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The Dadmag Guide To Children's Books
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Madeline
(Ages 2-up)
Ludwig Bemelman's Dufy-esque pictures and resonant rhymes create a charm around the orderly Parisian existence orchestrated by the nun Miss Clavell in Madeline. If the order must be disrupted, then a benevolent power-the author-- chooses the bravest of the twelve little girls, Madeline, to face the appendix operation. The night after the little girls visit their recovering classmate they all start crying. Hospital-borne infection? No, they only want the toys and candy that Madeline got. Miss Clavell, modeling good parenting, is relieved and understanding when she delivers her admonition. If you're reading, you get to intone those envy-dispelling lines and then read the final words in a whisper that decreases into silence. With luck, your kid is now asleep, possibly dreaming of France.
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