French / Switzerland
L' incroyable histoire du homard qui sauva sa carapace
(The incredible story of the lobster who saved his carapace)
Gerbeaux, Thomas
(text)
Kerleroux, Pauline
(illus.)
Geneva: La Joie de lire, [2020]. – 132 p.
(Series: Hibouk)
ISBN 978-2-88908-501-9
Animals | Humans | Freedom | Empathy | Love of animals
Reading age: 8+
White Ravens issue: 2020
On a little island in southern Brittany, nine-year-old Jeanne accidentally injures a lobster who runs in front of her while she’s playing. The lobster in question is in fact a talking lobster who escaped from a restaurant’s boiler and thus avoided the worst fate of all – ending up as “lobster in salted butter”. Jeanne offers solidarity: She hides and cares for the injured animal, and pluckily supports the lobster’s plan to free his pals, the crustaceans still trapped in the kitchen’s water basin. But does she know what she’s in for? The path of the bolters back to the sea is riddled with obstacles. This humorous, wordplay-filled novel from native Breton author Thomas Gerbeaux is also about the curious love that certain humans show toward animals – their empathy extends only to some animal species, while excluding others. The bright collages of Breton illustrator Pauline Kerleroux lithely lean into the rhythm of the text. [SW]