chairs? |
The launch of Florette was an amazingly green event with library bags made with that amazing endpaper greenery gorgeousness. Jealous.
Best Book Trailer Ever?
Anna Walker is an author and illustrator based in Melbourne. She had great success last year with Mr Huff. Florette is released in Australia now but not released in the US until April 2018. I don't understand why publishers do that. Why wait a year to publish it in another market?
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| http://australianwomenwriters.com |
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| Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme from Paulita at An Accidental Blog |
That book trailer is inspiring. It just piques the interest without giving away the story. I think you're right that the city must be Paris, but do people from New York imagine that it is New York?
ReplyDeleteThanks for playing along with Dreaming of France and telling us about a beautiful picture book. Here’s my Dreaming of France meme
And thanks for your advice about our upcoming move. Chin up and all that for me. What do I have to fear about moving to France?
LOVE that trailer! I don't know why publishers have different release dates either, I feel the same way about movies. In our inclreasingly global village why aren't they released at the same time? It must have something to do with PR and financial resources but it"s annoying. (For example, I believe The Lost City of Z has already opened in Australia, while it doesn't open here in the US until April 14th!)
ReplyDeleteI am hooked on green, trees, plants, especially small gardens that brighten up our urban spaces so I guess I'm the kind of old woman the book will appeal to!
Lovely post, thanks.
Where do you find these secrets? This looks beautiful. Lucky for me I'm in Australia... as for those Paris park chairs.. dont they conjure special memories of Paris visits.
ReplyDeleteThe different release dates is interesting-In addition to different covers for different markets. My mum's name was Mae. It is hard to believe it has been three years as of March 23 when we lost her.
ReplyDeletexo.
It is truly delightful isn't it? And I was convinced from the start that it was Paris too.
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