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#80 Madeline’s Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans (1953)
25 points

While Ludwig Bemelmans penned many a sequel of his original smash picture book hit Madeline, I think it’s fair to say (and not too much of a spoiler) that the only one of those worth its salt at all was Madeline’s Rescue.  One almost wonders if the Madeline enterprise currently in operation today would even exist were it not for the fact that M2 became as popular as M1 and won itself a Caldecott Award proper (an honor that eluded M1, which got an Honor but still . . .)

The Scholastic store describes the plot in this way: “On a walk through Paris one day with her schoolmates, Madeline trips and falls off a bridge into the Seine River. Saved by a dog in a daring rescue, Madeline, the girls, and their teacher, Miss Clavel, quickly realize that they must take the heroic dog back to the school with them. Once there, they feed her biscuits, milk, beef, and name her “Genevieve.” All is puppy heaven for six months (with the only fly in the ointment being who gets to sleep with Genevieve each night), until the trustees, led by the snobbish Lord Cucuface, come for a school inspection. Horrified at the idea of a dog in their school, the trustees cast Genevieve out onto the street. Vowing vengeance, Madeline and the girls and Miss Clavel scour the streets of Paris in search of their beloved and missing pet. The girls return home dogless and broken-hearted, but in the middle of the night, Genevieve comes back and once again, the girls can resume the argument over who gets to sleep with her each night. In a surprise ending, Genevieve has pups enough for each girl to have one, and peace is restored.”

In her 100 Best Books for Children, Anita Silvey makes mention of a Madeline’s Rescue fact that may not be widely known.  “Known for her tireless pursuit of talented authors, the editor May Massee first met Ludwig Bemelmans at a dinner at his home and published his first book, Hansi.  But Massee and several other publishers turned down Madeline because it seemed too sophisticated for children.  However, she did publish Bemelmans’s sequels, beginning with Madeline’s Rescue, and purchased the rights to reissue the original book.”  Hey, better late than never.

These days those of you interested in anything and everything Madeline related will be pleased to hear that the torch has been passed on to Bemelmans’ own heir.  John Bemelmans Marciano is the man behind the more recent Madeline books.  An interview with him is available here at Reading Rockets.  His story is rather interesting in and of itself.  As the website says, “While looking through some of his grandfather’s belongings, Marciano discovered a completed manuscript for a Madeline story with rough sketches that hinted at what the final illustrations might look like. Bemelmans Marciano took this story and developed a finished set of drawings to publish Madeline in America and Other Holiday Tales, a new addition to the series his grandfather started.”  I always wondered what the deal was with that book.

• Fun background information for kids on the bridge Madeline’s tumbles from.

• Here are ten facts you may or may not know about Madeline.

I believe they even made it an episode of the Madeline T

Children’s book character Madeline stars in this year’s L.A. Times’ Festival of Books artwork. The illustration celebrates the new book, Madeline at the White House by John Bemelmans Marciano.

Marciano is the grandson of original Madeline author/illustrator, Ludwig Bemelmans. Jacket Copy reports: “He never met his grandfather, but he uses the same materials Bemelmans did, including gouache and ‘pens that you have to dip in ink.’ Ludwig Bemelmans started with a pencil sketch and then did an ink drawing over that — as does Marciano.”

In this video, the author explains that the new book was inspired by his grandfather’s friendship with former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. In total, Marciano has published five Madeline titles, continuing the six-book series created by his grandfather. Marciano has also written Bemelmans: The Life and Art of Madeline’s Creator and stand-alone titles like Harold’s Tail and There’s a Dolphin in the Grand Canal.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

I don’t particularly like promoting consumerism and suggesting people buy stuff, but as I’ve been looking for fun items related to children’s literature for upcoming birthdays and Christmas I thought I’d share my finds with you once a week. Frivolous fun, but maybe you’ll spot something that is just right for you!

The post on Playing by the book which continues, month in, month out to attract the most visitors is the one I wrote for my 100th post – all about the Barbapapas. Our Barbapapa family is still played with daily, and so when I saw the new range of Barbapapa clothes and accessories from Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) I immediately knew some of these fun items would be making their way into Christmas and birthday presents!

Photo: H&M

Photo: H&M

Photo: H&M

There are hairclips, hairbands, pyjamas, rompers and even a little Barbapapa handbag – lots of goodies which could be paired up perfectly with a Barbapapa book. The UK online shop doesn’t deliver outside the UK, but H&M does have a presence in quite a few countries, and some of them also offer online shopping.

Here’s another book-related item that caught my eye…

Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store

Greetings cards for Christmas with an image from children’s book author and illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans (American, 1898–1962), available from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store, which does ship internationally.

Two classics from the Overlook backlist were featured in The New York Times Style Magazine last Sunday: Hotel Bemelmans and When You Have Lunch with the Emperor, both available in paperback editions. Holly Brubach writes of her new discovery in the BiblioFile column: "One day there appeared in my mailbox a gift from a friend — "Hotel Bemelmans" (The Overlook Press), a selection of Bemelmans's autobiographical essays previously published in four different volumes, all of them now out of print. What a discovery! Reading, I became so engrossed that I was late leaving the house for an appointment and I rode past my stop on the subway. It is perhaps a comment on the company I keep that most of the friends I surveyed knew Bemelmans primarily as the namesake for the bar at the Carlyle hotel. A few had never heard of him at all. How was it that a writer so remarkable and gifted had fallen so completely off the radar? It was as if, as a music lover, I'd gotten this far in life and then suddenly stumbled upon Haydn or Schubert. If ever a writer's reputation were ripe for reinvention, it's Bemelmans's."

BY LUDWIG BEMELMANS via Chris Beetles

Good literature promotes literacy. Reading to children promotes literacy. Promoting a love of books through the example of reading promotes literacy. And sharing a story together, at the end of the day especially, offers a moment of harmony and oasis in family life, which sometimes has to be safe-guarded from the encroachment of action-packed schedules. So all in all, a bedtime story is a win-win scenario, whichever way you look at it!

It can, however, be a daunting prospect for some parents, so today on Books at Bedtime I’d like to focus on two resources which offer parents some tools to help make storytelling a joy for all concerned.

The first is the Storytelling Bibliographies page on The Center for Children’s Books’ website. These booklists encompass stories from all over the world which make great readalouds, arranged by themes such as Phases of the Moon, Tales about Fools, Latino Folktales, Native American Tales… The links to Storytelling Websites offer rich scope and I especially like thie process advocated here for using a book as a springboard for someone to tell a story; and for listeners then to extend that storytelling experience. Such activities will lead children to love books and to love words themselves… the next generation of storytellers and writers?

And the other resource is Australian writer Mem Fox reading extracts from her book Reading Magic – her web-page And Do It Like This offers a step-by-step guide to reading stories aloud to children. She also has her 10 Read Aloud Commandments – here’s number 10 :

Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, because you just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

And you can hear her putting all these hints and pieces of advice into action herself, reading three of her stories, including her avowed favorite Koala Lou: and she reads them beautifully.