Beatrice AlemagnaRezensionen

Authentic kid experience, authentic kid feelings.

When a girl has a fall and gets a bloody knee, her parents assure her it will become a scab, which will eventually fall off, but it sticks around long enough that it begins to talk to her! The girl names the scab Pepper ("after the puppy I never managed to get"). They talk to each other until one day, Pepper falls off, and the girl leaves her in a garden of poppies.

A peculiar premise with perfect execution.

This was released by a new imprint that publishes picture books for young adults and adults. A retelling of Snow White that stays true to the dark tone of the original Grimm's tale, accompanied by equally dark European folk art inspired illustrations.

Thanksgiving weekend family picture book read-aloud fun! (Book 6 of 13.)

I'm not a real fan of the art, but I was amused by the grandfather's garbling of Little Red Riding Hood and his obvious desire to be doing anything other than telling this story.

Recommended by Betsy Bird

"Not in your wildest dreams, Grandpa!"

A grandfather mangles the story of Little Red Riding Hood, his granddaughter offering corrections throughout. In the end, she gets a quarter for bubble gum and he gets to go back to his newspaper.

HUGE appeal for kids, and funny for grown-ups too. I want to make a flannel board (grandpa, girl, Little Red, Wolf, etc.) and do this with elementary classes.

Full text: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sIQCEohd166W9kk2csp-_ZUKonRYsjqzscHnRrvHTo4/....½

Kids will love this book in which a grandfather is telling his granddaughter the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” but keeps mixing up the elements of the story. He first calls her “Little Yellow Riding Hood,” then “Little Green Riding Hood,” and so on. Each time his granddaughter corrects him, he veers off into other changes of the story’s details. Little Red goes to her aunt’s house to take a potato peel; she meets a giraffe in the woods; she is questioned by a horse…. Finally the little girl says in frustration, “Grandpa, you really don’t know how to tell a story. You get everything wrong. But all the same, can I have a quarter to buy some bubble gum?” He replies, “Sure you can. Here you go.” And grandpa, the author notes wryly, went back to reading his newspaper.

Illustrator Beatrice Alemagna uses whimsical marker- and wash-textured illustrations that are as fun as the story itself.

This delightful book would make an excellent choice for reading aloud.

Première version du conte.

Great story based on an actual statue. Beautifully illustrated and collaged.

beautifully illustrated with creative collage

beautifully illustrated with extra touches of glassine / clear overlay pages.

PRESTATO A NICOLA PARENTI IL 4-LUGLIO 2022 RESTITUITO IL 3/09/2022

This story follows a quirky bat who is hesitant about starting school. It follows her journey of her first day of school and what she experiences. It is a cute story about starting school and feeling like you always need your parents but sometimes you just need your parents nudge to help you along the way.

clever book about a bat going to school for the first time

The artwork is beautiful. The story is sweet. I think something is lost in translation though.

I understand the message the book is trying to convey but it is a little odd.

Picture-book author and artist Béatrice Alemagna explores the impermanence of the world, and of most of human experience in this lovely work, describing and depicting any number of things that go away. From music flying away to dark thoughts fading, from fear dissipating to hair falling out - nothing lasts forever. Nothing, that is, save the love of one's mother...

Originally published in French as Choses qui s'en vont, and alternatively translated into English as Forever (UK) and as Things That Go Away (USA), this smallish picture-book features an interesting design. A sheer, vellum-like page is used to separate the two sides of each two-page spread, producing a slight difference in appearance when turned, that demonstrates the change created when each item or experience being described disappears. The illustrations themselves, done in oil paint, are naive but appealing, with the occasional flash of vivid color that I have come to associate with Alemagna's work, from her The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy to On a Magical Do-Nothing Day. The theme itself is engaging, although I wasn't quite as involved, emotionally speaking, as I expected to be, given my appreciation for the creator's past work, and the strong recommendation that came with this one, from an online friend. Still, I do recommend it, both to fellow admirers of Alemagna, and to picture-book readers looking for stories about the impermanence of most experience, and the deep and abiding love that parents have for their children.½

Not really for me. Born is Italy, Giselle is made entirely of glass, transparent and people can see her thoughts. When she is young, her neighbors assuage her fears, but as she ages and her thoughts are darker, she is shunned or worse, causing physical changes, eventually causing her to move away. However, things don't improve when she is away and she returns. I was not a fan of the art either.

A glorious book showing us how the world can come alive when we stop staring at screens. There is magic in the discovery of the natural world on a rainy day. Not only that, but in 'doing nothing' at the end with her mother, saying nothing; just being in each other's company. Beautiful illustrations immerse us in the humour and beauty of the outside world and the thoughts of a young gamer-girl. The girl glows in her orange jacket, echoing colours of toadstools and a rainbow in the wet landscapes.

This is a very good book. This is definitely geared for a very young audience, probably early elementary students. As you can tell from the title, it is a very good book when looking at adjectives with young kids.

"In life, many things go away. They transform, they pass by."

Semi-transparent pages are used to great effect here, as each vellum-like page between the paper pages has a shape that overlays the picture beneath - on both sides of the page. (Falling leaves on the recto become a pattern on a sweater on the verso, etc.).

The one thing that doesn't go away? Love.

*
Re-read June 2023

velum style paper carries images from one page to the other.
fun to read.

100% ca-UTE.

This little thing meets everyone in some sort of way, but not everyone accepts it, sees it, or uses it. Some people use it in different ways and it brings out different things in different people. The story keeps you wondering what this little thing is until the very last page. I thought it was imagination because some people can fear imagination because they feel they have to conform to the norm, whereas some people use their imagination to be creative which can make them happy. The last page of this story reveals to the reader that this big little thing is HAPPINESS. I think this book is really cool because the reader can interpret it any way they want. It really made me think about how I view things and how I can utilize the simple things in life.

Such a wholesome story, guaranteed to tug at your heart strings a little bit. Teacher read this to us on the first day of the new semester and I really think it is going to set the tone for the whole thing. Not only is the story just so bright and amazing, the illustration is great too. I would read this to my kids if I had any.

Something mysterious keeps slipping out of the grasp of the characters in the story. The author leaves readers wondering what the characters in the story are looking and waiting for. She builds up to the reveal of the mysterious "big little thing," letting readers in on the secret that she is talking about happiness on the very last page of the book. This is a sweet story that is enjoyable for any and all ages.½