Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends. I’m in love with this book! And my 7-year old granddaughter is a huge fan also. And one lucky person who leaves a comment is going to win their own copy thanks to author Maxine Rose Schur.

MARIELLE IN PARIS

Written by Maxine Rose Schur

Illustrated by Jeanne B. de Sainte Marie

Published by Pomegranate (2017)

Ages: 4-8

Themes: Overcoming fears, creativity, math

Synopsis: From Amazon:

Winner of the 2019 Northern Lights Book Award for Picture Books, All Ages!

Marielle the mouse has worked her dressmaking magic for nine days and nine nights to create nine beautiful dresses for Madame Sooree’s nine daughters. Finished at last, Marielle goes to bed, but when she wakes up, the dresses are gone! With no time to lose, Marielle must overcome her fear of heights to take a wild ride with her friend Pierre the pigeon to recover the missing party dresses, which have been scattered across Paris.

Why I love this book:

1. A story about a mouse who is a Parisian dressmaker and has to overcome her fear of heights as she flies above Paris on the back of a pigeon is a win-win-win in my book! The story has heart and humor and lots of drama in the perfect amount for young children.
2. The illustrations are glorious and I love seeing the famous landmarks of Paris…and in the back of the book, the author and illustrator have a game of hunting for which landmark inspired each dress design…I would have loved this book as a child.
3. Both the writing and the illustrations have a sort of old-world charm to them…reminding me of The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, another of my all-time favorite picture books.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

For details on this and other Eiffel Tower crafts: https://artsycraftsymom.com/eiffel-tower-crafts-for-kids/

Look at a world map with the kids and find Paris – how far is it from where you live? Talk about how you would get there? How did Marielle travel around Paris? How would you travel around Paris once you were there?

I know we are all looking forward to the end of 2020…it’s been a challenging year for all. If you enjoy the books featured here, please support the authors and illustrators by buying their books if you can, reviewing their books on Amazon and other sites, telling your friends about them, and asking your local library to purchase copies for their collection.

To find out more about today’s fascinating author, Maxine Rose Schur, who is generously offering a copy of MARIELLE IN PARIS as a giveaway, please visit her wonderful website. And to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below – I’m sure we all wish we had a private pigeon like Marielle did so we could fly off to visit…? Why don’t you tell us where you would fly off to if you could. And for more tickets in the giveaway hat, please share on your social media sites.

And if you haven’t been to the first stop on my book blog tour, here is the link: http://unpackingpicturebookpower.blogspot.com/2020/12/from-here-to-there-journey-of-ten.html Reviewer Sandy Brehl is a long-time Cybils judge and I’m honored to see such a fabulous review up on her Unpacking Picture Book Power blog. Stay tuned for a couple more stops this month and then a whole bunch of book blog tour stops next month and beyond…after all, the name of the book is From Here to There, right?

I hope you all have a safe and healthy weekend. Today is the first day of Hanukkah, so I’m wishing Chag Sameach – a happy holiday to all who celebrate.