l’Êcole des loisirs
Foreign Rights Catalogue Novels Spring 2015
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l’école des loisirs 50 YEARS OF CREATION Ever
since it was first created in 1965 by Jean Fabre, Jean Delas
and Arthur Hubschmid, l’école des loisirs has endeavored to balance the magical equation between authors and readers in the most harmonious way possible. Boldness, impertinence, a constant concern for quality, and maintaining artisanal working methods are the keys to the longevity of this familial publishing house and the estime brought to it.
This wonderful birthday is thus for us an occasion to thank all our foreign partners for their contribution to our success abroad!
Visit our Bologna 2015 exhibit! Come and discover our greatest successes by taking our short-cut corridor! (next to our stand A12 Hall 30)
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ntirely dedicated to
E
children’s books since
1965, l’école des loisirs’ main ambitions are to make reading a pleasure for children and to create a home for the authors. We like to consider the authors’ entire works rather than simply their latest title; that is why this catalogue tries to present the books to come but also those we have already published.You will probably notice that our authors write for all ages, including some for adults.
4
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
Mouche - First readers 5 Alice Butaud & Marika Mathieu 6 Bruno Gibert 7 Thomas Lavachery 8-9 Colas Gutman 10 Claire Lebourg 11 Élisabeth Motsch 12 Iris de Moüy 13 Christian Oster 14 Isabelle Rossignol 15 Brigitte Smadja Neuf - 9 to 12 years old readers 16 Christine Avel 17 Claire Castillon 18 Jean-François Chabas 19 Chris Donner 20 Gérard Goldman 21 Catharina Valckx 22 Hervé Walbecq Médium -Young adults 23 Sigrid Baffert 24 Gilles Barraqué 25 Gisèle Bienne 26 Manuela Draeger 27 Malika Ferdjoukh 28 Stéphanie Leclerc 29 Susie Morgenstern 30 Xavier-Laurent Petit 31 Caroline Solé
AGE
© B. Cruveiller
© A. Montgault
6+
The Zoozoos They don’t have feathers. They don’t have fur. Nothing but big hairs come out of their heads: orange, yellow, black, or all white. They make you laugh. But they scare you, too. They live behind bars. These are strange creatures. A bit bizarre. A bit wild. We don’t know what they’re thinking. They are... The zoozoos! The zoozoos? But what are the zoozoos?
© Rights reserved
Full-color illustrations by Soledad Bravi 72 pages
Documentarist and journalist, Marika Mathieu has been friends since high school with actress and author Alice Butaud. The two share the same taste for the nutty and absurd, so they decided to write this story together.
As for Soledad Bravi, she says that drawing a family of idiot ostriches has been such a pleasure that she’s ready for the authors to write at least eight more volumes.
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
5
AGE
© Rights reserved
6+
Bruno Gibert has been a children’s book author and illustrator for over twenty years. This collection of short stories is his first book at l’école des loisirs. Influenced by the books from his childhood, he has penned and illustrated these stories in a somewhat retro style that is both poetic and fantastic.
Full-color illustrations by the author 72 pages
The Inconvenience of Being a Rabbit Discover three humorous animal tales in one novel! In the first tale, a rabbit is invited to a masked ball and wants to create a surprise. But how can he find a costume that will hide his long ears? The fox also has wardrobe problems. For mysterious reasons, he ripped up all his clothes and no longer has anything to wear! Luckily life is good for Froggy and Guppy. They are seated on a regional express train, headed to Paris, where they are going to purchase... a violin.
6
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
AGE
© Rights reserved
6+
While bringing to life Tor de Borgisvik, his new hero,
Thomas Lavachery
Black & white illustrations by the author 72 pages
Tor and the Gnomes Trognjuu! Tor has been fishing on the lakeshore for hours and he hasn’t caught anything, not even the tiniest fish. His father and uncle have an explanation. It is a trick of the farfajoll, a gnome of the lakes and rivers that has fun keeping the fish from biting at hooks. They must at any and all costs get rid of this harmful being, this creature from the devil. The farfajoll, a monstrous being? Tor, for his part, finds him simply extraordinary, and he will protect him.
often thought of Nils Holgersson, whose adventures enchanted him as a child. Lavachery has created a sensitive, generous, little guy who is very resourceful and who might very well meet other gnomes just as extraordinary as the farfajoll in an upcoming novel.
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
7
AGE
9+
D
© Rights reserved
A
SOLD Italian Turkish
8
© Cover illustration by Iris de Moüy
Colas Gutman is the author of L’enfant, which won the Sorcières prize in 2012, and Rose, which was adapted for the theater. Les inséparables, his most autobiographical novel, was published in 2007. It is being adapted for the theater and will be performed in May 2015. The author considers this novel’s reincarnation quite funny and moving.
SOLD Turkish
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
140 pages
The Inseparables Stay together. That’s what Delphine and I said to each other when we moved in with dad at Pierrette’s house. Stay together, as we face her cauliflower au gratin, her orange doilies, and her two idiot children. And so I live with Piggy, who cries when he gets the jail card in Monopoly and forbids me from touching his little cars. Delphine has declared war on Marie-Neige and even bit her! Apart from that, everything is fine. Because we have a plan. Dad is going to leave Pierrette, although he doesn’t know it yet. As for us, we are going to really have fun!
AGE
7+
© Camille Soulayrol
DUMB DOG SERIES (5 TITLES + A DELUXE EDITION)
Marc Boutavant fell in love with Dumb Dog right from the start. He’s always happy to rejoin these furry characters. By making them evolve within a new framework, he feels like a little boy who transports his cowboys and Indians to an unusual world.
Full-color illustrations by Marc Boutavant 80 pages
Dumb Dog in Paris The Paris of Dumb Dog and Flat Cat is a nostalgic Paris, with its little heros who remind us of Gavroche from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, its cabaret dancers, its fortune tellers, and its smooth talkers. Dumb Dog’s Paris is both Paris in 1900 and the city now. What interests Colas Gutman much more in this adventure is the travels that lead to the postcard and not the postcard itself.
SERIES SOLD Spanish (LA)
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
9
AGE
© Rights reserved
7+
Claire Lebourg studied fine arts and publishing. She admires Kitty Crowther, Janosh, and Benoît Jacques. This is her first title at l’école des loisirs. Full-color illustrations by the author 88 pages
A Day with Mousse Ah! Life is sweet when you’re there on the beach, far from the tumult of the world, with the sound of waves your only company. That’s how Mousse’s life is. In the morning he goes out for a stroll on the sand. He takes a dip in the cool water. And he waits for the tide to come and bring him the day’s little treasures. But today, a strange visitor has arrived in his living room. A quite unexpected visitor...
10
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
AGE
© Rights reserved
7+
Élisabeth Motsch is an activist and writer for both adults and children. For this novel, she has invented an optimistic prince to make children think, to make them dream, and to explain to them that the world can change.
© K. Juenemann
Full-color illustrations by Philippe Dumas 72 pages
The Prince Who Wanted to See the World In his palace, Prince Hope of the Day has everything he needs to be happy, but he dreams of a country where happiness might be perfect. On the advice of his friend, the fairy Poppy, he sets out for a long trip, alone with his parents’ airplane. He visits the island of seashells, the island of scents, the island of songs, and the island of smiles... They all resemble paradise, and yet, each one holds an awful secret. So then where is perfect happiness hiding?
One day, painter
Philippe Dumas turned to drawing for children’s literature. It’s been close to forty years now that he has been offering his talents as an illustrator for children, and he finds it just as fantastic as he ever did.
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
11
AGE
© Rights reserved
7+
After having written this story, Iris de Moüy, the illustrator and author of numerous picture books for children, realized that she had wanted to show little girls another kind of femininity. Girls can like pink, but they can like black, too; they can dress up as fairies, but as witches as well; and they can be funny and boys will still like them.
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l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
Full-color illustrations by the author 96 pages
Funny Girl Moon is invited to her great friend Victoria’s birthday. On the invitation card it says to come in costume. With mom’s black dress, an old Zorro cape, a cardboard hat and the neighbor’s broom, she puts together a super witch costume. When she arrives at Victoria’s house, surprise! All the other little girls are in pink outfits, dressed as princesses, queens, or fairies. The witch makes a bit of an impact. But what is Alexander, who is also invited, going to think?
AGE
© H. Bamberger/Opale
7+
Christian Oster dives into this disgusting genre by bringing a maniac prince face to face with icky witches flanked by toads. When he was very little, he was traumatized by the witch in Snow White, with the wart on her nose, but today what he finds really terrifying and disgusting are fat, hairy moths.
© Rights reserved
Full-color illustrations by Grégory Elbaz 56 pages
The Prince Who Wanted to Remain Clean
Grégory Elbaz
A prince shall be clean. He has to wear a beautiful shirt and brilliant sword and ride an impeccable horse.Yes, but... what happens when he must struggle against a witch, a vile witch with a runny nose and spiderwebs everywhere? And worst of all, this witch is on the way to the international Grand Congress of disgusting witches! There is no doubt that the prince runs the risk of a filthy time, even a very filthy time. Fortunately, in stories things sometimes happen in an unexpected way.
received his degree in fine arts and then went to Paris to work with Joann Sfar on the film adaptation of The Rabbi's Cat. Elbaz describes his world as at times dreamlike, at times realist and humorous.
SOLD German
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
13
AGE
© Rights reserved
7+
In her novels,
Isabelle Rossignol has never feared exploring the inner workings of souls, but she has always done so with grace and humor. She lives in Cannes, where she also writes novels for adults.
© M. Ortiz
Full-color illustrations by Delphine Chedru 64 pages
After having worked as a graphic designer for ten years in Paris,
Delphine Chedru fell into children’s literature. Ever since then, she has not stopped making books filled with fantasy and colorful images.
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l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
Blueberry “My, oh, my, living is difficult,” laments Blueberry. It is true that the bear has gotten off to a bad start in life. Right after she was born her parents wanted to get rid of her. There she was, wandering alone in the forest, wondering what good it was living with no parents and nowhere to go. Luckily, a big oak, a shiny worm, and a retired fairy are going to show her that in spite of it all, life is really worth living...
AGE
7+
© Rights reserved
© Rights reserved
THE POZZIS SERIES (10 TITLES )
Brigitte Smadja describes
Full-color illustrations by Alan Mets
The Pozzis series Using poetry and colors, Brigitte Smadja describes a micro-society of sweet, funny little beings: the Pozzis. Their land resembles a paradise. The Pozzis are born here and joyfully live here. But the harmony in which they exist is not without worries. It will soon be disturbed by that strange, dark country on the border where the Pozzis are forbidden to go. They cannot talk about this place, nor even remember it: the Elsewhere. The Pozzis will encounter the Elsewhereians, experience cruelty and violence, but they will also live through extraordinary adventures. The Elsewhere is going to change the Pozzis forever. They are going to learn about courage, friendship, self-confidence, and solidarity in spite of differences.
her connection with the Pozzis as that of a father, mother, sister, and brother. “For some time now, it's the last little ones I like best. I say the last little ones because the series has always been created and published two books at a time. But in the end, all I have to do is see the book covers by Alan Mets that I have lined up like family photos, and I love them all.”
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
15
AGE
© E. Fagnou
9+
Christine Avel
© B. Uhart
often read the story of Ulysses when she was little. After that, she then made an effort to travel as much as the mythological hero. She lived in London, Milan, Phnom Penh, and Paris before settling down in Montpellier, where she writes for children and adults.
Ulysses 15 Jean-Luc Englebert
always wanted to draw. He is an author-illustrator of many picture books for children and he now lives and works in Brussels.
SOLD Korean
16
Full-color illustrations by Jean-Luc Englebert 96 pages
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
He may have the same name as the Greek hero, but Ulysses has no taste for adventure. Staying at home with his cat Flour is one of his favorite activities. But when Flour disappears, Ulysses doesn’t hesitate to brave any and all dangers to find him. He is ready to knock on the door of the boy across the way, the one who collects skeletons, and he’ll even ask for help from the Mizzi brothers, who are head of the Demolition Clan. Quite an Odyssey!
AGE
182 pages
© J.-F. Paga
© Cover illustration by Séverin Millet
9+
Claire Castillon decided to write a novel titled Corny. Then she let the story build itself by mixing together creativity and memories of her early teenage years to tell the story of Lilas.
Corny My name is Lilas Fleury. I’m eleven years old and I’m not a baby anymore. I have a big brother who’s a bit of a romantic, a sister who wears a tutu, and parents who fight. My house is pink, with flowers on the walls and shelves full of charming knick-knacks. I am secretly in love with Clovis Buzenval, the son of our building concierge. I have sensational friends and in February I’m going to organize an exceptional class dinner that will change my life. Because things have got to change. Because I’m going to grow up. And so more than anything else, don’t think that I am corny.
SOLD Korean
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
17
AGE
© F. Bourru
9+
Jean-François Chabas found the need to offer readers something more joyful, zany and uplifting... and that’s what he made! “I had a lot of fun writing this text,” he says, “and my wish is that people will have just as much fun reading it.”
© Cover illustration by Louis Thomas
After writing a series of rather somber, melancholy novels,
182 pages
The Darkroom Goblin The odd apartment that Edgar, aged nine, has just moved into with his big sister Geronima and his parents remained empty for a long time. All the previous tenants fled, one after the other. The storekeeper in the neighborhood claims that this is because it’s haunted. We’ll see... Edgar, his sister Geronima, and their parents will be led into a wild adventure inhabited by bizarre, uncontrollable beings.
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l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
AGE
© Cover illustration by Jérômie Moreau
© O. Roller
9+
140 pages
The American Treasure The famous archeologist Octavio Palissander arrives in a little village in the south of Mexico, aboard a Jeep. And when this “Sherlock Holmes of lost civilizations” enters the Santo Domingo church, he’s not there to pray. He’s after the Malmec Parchment, which carries the evidence of an ancient Pre-Colombian civilization. But he’s not the first one to have passed through here... With the help of the young and intrepid Moctezuma, he will brave the jungle’s thousands of dangers: the carnivorous plants, running out of gas, and screaming monkeys, to name but a few…
Chris Donner’s only experience as an explorer was during his childhood, when his father, who had taken him to Greece in a Citroën 2CV, brought back a piece of a Greek column. Much later, the years spent in Mexico inspired him to write Le trésor de Moctezuma which was published in 1997. It was the prelude to what would be, eighteen years later, Le trésor américan.
SOLD Catalan Italian, Japanese
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
19
AGE
© N. Hadad
9+
his free time to drawing and watching movies. He was an illustrator for a long time before making short films and documentaries. He has kept his carefree attitude from his childhood, and he takes pleasure in recreating this insouciance in his novels.
© cover illustration by Adrien Albert
As a child, Gérard Goldman devoted
140 pages
I Do as I Like If Hector owned a magic wand, he surely wouldn’t be sitting in this car with his mother and his awful stepfather, Norbert. Worse yet, Hector has just learned that Norbert’s brother, who is giving them a place to stay for the holidays, doesn’t run a hotel, but a retirement home.Yet, in this totally depressing atmosphere, Hector is going to fall in love with Alma, who is very blond and as delicate as a puff of whipped cream. Alma is also very commanding, and holds strange powers: within a few days, she transforms Hector into a Hollywood star, a counterfeiter, a traitor, and even a thief. Luckily, there’s another girl in this story. Her name is Denise, and she has decided to watch over Hector.
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l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
AGE
© Rights reserved
9+
Catharina Valckx had wanted
Full-color illustrations by the author 96 pages
The Shoes Left for the Weekend Three short comedies for the theater that children can perform in class or at home.
to write for the theater for a long time. And then the idea took shape. “I wanted to give children a tool so that they could put on their own plays and discover the pleasure in theater: making a set, the costumes, finding props, directing, rehearsing, playing, and receiving applause. All what I would have wanted as a child.”
The Master and the Servant Where a lazy master ends up dancing in socks with his servant because his shoes have left for the weekend. Mister Pok’s Shop Where a little lady who has come to buy a cat leaves with a Diplodocus.
SOLD German Simplified Chinese
SOLD Complex & Simplified Chinese, German
The Witch and Her Cat Where a mistreated cat and a frightened deer succeed in calming an evil witch.
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
21
AGE
© Rights reserved
9+
Ever since childhood,
Hervé Walbecq has taken refuge in his imaginary world. With both words and drawings, he shares his vision of an absurd, funny and poetic world in which wrinkles tell life secrets, knees go out walking in herds, and noses are named Jean-Claude.
Black & white illustrations by the author 154 pages
Stories of a Dog Who Had a Child Shadow What would you do if your nose planned on leaving on vacation? If in the night, your eyes made a light right in the middle of the ocean? If, in the depth of your tears, you discovered an entire tribe of minuscule fishermen? Or if your child shadow suddenly fled, following after the first dog that came along? When we let ourselves be swept away by stories, we feel lighter. And then just like that, the body becomes able to do truly incredible things.
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l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
AGE
272 pages
© Rights reserved
© Cover photography by Meyer/Tendance floue
13 +
Sigrid Baffert was born in 1972. Simultaneously with her studies in film and theater, she wrote songs and stories for children. She held a thousand different jobs before moving to Paris and dedicating herself to writing novels and picture books and making musicals.
The Girl Who Had Two Shadows Each morning as she wakes up, Élisa expects to find the house turned upside down: furniture moved, cupboards a mess, or the tub filled to overflowing. That’s what happened last night. Élisa thinks that her grandmother Rose is the one responsible for all this turmoil. Because Rose has been doing absurd things for a while now, like the appointment she made with a plastic surgeon to change her face. At her age! Is she not losing her mind? Obsessed with this idea, Élisa starts to have strange dreams, and weird sensations. She feels she is haunted by a shadow. So who is the most disturbed in this story, Rose or Élisa?
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
23
AGE
Gilles Barraqué revisits The Adventures of Pinocchio, a “troubling and subversive” text, in homage to its creator Carlo Collodi. And this is far from the Walt Disney version. In his book, the former street musician also celebrates theater and the commedia dell’arte.
© Cover photography by Thomas Lieser
© L. Corvaisier
13+
SOLD World Spanish (excluding Spain)
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l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
304 pages
Fantoccio One night in Tuscany, a big wooden puppet comes to life. Fantoccio has suddenly appeared from nothing, with the abilities to think, feel and act. It’s magic! Geppetto, a master puppeteer, will now be able to put on an extraordinary show and finally make his fortune. In order to fulfill this dream, the master must teach the puppet to play along and trick the world into believing the artifice of the strings. But there is life, and the force of life. There is the city of Sienna, music, books, and theater. And above all, there is the beautiful Livia, who dances with Fantoccio on stage. How long will this masquerade continue? How can you contain the voice that says each day a little louder, “I am a man”?
AGE
196 pages
Finding Little Brother
© L. Turbet
© Cover photography by Jock Sturges/Melanie Mendhall
12+
If the disappearance of a little boy is at the heart of Gisèle Bienne’s new novel, hope is the real subject of her book. In this story, she continues to explore relations between siblings, drawing inspiration from her own childhood.
Emma and her sister Sophie take their little brother for a walk to the pond and the forest. The girls leave him alone for only five minutes to go see the ducks, but when they return, all they find is an empty stroller, and one single shoe. Where did he go? What happened to him? Endless searching, calls to witnesses, and prayers do nothing. How can they get through this and survive the days, the years to come after the disappearance? Emma is opposed to forgetting, silence, and suspicions, and does everything to preserve the dialog with the one who is no longer there, spurred by the crazy hope of finding him.
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
25
AGE
12+
Mysterious writer
her series with Bobby Potemkine and Lili Nebraska, where we find poetry, humor, and romanticism. And mammoths, which she loves because they are content with tranquilly existing in our collective imagination, eating grass without bothering anyone, and because they have disappeared from the planet.
© Cover photography by Lise Sarfati
Manuela Draeger continues
Me, the Mammoths
SOLD English (North America)
SOLD English (North America)
26
l’école des loisirs
80 pages
SOLD English (North America)
SPRING 2015
I don’t know, but the mammoths, I thought that there hadn’t been any for at least ten thousand years. And, I don’t know, but the mammoths, I would rather not cross them on their path. Let’s not even mention the habit they have of crushing people. Especially directors of church halls. But when you see them, the mammoths, it seems weird, and quite a few questions remain. The kinds of questions that deserve an investigation. And then there is no doubt: Bobby Potemkine, it’s your turn to play again!
AGE
592 pages
Broadway Limited New York, 1950’s. Jocelyn Brouillard is the only male resident of the Scattered Showers residence. He is French. Aged sixteen.Well behaved, neat and tidy, and a brilliant student who plays the piano. In this rite-of-passage tale, our young Frenchman discovers American puritanism, segregation, McCarthyism, FBI interrogations, and the antiSemitism of WASPs. But he also learns about the ukulele, imported by veterans from the Pacific, the theater, pizzas, movies, jazz (bebop and its beginnings), baseball, Broadway, the American way of life... We also follow the destinies of four true heroines: Manhattan, Hadley, Chic and Page.
© Rights reserved
© Cover photography: extract from The Band Wagon, by Vicente Minnelli (1953)
13+
Malika Ferdjoukh skipped many of her classes at the Sorbonne in order to watch movies at the cinema-club. You might say she knows everything about American cinema, from westerns to detective films, but the genre she adores above all remains musicals, and she is able to belt out the most improbable show tunes.
SOLD Catalan, Japan Vietnamese, Korean
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
27
AGE
Stéphanie Leclerc lives in the house of her childhood, surrounded by the books that she avidly read from six to sixteen. After those books, she turned to novels and literature, and she read them for years until very recently, when on an impulse she started to write. She hasn’t stopped since.
© Cover photography by Théo Gosselin
© Rights reserved
12 +
192 pages
My Name Is Bérénice “When will you have some courage, huh? When will you take some risks? If I wasn’t a friend of yours, you would be completely lost! I pity you!” In the face of this violent attack, Bérénice preferred to flee. But she must admit that her best friend Ménine hit the mark. Bérénice knows that she isn’t sociable and she is a bit of a loner. Ménine is exactly the opposite! Bérénice could accept reconciling with her friend, but she prefers to distance herself. For the first time, Bérénice wants to venture out on her own, and she follows the injunctions spray painted on the walls of the city: declarations of war or of love, tags signed by Suzuki, the name of a Japanese manga hero. No one knows who he really is...
28
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
AGE
192 pages
iGr@nny Sam is sixteen and addicted to the Internet and video games. To wean him off the screen, his parents have decided to send him to stay with Martha, his grandmother, who enjoys a peaceful retirement without computers, television, or smartphones. Once there, Sam has nothing other to do than read, review for his exams, and play the piano, all while being doted on by his grandmother. For a detox cure, it could be much worse, and Sam admits that he isn’t really unhappy... Just terribly lacking the means of communication that thousands of years of technological progress have made available to modern man. But how can he make Martha understand that?
© T. Bronn
© Cover illustration by Peter Booda Ducharne
12+
Susie Morgenstern is a very connected and self-sufficient granny. What was her life like without Internet? She no longer remembers. Yet she was the one called upon to help cut her grandson off from technology. The rescue didn’t happen, but it was enough to help Susie start this story.
SOLD Catalan Spanish (EU)
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
29
AGE
It was after reading a book by John Vaillant that
Xavier-Laurent Petit dove into the subject: the ChinaRussia boarder zone, the taiga, the icy expanse, and the Siberian tigers decimated by poachers... He told himself that there was a new story to tell there, the story of a wild world that he could bite his teeth into.
© Cover photography by Mike Hill/Getty Image
© Rights reserved
12+
SOLD Korean
30
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
264 pages
A Wild World Several paw prints in the snow, a deer carcass abandoned a bit farther... and Felitsa understood in a flash what it was. It was well and truly the tigress that she and her mother had just spotted. Looking more closely, they knew the tigress was expecting cubs. In spite of the fatigue and glacial temperatures, Felitsa no longer regretted joining her mother on the inspection tour. Alissa was a forest ranger who covered one end of the Russian taiga to the other, an intense traffic zone and hunting ground for poachers. If Felitsa and her mother had spotted the tigress, the poachers wouldn’t be long in doing the same. They had to find a way to save her skin.
AGE
128 pages
© Ben
© Cover photography by Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos
12+
Caroline Solé likes to tell the stories of characters living in the margins and smitten with freedom. For her first novel, she took interest in the inner quest of a teenage runaway, the hero of a TV reality gameshow.
The Pyramid of Human Needs All of the needs of human beings can be classified into five categories. Today, this theory is the principle of a new TV reality gameshow: The Pyramid of Human Needs. There are 15,000 candidates, and in five weeks there will only be one of us remaining. And where am I in all this? Let’s say that my name is Christopher Scott. Let’s say that I’m eighteen years old. That I live on a piece of cardboard, on the street, in London. Anyway, my name doesn’t matter, nor does my age. I am Candidate #12778. I do not exist yet. But it’s likely I’ll become someone, and maybe even someone famous. And that would really be the worst.
l’école des loisirs
SPRING 2015
31
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© Back cover illustration: Claude Ponti
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