Madeline's Rescue (original 1953; edition 1953)

This is one of those classics that's fun to revisit. The story is fun (at the beginning of the story, the dog saves the girl, and at the end, the dog has puppies!), and the illustrations are cute. ( )

Caldecott winner 1954.
group of 12 girls; Madeline is saved by a dog which becomes their pet until the school board president throws the dog out. Dog comes back with puppies.
Lyrical with warm color tones

Parisian schoolgirl Madeline returns in this second picture-book devoted to her adventures, finding herself in need of rescue when her high-spirited antics land her in the Seine. When an obliging canine comes to her aid, fishing her out of the water, Madeline and her classmates (as well as their teacher, Miss Clavel) adopt the dog and name her Genevieve. All goes well with the new school resident, until the annual visit from the board of trustees, who insist that Genevieve must go. Can the girls and Miss Clavel find their beloved dog again, once she is ignominiously ejected from the school premises? And if they do, with whom will she sleep...?

Both of these questions are happily resolved in Madeline's Rescue, which was originally published in 1953, and chosen as the Caldecott Medal-winner in 1954. This status as a Caldecott title - the first book, Madeline, won a Caldecott Honor in 1940 - led me to pay particular attention to the artwork, during my recent read. Although interesting enough, I am not sure the illustrations really spoke to me, although I did think that the few full-color spreads were far more appealing than the plainer, white and yellow ones. The story itself is more engaging - I loved Genevieve's surprise at the end! - although the rhyming text is rather awkward in places. With lines like: "From now on, I hope you will listen to me, / And here is a cup of camomile tea," or "The dog loved biscuits, milk and beef / And they named it Genevieve," it just didn't read that well. This was a low three stars from me, leaving me to ponder my lukewarm response, in light of the book and its heroine's place as a perennial childhood favorite. Perhaps I would have loved Madeline, rather than just liking her, if I'd first met her as a girl myself...? ( )

Cute story of a dog who saves a girl who lives in an orphanage. They keep the dog until the trustees tell them to get rid of it. After the trustees left they went searching for the dog but could not find her. Then she appeared and they were happy and she had puppies. ( )

Caldecott Medal, 1954 ( )