Adele & Simon

Instant classic is like a kid tour of 1900s Paris.

Author: Barbara McClintock Pages: 40 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Published Date: 09/05/2006 Genre: Fiction - Picture Book HC Price: $16.00 Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: 4-8 Read Aloud: 4+ Read Alone: 6+

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this beautifully illustrated story contains adventure, art, and plenty to look at as Adele and Simon make their way home through the streets of Paris. It contains nothing offensive or objectionable.

Families can find plenty to talk about in all of the places Adele and Simon go. This is the Parisian world of the early 1900s, the belle epoque. Detailed illustrations fill the pages with bustling city scenes, fossil-packed museums, parks, puppet shows, passing parades and acrobats. Kids can trace the route Adele and Simon take on the endpaper map of Paris Streets, noting each indexed stop the two take on their way home. Or, they can learn more about the real facts of the places the children visit, also included at the end of the book. If that is not enough for families to look at together, they can help search each page for the thing Simon has lost along the way, or look for small details, such as the Madelines in the Jardin des Plantes, that have been sprinkled through the pages. Of course, they might also talk about why Simon loses his things, why he go on without finding them, how his sister must feel, and how lucky he is that the townspeople helped him out in the end.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Patricia Tauzer

Anyone traveling to Paris with their kids should definitely read this book, but armchair travelers will enjoy it, too. The adventures of ADELE & SIMON are memorable, the places they go are real places, and their book is the real deal. From cover to cover, it's a classic.

Against the cream-colored background, a sketch of the Eiffel Tower and cobblestone streets, the story of Adele & Simon begins. From Simon's school, he and his older sister take the long way home. Their journey wends through Jardin des Plantes down Boulevard Germain, then to Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, the Metro station at St. Michel, even stopping at the Louvre, Maison Cador (a patisserie and tea salon since the 1870s), and Cathedrale de Notre-Dame, before spiraling back home (which really could have been reached by a less adventurous, less exciting, and much shorter route).

Along the way, Simon loses one thing after another, which makes everyone (including the reader) stop and look around for a while. With gentle color and delicately drawn sketches, Barbara McClintock has painted so much realistic detail into each scene that the missing books or crayons or hat seem almost inconsequential ... even though, with careful searching, each can be found.

With a slight twist at the end, the story develops in a simple and inevitable way. However, the artistic and historical richness of each page, including the covers and endpapers, make this a book that will be memorable to both kids and adults alike.

From The Book

At the corner they stopped to talk to Madame Biscuit, the grocer.
She gave them each an apple.
After a while Simon tugged on Adele's sleeve.
"Where's my drawing?" he asked.
The looked and looked, and looked again, but couldn't find it.
So off they went without the drawing to the park nearby.

Plot Summary:

As Simon walks home from school, through the streets of Paris with his older sister Adele, they are both caught up in the excitement of the city. They stop by the grocer, the park, the natural history museum, a bakery, and an art museum. They even stop to watch a puppet show, a parade, and an acrobatic show.

Along the way they make new friends and meet old ones, and Simon loses one thing after the other. By the time they get home he no longer has his drawing of a cat, his books, scarf, crayons, gloves, hat, crayons, backpack, jacket, or sweater. However, they have had a day of happy adventures and pleasant memories in a world where friends, new and old, enjoy and help one another.