Madeline's Rescue (by Ludwig Bemelmans)

Kids can relate to Madeline and her need to break the rules in order to have some fun. They'll be pleased to know that even though Madeline gets in trouble and learns her lesson, things have a way of working out for the best. And friends can be counted on for support.

Grown-ups who know the dominant place dogs hold in French culture will chuckle at Madeline's victory in keeping Genevieve. The artwork by Ludwig Bemelmans alternates between full-color landscape scenes of Paris with small figures in the foreground to close-up, almost cartoon-like, yellow-and-black drawings. Bemelmans perfectly captures Madeline's loneliness without Genevieve as she looks out of a window onto gas-lit cobblestone streets.