Illustration of a love letter -

Pixabay

  • During two years,

    Morgane Pellenec, has compiled a hundred letters written by children.

  • In her book,

    You're not beautiful, you're worse!

    , which comes out Wednesday

    *,

    we go from laughter to emotion.

  • These sweet words bear witness to the intensity of the feelings some children experience and the memorable memories left behind by first love.

Small treasures that we keep preciously at the bottom of a drawer.

In 

You're not beautiful, you're worse!

, which comes out this Wednesday 

*,

Morgane Pellenec has reproduced a hundred love letters written by children, most often aged 5 to 11.

It took him two years to collect these jewels of poetry, humor, naivety ...

For

20 Minutes

, the author analyzes these sweet words and their resonance through time.

Did you receive love letters during your childhood and write any?

Yes, and it is besides by finding the letter of my first love of summer camps, Simon, that I wanted to make this book.

Because his letter was funny, touching and a little absurd.

I then launched an appeal on Facebook and Twitter for people to send me their childhood letters.

Lots of people between 30 and 40 have done it.

But parents have also sent me letters written or received by their children.

Because today, children still write.

They send postcards to their lover or hand over little notes at recess.

Illustration of a child's letter.

- Editions Albin Michel

How do you explain their need to put their feelings down on paper?

It is easier for them to express their feelings in writing than orally, because it allows them to find the right word.

It's less intimidating and we are less shy in writing.

The children's letters are very creative, they are accompanied by drawings, colors… On an envelope, a child stuck a Carambar paper.

In another, a little girl wrote with an orange blossom scented pen.

It is like a gift that we give to our lover, which explains the pleasure of each writing them.

Some letters are incredibly intense.

How do you explain it?

First loves are overwhelming and we welcome them in a rather brutal way, without defending ourselves.

"Your heart counts more than mine", writes for example Maxime.

The words are also final: “I will never forget you”.

“The best moments of my life were with you”.

Or Damien who declares to Coco: "Even if you no longer love me, I will always love you, because you are the most beautiful in the universe".

There is also mimicry as children use the love words of adults.

And they reproduce a fairly normative framework: they talk about marriage, about babies….

"We'll have to get married," suggests Emilie to Sébastien.

A love letter written by a child.

- Editions Albin Michel

Are these loves always reciprocal?

No.

Some recipients take rakes in writing.

And it is sometimes brutal.

Like Marion who writes to Maxime: "With you, it doesn't go any further, but you're a great friend".

Or Hugues who launches to Lucie: "I find you super nice, but I don't love you".

And reading certain letters, it feels like

The Young and the Restless,

with stories of jealousy, love trios, breakups ...

What are the funniest letters?

Those which pass from the rooster to the donkey or which contain somewhat absurd expressions, such as: "I love you like milk, but milk to drink".

Or “Margaux (…) you have a chin to eat like a cordon bleu”.

Or even “Océane, our heart is an ocean of love”.

Without forgetting Gauthier's tirade to Justine: “Your hair looks like petals”.

A letter written by a child.

- Editions Albin Michel

If the owners of these letters kept them, was it because they bore witness to very precious memories?

Yes, many people have been very marked by their childhood loves.

And these letters are the testimony of an era and invite nostalgia.

Do you hope that the protagonists of these letters meet again?

Yes, I would love for them to recognize each other and reconnect.

From there to imagine that couples can be created through this, perhaps not!

Myself I found Simon on Facebook and we exchanged a few messages.

But he quickly removed me from his friends list!

*

You are not beautiful, you are worse!

,

Morgane Pellenec, Albin Michel, 96 pages, 10 euros.

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