Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Who could forget the twelve little girls in two straight lines? Definately not me. Madeline has been a favorite of mine since I was a very little girl and when I found a series of these books in the Curriculum Lab it brightened up my day. Right from the very beginning of the book, "In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. In two straight lines they broke their bread and brushed their teeth and went to bed," I knew that I would enjoy this book because it reminded me so much of the TV series that I once watched.

There is many different books in the series by Ludwig Bemelmans. But in this one Madeline has to get her appendix out. And all of the other little girls and Miss Clavel, their care taker, went to visit her in the hospital. The girls were surprised to see many different flowers and plants and big toys. After going back home that night Miss Clavel woke up to something else that was not right in the house but this time it was not just one little girl crying but all eleven. When Miss Clavel asked what the matter was, they replied, "Boohoo, we want to have our appendix out, too!"

This is a very cute story. The pictures are very simple. The words are very simple. But they both seem to have a lot to them. With a lot of pages in the book there are different Paris scenes drawn out in the book. In the back, it tells you what each of them are. That could be very useful to little kids so that they can learn a little something about a different country while reading a great little story.

This book could work good for many different grades because I think that some kids may remember the TV show. And if they do not I think that it would be fun to show an episode that they can relate it to what they are reading. I think that the book would be best for Kindergarten to Third graders. It's a great story and if you loved the television show like I did then you will LOVE these books!