Léon art & stories

Hélène Kérillis / Xavière Devos, Les Enfants Parallèles

The principle of the collection is to associate a story, written and drawn, with the details of paintings borrowed from a painter. Hélène Kérillis weaves a story that wanders among the paintings of Léonard Foujita. Self-portraits, portraits, representations of dogs and cats, his universe is rich and quite conducive to this tale. It plays on the link between childhood and the adult world. Little Mimi is the first we meet. She is one of those "Parallel Children" whom nobody sees and who have only one concern: not to disappear totally, not to be forgotten. A cat named Farfelu helps the children and takes them to the Grand Raccommodeur who will solve their problem and avoid them to be completely forgotten. Xavière Devos delicately draws the characters of the story, children, dogs and cats, and blends them perfectly with the reproductions of Foujita's paintings.

The whole is moving and joyful at the same time, tender and full of hope, and Foujita himself in Grand Raccommodeur is well chosen to unite and firmly bind the adults to their child's soul. At the end of the book, as usual, the paintings are reproduced in full with their references, and information allows to better know the painter, his life and his work. Another very nice album, enriching with talent and intelligence this marvellous collection which must absolutely find its place in all libraries.

Let me introduce Léon, the delightful little chameleon who invites you to discover the fascinating world of Art through very familiar day-to-day topics. As I'm sure you love to eat (not only sweets !) and you are interested in all the trades of the world, just like little Léon, let him take you on two knowledgeable trips you won't forget ! He'll be your guide in both French and English as he's perfectly bilingual, you know. It's going to be real fun ! (…)

On the way he'll help you learn a huge quantity of useful and amazing things thanks to his perky comments and sense of humour, and you'll play the games and quizzes included at the end of each book. I'm certain that you'll get on very well with Léon and you'll be delighted to follow him in his new artistic (and linguistic) adventures. Are you ready ? Steady ? Go !!

Suzie is sad and full of sorrows. Her grandpa tries to warm her heart by telling her the story of the great seagull he met when a child, on a stormy day by the sea, who guided his father's boat safely back to the shore. A plain and charming story with delicately illustrated characters who carry us into Claude Monet's paintings of the Channel sea, over cliffs and cool waters, at times heavy with breaking storms. A delightful read radiating with poetic strength.

The cliff paintings by Monet provide a beautiful setting for this story of a child who is friend with gannets. They take him away on their wings to look for his father lost at sea (…)

A very moving and amazing album in which the illustrations mix happily with the reproductions of the paintings. While a very graphic combination of Monet's work with the decidedly modern design and sympathetic drawing of the characters by Xavière Devos, it is also a very poetic and charming story about transmission which will be appreciated by children.

A real coup de coeur !