France

Materials from France

Help! We Need A Title!

What if you picked out a book to read, but the characters weren’t ready for you yet

Take a peek inside this book and you’ll find some characters (though they’re still a bit sketchy). They’ll be perplexed to see you, so they’ll quickly try to track down their author (who has a lot more work to do). What you won’t find is a story, or a title, because — guess what? The book isn’t finished yet! But surely the author must have a story to tell? In this charming “meta” picture book, children of all ages are encouraged to interact with a book still in the process of being invented. And that’s a story in itself!

The Pilot and the Little Prince

This story is the life of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Little Prince. He was born in France in 1900, when airplanes were just being invented. Antoine dreamed of flying and grew up to be a pilot—and that was when his adventures began. He found a job delivering mail by plane, which had never been done before. He and his fellow pilots traveled to faraway places and discovered new ways of getting from one place to the next. Antoine flew over mountains and deserts. He battled winds and storms. He tried to break aviation records, and sometimes he even crashed. From his plane, Antoine looked down on the earth and was inspired to write about his life and his pilot-hero friends in memoirs and in fiction. Peter Sís’s remarkable biography celebrates the author of The Little Prince, one of the most beloved books in the world.

Cherry and Olive

Cherry Sullivan prefers reading books to playing with the other children in her class. They make fun of her for being plump, and they are not nearly as entertaining as the adventures she reads about. Though she’s shy and keeps to herself, Cherry secretly longs for a friend. When she discovers a stray dog at her father’s animal shelter that is also plump and shy (and a bit wrinkly), she names her Olive and they become fast friends. Cherry finds the courage within herself to stand up for the dog and protect her—something she has not been able to do for herself. nbsp;nbsp; Beautifully illustrated, this touching story is sure to strike a chord with all who have ever felt a little lonely and yearned for a friend.

Jim Curious

Jim Curious portrays the fantastical story of a young boy and his thrilling trip to the bottom of the sea in an old-fashioned diving suit. But there are no words telling his tale—only intricately illustrated images in exceptional 3-D. On his journey, Jim initially passes the garbage tossed into the waters by land-dwellers, but soon he goes deeper and deeper, immersing himself in the wonders of the waters. He encounters sea creatures large and small, a sunken pirate ship, and even the rem­nant of what seems to be Atlantis, before coming upon a mysterious force at the bottom that turns everything on its head.