Three children’s books with crazy animals

> (De) connected palmipeds

The advantage, when you transform all the characters into funny penguins, is that you can tackle serious themes without damaging the atmosphere. In this book, it is about a palmiped grandpa who is starting to tire. He is still lively enough to catch a fish straight away by digging a hole in the ice floe, spoil his grandson with seaweed candy and herring ice cream … but he is also capable of forgetting to go get him there. school, losing their keys or setting fire to their igloo (the absurdity of flaming ice is openly assumed). The grandson and his pre-teen buddies decide to help him by building a new, state-of-the-art home for him, where a push of a button is all it takes for the vacuum to work on its own or for an automatic arm to operate. pan-fry some pancakes. Will technology save us from advanced decay? Not sure, but in any case, young audiences love the idea.

> MC Marmoset

Banana Radio has everything to please the young reader: a catchy title, friendly animal characters, rhythmic action, very understandable text and illustrations deployed in a substantial format (76 pages, 7 chapters). The plot is played out in the heart of the jungle, where the marmoset Aristotle discovers a plane wreck. The radio is still on, so he embarks on developing a show with his buddies. He takes care of the jokes (“What is the favorite geometric figure of ducks?” The squares because there are a lot of corners, corners, corners ”, it’s a gift), the toucan ensures the weather, the tarantulas and the snake play music… Little by little, “Radio Banana” ends up being broadcast in the United States, makes a hit there, so much so that celebrities / look-alikes of Karl Lagerfeld, Keith Richards or Hillary Clinton decide to go and meet animals in their jungle. Each of its kind contributes to the lightness of this story which, while gently poking fun at the desire for fame or greed of humans, does not seek to prove anything, rather to entertain the gallery.

> Black belt guinea pig

English writer Zadie Smith, who has published some fantastic adult novels (Beauty, wolf smiles …), embarks on his first youth album co-written with his companion, the North Irish novelist Nick Laird. Here, it is not a question of racism or midlife crisis, but of the difficulties of adaptation of a judoka guinea pig which is offered to Kit, a little girl who already owns a dog, a cat and a parrot. The other animals, a little jealous of this new recruit, do not understand his judoka outfit (neither does the reader for that matter), make fun of him, nickname him “Goofy”. Bruised guinea pig lands with exuberant old neighbor, who cheers him up by explaining that it’s better to be “Dingo” to enjoy life. Finally, all’s well that ends well: Goofy accepts himself as he is, his new companions take up judo and take a good beating. And the young reader is very satisfied.