Congratulations to Marie Desplechin to whom the Salon du Livre et de la Presse Jeunesse en Seine Saint-Denis team has just awarded the Big Dipper Prize.
This distinction “illuminates the work of a French-speaking creator whose writing, gesture, creativity of a singular scale or daring, permanently marks children’s literature”.
And good luck to her too, because Nasturtium is selected for the Pépites Prize in the Fiction Junior collection of the Salon du livre et de la Presse Jeunesse in Seine Saint-Denis with France Télévisions. In 2011, Marie Desplechin received the Pépite of the Salon du livre et de la presse jeunesse de Seine Saint Denis for Mon Petit Théâtre de Peau-d’Âne.
Nasturtium, by Marie Desplechin, L’École des loisirs editions, Medium collection, to read from 11 years old (October 2020).
After Satin grenadine and Séraphine, Nasturtium is the third section of portraits of young girls from the 19th century.
– I am Victor Hugo. – Nénette is dead. It was in the newspapers that wrap the salads. – I know he’s dead! But the soul has come to me.
Marie Desplechin, “La Capucine”–
FRANCEINFO JUNIOR LIVRES – “La Capucine”, Marie Desplechin / Full version of the ITV
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The heroine of this new novel could be called Capucine, but nay, it’s a trap, her name is Louise! And what she loves Louise above all is having both feet firmly rooted in the earth. Even if the work and her boss are very tough, she spares no effort on behalf of this market gardener who works the land in Bobigny and who then goes to sell his crops at Les Halles, in Paris.
Through this story, we discover Paris and its surroundings in the 19th century.
First of all, Bobigny, which was at the time a very marshy place of market gardening and whose land was very fertile.
There is also the Halles, where Louise accompanies her boss to sell the products of the harvest. Les Halles, this district that Zola described in The belly of Paris (1873), where we trade of course, but also where there is also a certain solidarity and a very special atmosphere …
With Louise, we also live a little to the rhythm of the Seine, with an unexpected meeting of a couple of “penichards”. It is also with them that she learns this famous song which explains the title of the novel …Let’s Dance the Capucine
The character of Louise enlightens us on the condition of women at the time and also on society: the world of peasants, traders, domestic workers, and also that of the bourgeoisie. Through Bernadette, a domestic worker who took her under her wing, she became the gardener of a bourgeois woman who wanted to converse with the spirits, as was the fashion at that time. However, Bernadette is not only a very good cook, she is also showy …
So far, so good, Gary D. Schmidt, The Leisure School, Medium collection.
Marie Desplechin studied literature and journalism.
She has written many children’s books. Historical novels, like this trilogy of portraits. Novels blending fantasy and contemporary reality, as with Pome ; or even current stories about adolescence, with Aurore’s diary.
She also participates in the writing of film scripts.
Nasturtium is part of the selection of our partner kibookin of course!
For inspiration, you can also see all the selection of Pépites 2020 of the Salon du Livre et de la Presse Jeunesse en Seine Saint Denis (from December 2 to 7) and to find your books, there is even a map of booksellers offering “click and collect”.
And find lots of other reading ideas in the selection of the week on the website of kibookin. For all ages and for all tastes, there are no more excuses for not finding your own nugget to read!
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