The White Ravens Database

Presented by   Internationale Jugendbibliothek / International Youth Library

French / France

Histoires du chien qui avait une ombre d’enfant

(Stories of the dog with a child’s shadow)

Walbecq, Hervé (text/illus.)
Paris: L’ École des loisirs, [2015]. – 141 p.
ISBN 978-2-211-22201-3

Short story

Reading age: 9+

White Ravens issue: 2016

OPAC

The seventeen stories collected in this volume in the tradition of Jacques Prévert and Raymond Queneau contain many fond lunacies that test the boundaries of dream and reality. In the “Neuf” series of renowned publisher l’École des loisirs, which already featured a few equally remarkable story collections, Hervé Walbecq has found his own unmistakeable style. The stories, which he illustrates himself, are full of the cryptic humour typical of children. Jean-Claude, a hero in his stories, is in fact a nose that wants to vacation in the Pyrenees. The surreal language is as light as a feather and consistently follows an immanent poetic logic. One senses that Walbecq, who works as an actor at the well-known Théâtre du soleil in Paris, among other venues, draws upon his stage experience and knows how a good riposte and humour “work”. Walbecq invites readers big and small to explore the treasure trove of his fantastical worlds.