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Poetry TitlesFrench Poetry Titles
In this recent collection of poetry, Henriette Major regales readers with original and traditional nursery rhymes from Quebec, France and other French-speaking parts of the world. The rhymes just beg to be hummed, acted out or sung aloud for the sheer pleasure of perpetuating the oral tradition. As well as delighting young audiences, this selection of short poems will appeal to parents, grandparents and teachers alike. Free translations of a few of the verses convey the mood. Some make us feel like going for a swim: "Little seabird, tell me, is the water chilly? I'll catch you by your feathers frilly." Others make us giggle: "Me, I like to be tickle-ickle-ickled! Me, I like to be hug-huggy-hugged!" And some make our mouths water: "Mademoiselle Caramel's house is made of candy, her bed of cookies and her sofa of chocolate. Mademoiselle Caramel, your house is good." These rhymes are so catchy you'll find yourself singing them at the most unexpected moments! -ANC
By fusing the names of animals and occupations, L'abécédaire des animots introduces children to 26 very special beings -- the ânessethésiste (donkey-anaesthetist), for example, and the zèbricoleur (zebra-handyman) -- each one funnier than the last and each wearing clothes appropriate to their job. The rest of us might find it all a bit odd, but children will be thrilled to see their favourite animals busy at work. And as well as perfecting their alphabet, they'll get a chance to learn more about several exotic animal species. Photographs of marvellous papier-mâché sculptures of the animots enhance the texts. From the same publisher: L'abécédaire des robots, by Alexis Lefrançois. L'abécédaire des animots was included in the exhibition Beyond the Letters: A Retrospective of Canadian Alphabet Books, organized as part of the International Forum on Canadian Children's Literature, hosted in Ottawa in June 2003 by Library and Archives Canada. The virtual exhibition is still accessible at the following Website: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/abc. -CM
The players in this delightfully witty ABC book are robots created out of papier-mâché by Jacques Thisdel. Each robot represents one of the 26 letters in the alphabet, but instead of appearing at the beginning of the robot's name the letter falls somewhere within it, set off by a typeface that differs in some creative way from the other letters. L'abécédaire des robots thus introduces readers to the letter A with the word "roboA" and the letter B with the word "roBobo." The poems by Alexis Lefrançois present each character in a whirlwind of wordplay, multi-level references and humour, and the content of the fast-moving verses is lively and amusing. In the poem about the roboA, for example, there's a subtle allusion to the snake in the Garden of Eden, and the roboTTine is said to have a penchant for kicking! L'abécédaire des robots is suitable for a wide range of ages, since its various reading levels can be decoded by young children or preteens in the context of French, visual arts or integrated arts courses. From the same publisher: L'abécédaire des animots, by Marjolaine Bonenfant and Robert Soulières. L'abécédaire des robots was included in the exhibition Beyond the Letters: A Retrospective of Canadian Alphabet Books, organized as part of the International Forum on Canadian Children's Literature, hosted in Ottawa in June 2003 by Library and Archives Canada. The virtual exhibition is still accessible at the following Website: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/abc. -JP
André Duhaime, author of Haïku sans frontières (Éditions David, 1998), specializes in haiku, a classical form of Japanese poetry consisting of just three lines. His collection entitled Automne! Automne!, part of a series on the four seasons in northern climes, contains 12 full-page colour illustrations and 18 poems. The original vision of illustrator Francine Couture magnifies some of the objects depicted, exaggerating their proportions to striking effect. Her drawings conjure the world of two children -- a world filled with things floating or whirling in the wind. Alternating with the gently swirling images, the short poems evoke the moods of autumn and the changes it brings about in both nature and people: "From morning till night / You must find something to do / The rain has not stopped." Fall is the season of earthy smells, crisp air, dead leaves, violent winds and the torrential rains that sometimes, ambushed by the cold, turn into the first snow. The character of autumn is memorably portrayed here in simple, poetic language and dynamic pictures. -JMB
Setting off to explore the world with no guide other than a collection of poems is the adventure that Édith Bourget offers her readers. In some 30 poems, Gabrielle, who "Lives in a white house / Surrounded by a big garden," invites us to roam with her along the route the verses trace across the page. In a tornado of freshness and feeling, she draws us into her world -- a poetic universe inhabited by her family and her cat, but also shaped by the spectacle of a storm and the rhythm of life's songs. The simple but powerful illustrations, all in tones of blue, bring to life a delightful rural setting. -DSH
In this collection, around 30 lively poems by Gilles Tibo on the theme of the moon are combined with pictures by five well-known illustrators: Stéphane Jorisch, Marie Lafrance, Mireille Levert, Luc Melanson and Stéphane Poulin. A celebrated author and talented illustrator who has won many awards, Gilles Tibo is a leading figure in the world of children's literature. These texts are ideal for reading aloud. One, entitled "La lune de papier," explains how poets have always yearned to write lengthy love poems on the "paper moon." Another, "Les ballons blancs," tells of moonless nights when children of all colours dream they are walking, hand in hand, beneath a sky filled with huge white balloons. The texts themselves arouse young imaginations and encourage a taste for words and poetry, while the full-page illustrations, packed with fascinating detail, bring a marvellous sense of fantasy to the whole. The pictures have been created in a range of techniques and styles, and each one has a powerful narrative component that permits readers to anticipate the subject of the accompanying text. In this large-format book, both texts and illustrations can be approached at different levels of reading and understanding. Autour de la lune is a beautiful publication that can be read and looked at many times over -- an endless source of pleasure for the young and the not so young. -AC
In her quest for that "pearl, the poem that 'speaks' to children," Henriette Major, a writer of school textbooks and specialist in children's literature, has created this unique anthology which presents 124 poems and 72 selected Quebec authors to children, their parents and their teachers. The compiler stresses that her aim was not to produce a collection of poems written specifically for children but rather to present a "fresh view of the world," one that she feels young people and poets share. To help readers negotiate their way through this treasury, the poems -- some of which have never been published before -- are presented under 10 themes that include such evocative titles as "Poem Trees," "Play and Poetry" and "It's Snowing Poems." The coloured illustrations that link the various sections are both inspiring and original, while other amusing and appealing pictures enhance the texts throughout the book. In his acrobatic approach to the alphabet, well-known illustrator Marc Mongeau gives entirely new meaning to the term 'wordplay!' -JMB
With Averses et réglisses noires, Carole David, winner of the Prix Émile-Nelligan, presents her first collection of poems intended specifically for teenagers. The essence of this poetry lies in metamorphosis, the search for the other -- always ephemeral, receptive to what is beyond understanding, eager for a future world where child and adult will move forward in harmony. In a succession of strokes, Averses et réglisses noires portrays that uncharted land, that void bursting with life, that joy suffused with terror that is adolescence. A mute anguish sometimes deepens the sense of loss that emanates from this choppy, urban language. But once the desert has been crossed, we discern through the darkness the delicate glimmer of a face, the echo of a word. Every sentence seems to illuminate the next in this fragment of a life yet to be invented. The collection is illustrated throughout with lithographs by artist Kiki Athanassiadis, each symbolizing a window opening from the realm of poetry onto the world, each a kind of sign that inspires reflection. -DSH
For the pleasure of discovering the contemporary poetry of Francophone Canada, nothing can beat this short anthology of around 50 poems, presented in six sections whose titles translate roughly as "A Menagerie of Words," "Love and the Everyday," "Seasons," "The Revolving Planet," "Where Are You, Life?" and "A Dreamer Passes." Each section opens with a 19th-century poet, and the writers as a whole, hailing from Manitoba to New Brunswick, represent a range of Canadian experience and include new Canadians and members of First Nations. The collection encompasses free and more traditional verse, some rhyming, some not, although the phonic wordplay and rhythms have a definitely modern flavour. This is reinforced in both the themes (animals and the art of writing, for example) and the forms (most notably in a few poems that are punctuation-free). But readers are invited to share in a variety of creative visions, approaches and styles. Caroline Merola's snappy and original black-and-white illustrations instil a sense of pace but also offer certain interpretative pointers, the iconographical vocabulary serving to complement the language of the poets. -BF
This book and its accompanying CD feature 20 nursery rhymes for children from three to seven years old. A few of the rhymes -- such as "Am Stram Gram" and "Trotte, trotte la souris" -- are traditional, while others are brand new. In the book, each is coupled with a picture by an acclaimed illustrator. We encounter the endearing toads, dragonflies and birds that flow from Steve Beshwaty's colourful brush. Marie-Louise Gay displays her talents as a magician in marvellously subtle collages: the cat with the fish-shaped eyes and the froggy opera diva with her musical-score dress are moments of pure visual poetry. The sweet softness of Mireille Levert's pictorial universe incorporates entertaining picture riddles, but the big bad wolf still lurks, ready to send shivers down young spines. Stéphane Jorisch's dreamy world is gentle and full of fantasy: shoes become flying machines and a snail's shell morphs easily into a fabulous dwelling. The CD's energetically sung versions of the rhymes provide a perfect complement to the book, and each one is followed by a sung musical dictation designed to help small children learn the tune. A section at the end of the book contains suggestions for a number of teaching activities, including rhythm and sound exercises, musical games and dances. All in all, a book-CD combination that is ideal for day-care centres, nursery schools and kindergartens. -JP
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