Today is the first official day of spring here in the Northern Hemisphere. To celebrate, all the books listed in my curriculum, Picture Book Preschool, for this week have something to do with springtime. One of the best of the best is Springtime for Jeanne-Marie by Francoise Seignobosc.

Z-baby loves this story. The little French girl, Jeanne-Marie, loses her pet duck, Madalon. Jeanne-Marie also has a pet sheep, Patapon, and she and Patapon set off down the river to look for Madalon. Of course, they ask everyone they meet whether or not they have seen a little white duck, but the answer is always “no.” Eventually, Jeanne-Marie and Patapon make a new friend, Jean Pierre, who helps them in their search. And finally, when they have almost given up hope, the children and Patapon find Madalon in a most unlikely place.

The watercolor illustrations in this picture book are beautifully Old World European. There’s also some counting practice involved in reading the story, and the book is just right for three or four or even five year olds who are just beginning to appreciate a simple plot with some repetition and a little surprise at the end. The children, Jeanne-Marie and Jean Pierre, are delightfully innocent and seem to come from the French countryside of about the 1940’s or 50’s, maybe even earlier. The Jeanne-Marie books, of which there are several, were actually published in France in the 1950’s.

I couldn’t find any information on the internet or in my home reference books about Francoise Seignobosc. Does anyone else have any information about this French author/illustrator?

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.