> What do you see doudou saying then?
It’s not really a runaway, more of a forced landing. Nino, Simon’s soft toy, falls out of the stroller during a walk in the forest. He will stay there a whole night, pampered by the animals, walked on the back of a fox through the nightlife of the woods. The opportunity to change point of view: in the pages of this rectangular album unfolds, among other things, a panoramic drawing of the village where Nino and Simon live, seen from a high branch. What is “home”? How do you look at it when you live elsewhere? How do others live? A slow tempo adventure.
“Nino”, by Anne Brouillard. Les éditions des éléphants, 36 pages, 14 euros. From 3 years old.
> The garden when it rains, it kicks me!
The statement smacks of dusty Sundays with boredom, where you drag your slippers from one room to another in the house: “Camille has read all her books, arranged her box of pencils by color and no one pays attention to her. Mom reads the newspaper while Dad folds the clean laundry. “ But, as repeat ad nauseam the development manuals of our dear toddlers overbooked with activities, boredom is good for children. Of which act: Camille discreetly jumps out of the window into her garden and… it’s raining. Nothing else. Finally, if: a column of ants, a plump hedge, a complexed sword, a chrysalis. Imagination at work, and a busy morning.
“Here is the rain”, by Mathieu Pierloot and Maria Dek. Motus, 44 pages, 15 euros. From 4 years old.
> Dive into the belly of time with Jonas
This is called being persistent – or stubborn, it depends. A bit like Jacques Mayol in The big Blue, Jonas wants to dive into the seabed, and stay there. Beyond the graphic beauty of this work, in a gradient of greens, blues, turquoise, it is the structure that makes it original. The story departs from the classic temporality of children’s books to embrace the long time, that of a life. We thus cross the ages of the hero with the chapters (“Jonas, 2 years old”, “Jonas, 8 years old”, “Jonas, 18 years old”, and so on until 80 years old), to narrate this long-term escape. . The colors darken as Jonah’s beard whitens. No disclosures, but important information: it ends better than The big Blue.
“Le Rêve de Jonas”, by Marlies van der Wel, translated from Dutch by Rose-Marie Vassallo. Kaleidoscope, 84 pages, 14.20 euros. From 4 years old.