Some volumes from the “Martine” collection have been rewritten for a younger audience.
-
Casterman Editions
An impoverished “Martine”?
Internet users denounce the vocabulary used in an edition of the adventures of the youthful heroine published in 2016, comparing it to an edition of 1968.
If the text has been well rewritten, it is mainly because it is aimed at younger children.
In addition, the original edition is still available for sale.
“Leveling to the bottom”, “TikTok mode”… The publication of two pages from a volume of “Martine”, the famous children's heroine, has sparked indignant comments on social networks.
The object of this outburst?
A one-page reproduction of the 1968 edition compared to another version, published in 2016. In the 1968 edition, the text is longer and the vocabulary is richer.
The comparison between the two editions of - Twitter screenshot
FAKE OFF
These two extracts are authentic.
However, they do not come from the same edition of the "Martine" series.
The first text, more developed, is taken from
Martine petite maman
, published for the first time in 1963. The second text comes from
Martine keeps his little brother
, published in 2016.
Martine keeps her little brother
is a rewrite of
Martine petite maman,
which does not address the same age group as the edition published fifty years earlier, explains
Céline Charvet, director of the youth department of Casterman editions
to
20 Minutes.
: “Readers are younger.
Before, we read "Martine" at seven.
Now we read it at four years old.
"
The text can be read in one story in the evening
"We decided to have the text of" Martine "rewritten to erase the stereotypes that had aged the most, to change certain formulas or first names that were no longer in use and to shorten the text so that it could be read to children at night. like a story, ”she adds.
This editorial change has been validated by the beneficiaries of the two authors of the collection.
The change of title illustrates this desire to review representations of childhood and gender: “With
Petite Maman
, you are completely in the stereotype.
There, with
Garde his little brother
, we are much more with something in tune with today's world.
"
If the layout of the book has also been revised, the illustrations have not changed.
As for those who would like to introduce the original edition to the youngest, no fear:
Martine petite maman
is still sold.
Martine is not the only heroine of children's literature to know of rewrites: the famous adventures of the
Club of five
of the Briton Enid Blyton are also proposed in different versions.
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