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My granddaughter Madeline loved this book. It's great to see your name on a book.
Our granddaughter was in "Madeline's Christmas" play in December. Both sets of grandparents, parents and her sister signed a copy of this book with a personal message. We gave it to her after her participation in the play. Our hope is that she will be able to share this great story with her own children and possibly grandchildren some day.
The combination of English, French, and French accented English is more confusing than enlightening. The book with printed story and pictures is excellent, deserving a 5-star rating. The CD, however, seems totally inappropriate for an audience of 3- to 6-year-olds. The CD content goes far beyond the content of the printed pages, adding to the confusion potential. The print-audio combination might work for some older children, but the story is most likely to interest younger ages.
It was written quite some time ago,and times have changed. These are the older versions, the original versions and perhaps some people that are "newcomers" to the Madeline scene are use to the newer look of Madeline. I grew up reading Madeline. As for the storyline itself, I found it a subtle Christmas story; not drenched in Christmas, but rather in fancy and imagination. Not so bad. It doesnt really carry a religious theme, but I guess that could make it more "readable" for children of every faith. Im not exactly sure what people are looking for with this book. It does not read like a Dr.Seuss, and does not flow perfectly all the time; but neither do any of the other Madeline stories.
My daughter, upon having this read to her responded that she liked it because it showed how nice Madeline was to everyone, and how the Carpet Merchant repaid kindness with giving something fun and special to the children (the magic carpet ride home to see their parents) for Christmas. The verse of the story did not seem "forced" to me or odd at all. That was good enough reason for me to say it was a good book. This story, I did not purchase due to the previous reviews so I checked it out at the Library, but will be purchasing it after reading it with my daughter. So this book wont have santa in it. I am a Christian, but I personally see nothing wrong with a story at Christmas time that teaches giving, makebelieve, and kindness even if it leaves out the religious aspects.
My 4 yr old daughter loves every Madeline story, and not because they are simply Madeline stories, but because they have a unique, vintage read to them. The illustrations are typical Bemelmans, so I am not sure what that former reviewer was referring to. Madeline is shown taking care of everyone, even a stranger who comes to her door, and returns again to her door when he finds himself in a bad way. The great thing about reviews is that anyone can leave one, and everyone has different opinions about books because we are all individuals, so it is probably best to read all the reviews and then if you are still unsure, check it out at the library first.
Very funny book (as all the others of L. Bemelmans), and a very good Christmas gift for children of all ages.
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