Catherine Certitude - Hardcover

Modiano, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 087923959X ISBN 13: 9780879239596

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, 2001

Synopsis

A read-aloud for children from Patrick Modiano, a Nobel Prize winner in literature. “A quirky and utterly charming chapter book in picture-book format, with the famed illustrator Sempe's radiant and adorable illustrations.”―Booklist

In this enchanting picture book about intangible memories, Catherine Certitude, a dancer in Paris, reminisces about her childhood. She remembers living with her dreamer of a father―whose storefront ‘package business’ may have been a smuggling operation, her American mother's letters from the States (‘Sometimes Mama made spelling mistakes’), her ballet lessons with a tragic woman who feigns a Russian accent, and her father's humiliation at a society party where he pathetically pretends to be rich (‘His brown suit clashed with everyone else’s light, summery clothes’).

As Publishers Weekly said, “This lovely book suggests the delicacy and strength of an eggshell. It demands a nuanced understanding of the past (‘We always stay the same, and the people we have been in the past go on living until the end of time,’ muses Catherine) and human foibles.” An enriching read-aloud experience for you and your child.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick Modiano was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature for a body of work that includes Missing Person and Honeymoon (both published by Godine).

Reviews

In this novella, ensconced in a roomy picture-book format with feather-light illustrations, a dancer reminisces on her childhood in the 10th arrondissement in Paris. Catherine Certitude remembers living with her French father, a dreamer whose storefront "package business" may have been a smuggling operation. Her father tolerates a pedantic partner who once saved him "from the clutches of the law"; an old shipping manifest lists "30 Bouteilles de Rhum." She recalls her American mother's letters from the States ("Sometimes Mama made spelling mistakes"), her ballet lessons with a tragic woman who feigns a Russian accent and her father's humiliation at a society party where he pathetically pretends to be rich ("His brown suit clashed with everyone else's light, summery clothes"). Modiano deals in ambiguity; even Catherine's firm surname is an immigration officer's conception. She also says she and her father escaped the "world as it was" by removing their glasses: "Everything around us became soft and fuzzy. Time stopped. We felt fine." New Yorker illustrator Semp‚ suggests intangible memories with a wispy ink line and filmy watercolor tints. He pictures Catherine as a slender child with blonde braids, striking comically graceful dance poses and sharing her father's wistful smile. This lovely book suggests the delicacy and strength of an eggshell. It demands a nuanced understanding of the past ("We always stay the same, and the people we have been in the past go on living until the end of time," muses Catherine) and human foibles. Ages 8-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-7. A quirky and utterly charming chapter book in picture-book format, with the famed illustrator Sempe's radiant and adorable illustrations. Catherine affectionately recalls growing up in Paris with her father, from her vantage point as an adult in New York City. Her mother, an American dancer, has moved back to New York, and young Catherine lives with her father in the tenth arrondisement. Every morning he makes them breakfast before he goes off to work with his partner, M. Casterade, an officious and annoying man Catherine's father calls "The Pill." Catherine doesn't quite understand what her dad does in his "Exp.-Trans." business, either. But mostly she remembers ballet classes, and lunch with her father at a local restaurant, and how gentle things look when she--and her dad--take their glasses off and see the world in a different way. Eventually Catherine's father leaves his mysterious business to Casterade and moves to New York to be with her mother again. What particularly engages is the way Modiano captures memories of childhood: fragmented, misunderstood, but glowing in the crucible of recollection. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 087923959X
• ISBN 13: 9780879239596
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Sempe Jean-Jacques
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 58