madeline

ramona and i bought her first madeline book yesterday (a compendium of all the stories! yessss!), and i was terribly excited because i loved madeline so much as a young girl. who know parisian boarding school with a nun as headmistress could seem so desirable to a young girl in minnesota? anyway, ramona loves it and i have rediscovered new joys in the stories. ramona and i read the original story 4 times, back to back, this morning (in which our young protagonist has an appendectomy). she was enthralled with the story, and i was enthralled with the illustrations. each page features a drawing of the girls in different recognizable locations around paris. i loved that city, i love recognizing places in the pictures, i love the happy intersection of travel memories and childhood nostalgia, but the thing i love the most? how closely focused and entertained ramona is during the stories. unlike some stories (along frankel's "once upon a potty" or the little golden book "poky little puppy", i'm talking to you) this is a book that i am happy to read over and over and over and over....