> Sensitive Dracula
At the border between musical tale, concert and theater, the Dracula of the National Jazz Orchestra (ONJ) had been imagined for the stage when it was created in December 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic quickly thwarted this fate, but allowed the birth of this magnificent work. On the music of the ONJ, the black and white monotypes of the illustrator, Adèle Maury (winner of the first prize of the Young Talents competition at the Festival d’Angoulême 2020), precipitate the reader-listeners in a closed world, at the same time dark and bright, torn apart by opposing forces. Young Mina searches for her mother and meets Dracula, who was waiting for her. Their voices (performed by women) are soft, their songs sensitive. There is sometimes tenderness, never fear, but moments of musical dissonance, of graphic swirls, which keep the richness and ambivalence of this tale intact until the last moment. For those who wish to continue with the stage, performances are planned in the coming months.
” Dracula ”, illustrations by Adèle Maury, music by the National Jazz Orchestra. ONJ Records, L’Autre Distribution, 92 pages, 25 euros. From 6 years old.
> Window on fear
Beware of appearances, this pretty album says mischievously to toddlers. Thanks to a set of windows opening on each page, we think we see here a house on fire, there the wolf swallowing up the grandmother. We turn, and it’s just a gentle dragon toasting his toast, while Wolf sits quietly at the table for tea. It works both ways: you think you see an “adorable old lady” before coming face to face with a witch and her pot. Exclamations guaranteed when you discover the back kitchen invaded by insects of Madame Cochon, the great cook.
“Look through the window”, by Katerina Gorelik, text adapted by Emma Gauthier. Saltimbanque, 60 pages, 15.90 euros. From 3 years old.
> Disguise yourself!
A group of doggies, cuddly, in the middle of a goose game, hear strange noises in the attic. Rather than face the fearsome enemy with fangs (“But we are not strong enough to beat him”), they opt for disguises, hoping to reverse the fear and scare the monster away. The author Dorothée de Monfreid (Liberation, Pomme d’Api) continues her “Toutous” series, with a talent for drawing that immediately gives the impression of being at home. The album with cardboard pages is a successful variation on a classic frame.
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