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A review by rjvrtiska
Madeline in London by Ludwig Bemelmans
4.0
A fun and fanciful field trip to London. Boarding school girls hop a plane to London to visit the Spanish Embassy - as you do. They adopt a free horse as a gift for the Ambassador’s son - as you do. The horse runs away to join the Queen’s Life Guards for the changing of the guard -as you do. They have to take the horse home on their plane to sleep in the front hall - as you do.
A bit too preposterous for the 9 year olds I read it with to be able to suspend their disbelief, but enjoyable for the absurdity.
My copy of “Madeline” has an appendix that lists the names of the real sites around Paris that are illustrated in the story. I wish this book had the same information for the London sites. I can identity Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace, but there are a few illustrations that are too nondescript for me (who’s only visited once) to name.
Mother Tongue notes: The mention of the Spanish Ambassador and Embassy provided a good opening for discussion for students who may have visited embassies as dual citizens, or expatriates.
There are pages with just 1 line of text, and pages with several lines. Helpful formatting in a group of readers with mixed abilities.
A bit too preposterous for the 9 year olds I read it with to be able to suspend their disbelief, but enjoyable for the absurdity.
My copy of “Madeline” has an appendix that lists the names of the real sites around Paris that are illustrated in the story. I wish this book had the same information for the London sites. I can identity Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace, but there are a few illustrations that are too nondescript for me (who’s only visited once) to name.
Mother Tongue notes: The mention of the Spanish Ambassador and Embassy provided a good opening for discussion for students who may have visited embassies as dual citizens, or expatriates.
There are pages with just 1 line of text, and pages with several lines. Helpful formatting in a group of readers with mixed abilities.