Mad About Madeline!!

There is only one thing that pops into my head when I think about being read to as a child...MADELINE! Actually, Madeline books are the only books that I remember from my childhood, besides for an occasional Dr. Seuss read-aloud here and there. My bookshelf at home in Wisconsin has become extremely boring to me after being in this class. It is full of my parents' old college textbooks and uninteresting adult novels...it's majorly lacking some great children's books! When I went home over spring break, I was on a mission to find some old picture books from my childhood tucked away in closets or in the basement. What I found was so depressing..there weren't any!! Even worse was when I discovered what happened to them. My Mother was pleased to tell me that they were sold in recent rummage sales. She thought it was great, all the "clutter" from around the house was gone, she said. My old picture books were CLUTTER?!! THEY WERE SOLD IN A RUMMAGE SALE?! AHHH! :( Well, I was still determined to find at least one straggler that got left behind.

Thankfully, after tearing apart the closet in my bedroom, I found an amazing surprise. Me and my sisters' "Mad About Madeline" anthology, complete with all 6 original Madeline stories. Words can't really describe how excited I was! It is in perfect condition, as if we just bought it yesterday! This goes to show how special it was to us. I know for a fact that my twin Ang and I did not treat our old books the best. We would scribble all over the pages, stain them with juice drippings, and probably tear out a page here or there. This has been mentioned in some of my other postings, but just as a reminder, we were DESTRUCTIVE! Anyways, my point is that we adored everything about Madeline and would have never done anything to scruff up our Madeline anthology.

I have to start with the first book in the collection, "Madeline," Ludwig Bemelman's work of art. I turned to the first page and there it was, that crooked old house that I loved so much. Then came the twelve little girls in two straight lines, along with their teacher, Miss Clavel. I used to get the biggest kick out of Miss Clavel, the way she is always running all over the place completely frantic. It goes without saying that Bemelman's poetic writing style immediately captures the attention of young and old readers alike. His short, beautiful lines keep the reader engaged and wanting more. His illustrations are bold and energetic. Madeline's character is completely brilliant; there has to be one little rascal among the twelve girls. Her mischievous personality is hilarious. If you look carefully at the pictures, you will most likely catch her doing something that would give her teacher a heart attack. Madeline coming down with appendicitis midway through the book was unexpected. It was a genius idea by Bemelman because it leaves the reader anxious for the next Madeline story in which we can see her back in action.