"In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines." Our first introduction to the twelve little girls and Miss Clavel. Something is not right with Madeline. She wakes up with a terrible pain one night - it's her appendix! She has to go to hospital to have it taken out. Her friends are sad and miss her very much. But when they visit and find her surrounded by all her presents - and, best of all, see her new scar - they all decide they want their appendixes out too!
I always enjoyed the Madeline cartoon as a kid. The song was catchy and Madeline (and Pierre) were amusing. That said, I don't think I ever read the books.
But the first book is not bad. Very similar to the show but lacking music. The story is a little confusing - orphans? Papa? boarding school? I don't really get the circumstances of Madeline's living arrangements but it's a minor thing to ignore.
I enjoyed the rhymes and the illustrations were gorgeous. Particularly the watercolour ones. I really liked the text arrangement on the last page, the way it echoed the trailing off of the rhyme. The story itself was fairly simple but entertaining to follow.
Target audience 4.5 stars, rounded to 5. For myself 3.5.
