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franceinfo junior books. “The ABCs of nature”, a Gold Nugget

“ABC of nature”, by Bernadette Gervais (GREAT PEOPLE)

L’ABC of nature from Bernadette Gervais, Éditions des (Grandes People), can be read from 2 years old (September 2020).

Author, illustrator for children, the publication of her books, and there are more than 120 of them, is eagerly awaited each time. We are stunned by the delicacy of his drawings, dazzled by their extraordinary colors and the ability they have to transport us elsewhere, into nature and into another time, that of early childhood and wonder. He only needed one Prize and here it is!

This week, Bernadette Gervais won the prize for the Gold Nugget of Book and Youth Press Fair in Seine-Saint-Denis. The announcement has was made on the day of the inauguration of the Salon which reinvented itself until December 7 to take place despite the pandemic.

FRANCEINFO JUNIOR BOOKS – “ABC of nature”, Bernadette Gervais / Full version of the interview

L’ABC of nature, is both “classic” and wonderfully beautiful.
Classic, because it does not derogate from its vocation of course: learning the letters of the alphabet. They are written in upper and lower case as they should, and each letter corresponds to several drawings. And over the pages of this alphabet book, we contemplate all the beauty of Mother Nature, or almost! Animals, insects, plants, fruits and vegetables, more or less “known” …

And then theABC of nature it is also this size XXL format. It allows you to take your time, to take a break from the magnificent details of the drawings, all made with a stencil and a sponge.

In this ABC there is …
There are poetic bird names, like the J
The Bohemian Waxwing.

For the letter N, beware here is a formidable caterpillar
The Noctuelle.

For the M and for the P here are beautiful butterflies that are called
Peacock of the day and Swallowtail.

And no, it’s not every day that we eat
Pastries …

Nor that we meet
A bronzed blackbird or a quokka that we don’t drink.

We see that for the letter Q,
The Quinoa has put on a nice pinkish hue.

And that for the U there is even a fruit,
The Ugli.

And for the final drawing, a kind of sun, surely there to complete our walk or to tell us that it will never end … And it is necessarily the Z
With a Zinnia!

In this album, Bernadette Gervais shows all the beauty, the perfection that there is in nature. We contemplate it and learn there too.
It’s a great reading moment to share, everyone can find something for themselves. There is an “inter-generation” dimension, or an idea of ​​transmission in this album which is also a tribute to his father.

L’ABC of nature, a reading that also does a lot of good in these troubled times when we all need to breathe and escape … And above all, run to your bookseller, here is a very beautiful and great gift to put in all the little shoes !

Bernadette Gervais
Bernadette Gervais (C. Ribault Caillol / franceinfo junior Books / Radio France)

Belgian illustrator artist, passionate about drawing from kindergarten, it was as a teenager that she decided that she would later be an illustrator of children’s books. In 1992, she published her first albums with Francesco Pittau, with whom she formed a duo for many years. For some time now, she has been pursuing a work of author-illustrator alone. Vegetables, In 4 steps (Albin Michel), We exchange (Youth Threshold).

In total, therefore, she has published about 120 books. Very different books, books to unfold, pop-ups, images to discover by lifting flaps, opening windows. She uses painting and also sometimes engraving, cutouts and collages.

The series of Babar !

“Babar”, by L. de Brunhoff (EDITIONS HACHETTE JEUNESSE)

Still published by (Great People) …

“Picture book of the seasons”, by B. Gervais ((GREAT PEOPLE))

“Axinamu”, by B. Gervais ((GREAT PEOPLE))

On December 2, all the SLPJ Nuggets Prize.

Alongside the Golden Nugget awarded by a professional jury, there were also the deliberations of the youth juries concerning Teen Fiction, Junior Fiction, Comics and Illustrated Books, of which here are the winners:

Teen Fiction Nugget: I saw Sisyphus happy, Katerina Apostolopoulou (Bruno Doucey Editions).

Juniors Fiction Nugget: Carmine, volume 1, The boy with the hoof-foot, Amélie Sarn, (Youth Threshold)

BD nugget: Ama, the Breath of Women, by Franck Manguin, Cécile Becq, (Sarbacane).

Nugget Illustrated Book: Jurassic Caramel, by Roxane Lumeret (Trapèze-Albin Michel Jeunesse)

The covers of the award-winning books for the 2020 Nuggets.
The first covers of the award-winning books for Les Pépites 2020 (Mailify / Bruno Doucey / Seuil Jeunesse / Albin Michel Jeunesse)

Find plenty of other reading ideas on the website kibookin. For all ages and for all tastes, there are no more excuses not to find your nugget to read, and especially to go back to bookstores!

Ideas to read on KIBOOKIN
Ideas to read on KIBOOKIN (KIBOOKIN / SLPJ)

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