Last weekend, while at a nearby yard sale, I happened upon a box full of French children's literature. Upon sorting through the titles I soon discovered to my surprise (quelle surprise!) my much beloved Nancy Drew (aka Alice Détective) amongst the well-worn spines. Turns out the entire Nancy Drew series, by the mysterious Carolyn Keene (Caroline Quine, en France) was published in French in the mid-1900s, shortly after the 1st editions of the series were published in the U.S. Given my love of this female super sleuth, I was positively tickled! Comment magnifique!I also picked up several other French children's titles, part of collections published by Hachette Books beginning in the early 1900s–Bibliotheque Rose and Bibliotheque Verte. These collections, or systems of classification, were designed to promote reading in children and adolescents throughout France, with Bibliotheque Rose meant for school-age children, and Bibliotheque Verte for pre-teens. I am quite enamored by the simple graphics of this system–check out those beautiful rose-colored spines! Très beau!
P.S. Listen here for more about the beloved books of our youth, and the mysteries of childhood...
3 comments:
such a great find!!
ah, ah !!! These remind me so much of my childhood. We had a real crush for the Alice serie with my sister that we read in this " collection verte" meant for grown up children as the "rose" one was for smaller kids.
I still have them, beautiful cette bibliotheque verte. I read them afrond 1963-1966
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