Our ten favorites in children's literature for the Salon de Montreuil

• The Montreuil Youth Book Fair opens its doors this Wednesday, November 30.

• Not easy to choose from the almost 20,000 titles published each year.

• To help you, the contributing readers of the 20 Minutes Books platform have concocted a selection of ten of their favorite titles.

Where do we find concentrated in the same place hundreds of thousands of books for the little ones, for the juniors, for the teenagers?

At the Montreuil Youth Book Fair, which opens its doors this Wednesday (and until Monday) on the theme Desirs de mondes.

"Opening a window on the perspectives drawn by this literature which knows how to bring unexpected worlds to light, isn't this an absolute urgency of our time in order to offer our children desirable futures?"

asks director Sylvie Vassallo in the show's program.

Faced with this challenge, 280 authors and illustrators officially scheduled and several thousand artists invited to respond to the three thousand “signing times” planned.

And to find your way among the 19,360 titles published in 2021 without falling back on the only best sellers (

JK Rowling or

by Holly Black among the new releases or the first Harry Potter for reissues),

offers you three solutions…

🔥 Showcase of the inventiveness and freshness of youth publishing, Le Grand Marché de la Petite Édition (supported by the @iledefrance region) welcomes this year 50 young and small independent publishing houses engaged in creation.

#SLPJ22

👉https://t.co/GUIxs1E92L pic.twitter.com/p5c3nU0Fsc

– Book and Youth Press Fair (@SLPJ93) November 23, 2022

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1. Consult the kibookin.fr website launched at the end of 2019 by the show and whose ambition is to help readers "not miss a good read" among the thousands of titles available.

2. Wait for the show to award its Pépites (this Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.), four prizes for an illustrated book, a comic strip, a junior fiction and a teenage fiction, in addition to the Golden Nugget for the best book of the year, among 20 in competition.

3. Follow the recommendations of readers contributing to our literary platform, which this year selected ten books among the best of the year, according to Anne-So Echos de Mots, our children's literature specialist, and Christian Dorsan, a writer who has lost none of his childish soul.

Our favorite illustrated novelties (from 6 to 11 years old)

1.

by Timothée de Fombelle, ill.

Benjamin Chaud (Gallimard Youth).

This is the perfect book to get started with reading.

"I observed the postures of children who read, everything they do with their bodies when they fall into the imagination", explains Timothée de Fombelle.

“The bed rug” which reads with your back on the floor but your feet raised on your bed, “the slide” always with your feet raised but flat on your stomach on the floor, “the mop rolled up” in a ball under a table, or even “the heap” of nested children.

For each situation, a comical, amusing, familiar illustration by Benjamin Chaud.

2.

by Jean-Claude Mourlevat, ill.

Antoine Ronzon (Gallimard Youth).

After an excellent first volume, the author brings Jefferson the hedgehog back to life, this time trying to save Simone, the lonely and shy rabbit encountered in the previous opus.

"The adventures of this courageous hedgehog, emphasizes Anne-So Echos de Mots, are accessible thrillers, original and very funny, conveying relevant observations on serious subjects such as animal cruelty, the recruitment of the most vulnerable or even the grief.

Our reader loves this way of adopting "the animal point of view to denounce human stupidity" with the youngest readers.

»

3.

by Ralph Doumit, ill.

Julia Wauters (Helium).

A book in the form of a treasure hunt for a migratory bird that did not wake up like its congeners on the day of departure.

"It's amusing to see him find himself a stranger in a city he knows, but whose codes he doesn't have during the winter season, and who will meet a whole world he hadn't suspected: a librarian passionate, a rogue cat, responsible gardeners.

"How to approach novelty, difference, a change in life, all these themes are approached with a rejoicing imagination", laughs our reader Christian Dorsan, also a writer.

4.

of Myren Duval, ill.

Emma Constant (Le Rouergue).

Because in real life, it's not just children who can fall ill, but also their parents, here is a book on the depression of a mother who was nicely taken care of by her young daughter with the help of her aunt who takes over from her mother.

"Myren Duval shares with us with a lot of humor and vivacity, the exchanges between Doudou and his Tata, underlines Christian Dorsan who read this book with seriousness and fun, "because behind all this energy that children can deploy to take care of adults and taking care of them, hides an immense tenderness.

»

5.

by Alice Brière-Haquet and Appoline Haquet, ill.

Mélody Denturk (Octopus Fictions).

Two sisters visit the Musée d'Orsay during a school outing and are surprised to see "a naked woman between two guys in suits" on Monet's canvas

.

And why are few works signed by women?

Would they have created less than men?

Daughters of an antique dealer and an art restorer, the two sisters in question have become the authors of a book “which makes us discover their passion in a committed, playful and sparkling way.

A pleasure to discover!

exclaims Anne-So Echos de Mots.

Our favorite novelties for teenagers (12 to 17 years old)

1.

by Emiko Jean (Nathan).

All the codes of Japanese culture in a romance for teens, with culture shock as a bonus.

A young American of Japanese origin discovers herself the daughter of the crown prince of Japan.

And here is this teenager who has always had trouble finding her place and who asks herself a lot of questions about her identity, on her way to meet him.

“It's a real literary candy, exclaims Anne-So Echos de Mots, an addictive romance with the scent of the forbidden, where the young heroine's quest turns out to be as exotic as one could wish.

In short, a light story to devour to have fun at any age!

»

2.

by Marie Lenne-Fouquet (Sarbacane).

This is the novel to read on vacation with your heroine who, after a series of disappointments, will follow a surfer during a summer in order to photograph him for his social networks.

“I found myself reading everything all at once, unable to rest such a fresh, funny and well-written reading,” says Anne-So Echos de Mots.

The author juggles with talent between the insecurities and anxieties of her heroine, the slices of laughter between girlfriends, broken hearts and life-changing encounters.

“We forget that the characters are only made of paper and we could almost feel the iodine and the sun on their skin.

»

3.

by Maëlle Desard (Rageot).

Simeon, a 15-year-old half-vampire, half-human whose canines don't seem determined to grow, is about to make his first start at L'Ecole de Minuit, but now some students are disappearing.

“I really like the pen of this fantasy author, funny and full of caustic punchlines, assures Anne-So Echos de Mots.

Here, students, minotaurs, vampires, liches, mermaids or even werewolves are no strangers to the problems encountered by humans and themes such as grossophobia, xenophobia or harassment are subtly introduced without the novel losing a drop of his humor.

»

4.

by Aylin Manco (Sarbacane).

A story of teenagers gathered in a boarding school, mixes romance, hope, pain and horror... when said teenagers discover superpowers that they will not be able to control.

" 

is one of those novels that move the guts and etch themselves forever in the mind of a reader," says Anne-So Echos de Mots.

Here is a literary UFO with fantastic accents without taboos and without filters, populated by heroes who explore their sexuality, the power of their friendship and the devastation of loneliness.

The author surprises and stands out with her incredibly incisive pen and her sometimes luminous, sometimes deliciously macabre universe”.

5.

by John Green (Gallimard).

For fans of The Fault in

(published in 2012 and still 16th best seller), this book, which is not fiction, but rather a sum of the author's reflections released at the beginning of the year is a must.

"The themes are varied and can be dark or perfectly absurd," writes Anne-So Echos de Mots.

But whatever the subject, John Green manages, in a few pages, to captivate and involve the reader.

From the coronavirus to sunsets, passing through the penguins of Madagascar, teddy bears or viral meningitis, his 44 funny, sensitive and fine chronicles follow one another without looking alike.

»

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