The mice of Bistrot des Sept Freres published by Tanglewood Press written and illustrated by Marie LeTourneau with Danielle Reed Baty, is a beautiful children's story. I thank Netgalley for it.

Pictures researched, with a special aristocratic touch to my point of view.

The story is this one: Once upon a time there was a place (Paris) populated only by mices. They were like humans so, our society, plenty of shops, stores etc. One of these ones was a wonderful bistrot: The Bistrot des Sept Frère Chef Marcel. The chef has seven sons and one daughter Petite Michelle. This chef goes proud for something: he won per years and years a special prize, the one of, can you guess what? Best Cheese Soup of all the France. At least, you know mices falls in love for cheese and France is a Cheese Paradise with wagons and wagons of varieties of all sort.

But what happens? Well, something pretty embarrassing: Chef Marcel uses for this special Cheese Soup a special ingredient. No other one of his family or friends knows the secret ingredient but he goes in panic when he receives a telegrams saying:

"Cher Chef Marcel, (Cher is for Dear in Francais, voilà!),
it is that time of year again.
French Culinary Judge Alfred Le Whisk
will arrive at your bistro
to taste your famous cheese soup
on the 2nd of June,
at one o'clock sharp,
Best regards as ever.

The Committe for the Best Cheese Soup in All of France"

Panic sounded a word literally too little and insignificant for trying to understand what happened at Chef Marcel.

The man, ops, sorry, mice, didn't have in fact the secret ingredient!!!
Just her little Petite Michelle, the latest one of his children will help him, the secret ingredient will be add and Judge Le Whisk satisfied after very stressing days! of palpitations.
And of course Chef Marcel won't forget this time Petite Michelle.
Not anymore...

Absolutely beauty, funny for the chaos eheheh, and cute!

I thank Netgalley for this funny children's book!

I'll just admit it. I had seen this little book so many times on Netgalley and I thought the cover was really cute. Besides, thinking mice and cooking, I couldn't help but think of Ratatouille.

 

And while the inside was also nice, it can best be read with (very) small children. They will probably enjoy the story a lot with all the food that flies around all the time. The drawings are nice and there is also an opportunity to learn some French.

 

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Mice of Bistrot des Sept Freres is a charming and delightful picture book with the added bonus of teaching basic French vocabulary, focusing on restaurant related terms.

The actual story of the Bistro of Seven Brothers is prefaced with a pronunciation guide that is very user friendly, as tested by my 11 year old niece. She was able to decipher all of the words, though some of the guide did not lead to the French pronunciation that I learned in 1980’s high school French.

 

What follows is the story of an eventful day at a Paris bistro, with seven mice brothers and one sister all having their roles working under the head chef, their father. Whenever a kerfuffle occurs, the brothers are like dominos, as one’s upset triggers a chain reaction. Unruffled through everything is Petite Michelle, the younger sister and bistro hostess.

 

The artwork is dynamic and perfectly stylized, expressing personalities and enhancing the story. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Petite Michelle and the image of brother Jean-Michel adding pepper, le poivre, to the soup. French vocabulary is seamlessly included, and easily interpreted, as it is almost always next to the same term in English.

 

My 11 year old niece describes the book as cute and good for someone just learning how to speak French.

 

Adding to the fun of The Mice of Bistrot des Sept Freres are several activities available through the publisher’s website at www.tanglewoodbooks.com. We already have plans to make the famous cheese soup, sew up some fabric mice, and color the picture of Petite Michelle. There are also a few more educational resources within the activities.

 

Definitely a picture book that I would recommend to parents and educators.

 

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley who provided me with a free Read Now copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. No other consideration was offered, expected or received.

 

I knew from the cover that I was going to like this book, but I couldn’t imagine just how impressed with this book I would be. The artwork is very cute and made me smile just looking at it. I love the pronunciation page and that it teaches some French words to the reader in such a fun way. The characters are so much fun, but I especially like the hero of the story. And, as the description says, it includes a link to the recipe for the cheese soup so that you can try the best cheese soup in France yourself. :)

 

The class: They loved it – and I must admit that I LOVE finding books that they will want to hear more than once. This is a book that I would buy in physical form so that they could enjoy it themselves in the reading center. And, yes, we will be attempting the cheese soup ourselves. :)

I loved this book!  I can’t wait to share this book with my classes.   The illustrations were fantastic and the story was fun.  It centers upon Chef Marcel and his famous recipe.   This famous recipe is for cheese soup and it is time again for the yearly contest to see if his recipe can hold its place as #1 in France.  Oh course, Chef Marcel is a mouse and his family is the only one who knows the secret recipe so they all must work together to win the contest.   The judge is coming is one hour and the family is frantically bumping into one another in the kitchen to get the soup cooked and in the bowl before the judge enters the establishment.  Only there is one problem.  They are out of the secret ingredient!  How can they make the famous soup?  Will Chef Marcel be able to hold onto his title of the best cheese soup in all of France? 

What a wonderful story and the pictures are so whimsical and amusing. As the family fumbles around in the kitchen, you feel the panic and the concern that is running through their minds as they wait for the judge to arrive and wonder what they are going to do over the missing secret ingredient. After reading this book, you might also learn a few French words using the pronunciation guide that’s included, you just never know. I can’t say enough about this book except you need to pick this up and read it- you will truly love it. I have been reading the book Anatole for year and I think this book is a terrific book to pair with it.

Thanks NetGalley and Tanglewood Press for providing me a copy of this book.