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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bemelmans, Ludwig
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Little more than a Madeline Christmas card from Ludwig Bemelmans 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.
"Madeline's Christmas" was originally published as a special book insert in the 1956 Christmas edition of "McCall's" magazine (which is where a shorter version of "Madeline and the Gypsies" would appear a couple of years later). It is the shortest of Ludwig Bemelmans six Madeline books and the only one in which all of the pages have full color illustrations instead of those familiar ones that are predominantly yellow. The story seems at first like it might be a take off on "The Night Before Christmas," since it interjects the first four lines of that poem after beginning with the familiar recap of the old house covered with vines, the twelve girls, and Madeline's inevitable retort to the tiger at the zoo. But it turns out that everybody in the house, from Miss Clavel to a poor mouse, are in bed with cold. Everyone, of course, except for brave little Madeline.
Madeline is taking care of everybody, cleaning and cooking, and when a rug merchant shows up with 12 rugs to sell, she buys them so everybody in the house will not have to put their feet on the cold floor when they get out of bed. Without his rugs the merchant gets frozen and Madeline has to take care of him. By this point you are wondering why this is a Christmas story as opposed one where it is just snowy and cold, but it seems the merchant is also a magician and you know what that makes those rugs.
This is a minor Madeline story and while we finally get to see Madeline's parents, it does make you wonder why the twelve little girls are still at the house all covered with vines at Christmas time. But then it was never clear if Miss Clavel was running a boarding school or an orphanage or what, and I am afraid "Madeline's Christmas" only confuses things (I did a bit of research and discovered Bemelmans was working on the stories his mother told him about life in a convent school in Altotting). So this effort is a trifle all things considered and you will not really find anything inside the book as you find on the cover, with the Eiffel Tower done up like a Christmas tree.
Editorial Review:
Puffin continues to update the Puffin Storytapes™ audio program and convert the cassette tapes to compact discs. This season, we’re adding two more titles to our list of Puffin Storytime™ packages. Madeline’s Christmas, Ludwig Bemelmans’ classic tale of a little French girl named Madeline as she celebrates Christmas, is perfect for this holiday season.These Puffin picture books will be accompanied by a compact disc that features a professional reading of the unabridged story. Perfect for road trips or quiet bedtime reading, as well as story time, preschool, and home school,Puffin Storytime: Madeline’s Christmas is sure to please children and parents alike.
