One More Holiday Visit With Madeline
Over ten years separate Ludwing Bemelmans's fabled children's book, "Madeline" (1939), from the second of what would be six Madeline tales, "Madeline's Rescue." Initially published in a magazine in 1951, "Madeline's Rescue" was published in book form in 1953 and won the Caldecott Medal for the best American picture book for children in 1954. In addition to the bold and mischevous Madeline, this book features two other Bemelmans characters, the dog Genevieve and Lord Cucuface, the president of the board of trustees responsible for the "old house in Paris covered with vines."
As with so many little girls, Madeline has her own mind and only reluctantly listens and follows directions. On a walk with Miss Clavel and her 11 classmates, Madeline falls of a rail into the Seine River and is "dragged safe from a watery grave" by the heroics of Genevieve. The dog is adopted by the girls and becomes an adored pet. But during the annual inspection, Lord Cucuface shoos the dog away: "Go away and don't come back!"; to which the undaunted Madeline responds:
"Lord Cucuface beware!/ Miss Genevieve, noblest dog in France,/You shall have your VEN-GE-ANCE!"
After a search hither and yon through Paris, Genevieve reappears and the twelve little girls fight over her. Three times, Miss Clavel rises from her bed, exclaiming "Something is not Right!" But the story works out in the end.
The illustrations in the book, in the spontaneous, sketchy yellow, black and white that became a "Madeline" trademark richly deserved the Caldecott medal, with portrayals of the pompous Cucuface, Madeline's solemn declaration, standing on a chair, of VEN-GE-ANCE, the panicked flights of Miss Clavel,and Genevieve and her relationship with the little girls.
The original "Madline" and this first follow-up story remain for me the best of the Madeline tales. I have been having a lovely time (2009) with my four year old granddaughter reading these stories. Madeline, with her mischief and eclat, is among the characters in children's literature that can be enjoyed by youngsters and adults alike.
Robin Friedman
