by Clare Povey
Illustrated by Héloïse Mab
Published by Usborne Publishing Ltd.
Écoutez tout le monde!!
Here's a story you need to read & share with all your friends *pretty please, with a cerise on top* 🍒
This is a carefully crafted story with as many layers as a delicious French patisserie treat.
Bastien's life changes suddenly & he has to live with a small group of boys in a cold, damp, decrepit orphanage on the edge of Paris. The food is terrible & a suspicious change of management, just after Bastien's arrival, has the boys keen to investigate.
Clearly, there was something strange going on but where had lovely, kind Monsieur Dupont gone? Everything changed with Monsieur Xavier's arrival. Can you imagine having a rule not just banning books but even story-telling? How can someone purposely take away all that joy? Nobody should have to live with rules like that! The boys are kept busy with endless, difficult chores & Bastien's clever new friend, Theo, manages to secretly make a lock-pick out of old metal scraps collected whilst fixing broken typewriters for mean Monsieur Xavier.
This is how Theo & Bastien manage to sneak out onto the streets of Paris & explore. They ran to the river & heard smooth jazz music before heading to le Chat Curieux, a favourite book store. Here the discoveries start - but they have to rush back & avoid Monsieur Xavier.
People have been going missing in Paris over the last couple of months & they're all writers.
What is the connection with a mysterious red-lined black cloak? Bastien is determined to solve this & many other mysteries but there are so many pieces of the puzzling story missing. How is everyone connected?
Their investigations lead three very determined children into the dark, dangerous catacombs underneath Paris & they make their most astonishing discovery. Twists & turns with good & bad surprises lead us through a series of events & things none of our characters predicted, including a secret passageway from Olivier's lavish house to the famous Sacré-Cœur!
Xavier always tries to have the final word & is determined to follow through with his selfish plan. The boys' lives seem to become a moment from a history book & there's even mention of a dungeon. Will they escape & solve the mystery of the vanishing writers? Bastien is determined to carry on & spread his parents' love of books & stories. Will he ever finish his own story & get it to Monsieur Gallimard?
With little tiny samplers of French language appearing occasionally in the book & a brief Glossary at the back, young readers can enjoy adding a few new, fun words to their vocabulary!
The newspaper articles that open & close the story are a creative way to encapsulate the details for the reader & provide a great springboard & closing moment to this fantastic adventure. We hope to see more adventures with Bastien in the future.
Bonne chance, jeune Bastien!