Books
The story takes place in a Catholic boarding school in Paris. Contrary to popular belief, the girls are not orphans. In the first book in the series, Madeline's "papa" sends her a dollhouse when she is ill. Also, the girls all go to visit their parents in the Christmas book.
The books all start with the line "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines ...". The story is written entirely in rhyme, and the simple themes of daily life appeal to children.
The original series of Madeline books written by Ludwig Bemelmans has six books:
- Madeline - Madeline gets appendicitis and must go to the hospital to have her appendix removed
- Madeline's Rescue - Madeline falls off a bridge and is rescued by a stray dog who joins her school. Winner of the 1954 Caldecott Medal
- Madeline and the Bad Hat - The Spanish Ambassador moves in next door, and Madeline assumes his son Pepito is mean and spoiled
- Madeline in London - Madeline and Pepito travel around the city of London
- Madeline and the Gypsies - Madeline and Pepito run away to join a group of traveling gypsies
- Madeline's Christmas - Madeline celebrates Christmas with her friends
The new series of Madeline books are written by John Bemelmans-Marciano, they are:
- Madeline in America - Madeline travels to Texas in America
- Madeline Loves Animals - Madeline travels to the zoo and meets the animals there
- Madeline Says Merci - Madeline learns how to be polite
- Madeline and the Cats of Rome - Madeline and her class travel to Rome in Spring.
- Madeline at the White House - Madeline and her class visit the White House in Washington, DC
Read more about this topic: The New Adventures Of Madeline
Famous quotes containing the word books:
“In an extensive reading of recent books by psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, and inspirationalists, I have discovered that they all suffer from one or more of these expression-complexes: italicizing, capitalizing, exclamation-pointing, multiple-interrogating, and itemizing. These are all forms of what the psychos themselves would call, if they faced their condition frankly, Rhetorical-Over-Compensation.”
—James Thurber (1894–1961)
“If writers were too wise, perhaps no books would get written at all. It might be better to ask yourself “Why?” afterwards than before. Anyway, the force from somewhere in Space which commands you to write in the first place, gives you no choice. You take up the pen when you are told, and write what is commanded. There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“... a phallocentric culture is more likely to begin its censorship purges with books on pelvic self-examination for women or books containing lyrical paeans to lesbianism than with See Him Tear and Kill Her or similar Mickey-Spillanesque titles.”
—Robin Morgan (b. 1941)