Favorite readings are something to be shared and our community recommends one of the ten novels selected from among the Gems of the Montreuil Children's Book Fair every day.
Today, a novel in the “junior fiction” category (7-11 years old), “What do we do when it rains?
by Ralph Doumit published on August 24, 2022 by Éditions Helium.
Christian Dorsan, author, blogger and contributor to the 20 Minutes Books reading group, recommends
What do we do when it rains?
by Ralph Doumit, published on August 24, 2022 by Éditions Helium and selected among the Pépites for the best junior novel (7-11 years old) at the Book and Youth Press Fair, from November 30 to December 5 in Montreuil.
His favorite quote:
They left without me, he mumbled as if talking to himself.
What am I going to become ?
I… I can't make the trip alone, I would get lost from the first minute… It's not for nothing that storks lead the flight… Migrating alone is… it's simply impossible!
Why this book?
Because this book proves that the imagination is important:
it helps to better understand the world around us.
Otto the migratory bird feels different, especially since he does nothing like the others: a strange character sold him an alarm clock that didn't ring the morning of the flight.
And here he finds himself a stranger in a city he knows but whose codes he does not have during the winter season.
Because the treasure hunt that the bird undertakes
will make him meet a whole world he did not suspect: responsible gardeners, a passionate librarian, a rogue cat through which he will discover that wickedness has roots and that listening can lessen it.
A whole imaginary world which is the reflection of our world.
Because the illustrations of Julia Wauters
decorate the book, very successful retro illustrations.
A beautiful book to give away.
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot.
Otto is a musical migratory bird who has missed winter flight.
Distraught, he doesn't know what to do in a city in winter.
A mysterious character in a yellow raincoat will lead him on a treasure hunt thanks to which he will make strange encounters.
Characters.
Otto the migratory bird, Mr. Lionel the luthier, Léonie the weasel gardener and his friends, Basile the musician cat and his companions, Octave the librarian dog and a mysterious character in a yellow raincoat.
Places.
An imaginary town populated by animals.
The time.
Timeless.
The author.
Ralph Doumit is a Lebanese author and illustrator, he teaches at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts and has published several children's novels.
The illustrations are by Julia Wauters, an artist from Nantes.
This book was read with
childlike pleasure: how to accept a change in life, how to approach difference, novelty, all these themes are approached with a joyful imagination.
From 9 years old.
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Book sheet 20 Minutes
Books
Youth
Book Fair
Montreuil
Ile-de-France
Child