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Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-travelling Cafe

by Rupert Kingfisher

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692389,379 (4)3
In Paris there is a cafe, elegantly furnished with polished wooden tables and an awning of striped gold and green, whose walls are filled with drinks such as Green Fairy Liqueur, Mermaid Madeira and Red Devil Lemonade. And sitting on the bar is a large, silver, steam-powered expresso coffee machine.The cafe is owned by Monsieur Moutarde, and Monsieur Moutarde has made the most extraordinary discovery. With the help of his friend, Madame Pamplemousse, he has created a time travel machine (for that is what the expresso coffee machine is). Very special, highly flavoured, intense ingredients are fed into the machine where they are subatomically blended with quantum froth and space-time foam. The resulting liquid looks like a small black coffee - but in fact transports the drinker through time and space. But this is a dangerous invention. For who knows what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands? Before long Monsieur Moutarde, Madame Pamplemousse, her cat, Camembert, and her friend, Madeleine, are on the run through time and space to capture a TRex's freshly caught drool and rare sphinx's tears, the vital ingredients for a tonic that will both save them and revive the ailing spirit of Paris. A magical romp that will charm and delight. 'A feat in extraordinary imagination. A truly wonderful tale, in the style of the fabulously historical and nonsensical stories of yore, it will absolutely delight any reader intent on taking an unexpected trip - to fanciful literary satisfaction. Wonderful stuff.' - Australian Women Online 'A classic charm with the added excitement of time travel - and it's fabulously Parisian.' - Bookseller + Publisher 'Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Cafe is an amazing book to read and I can't wait until the other books in the series come out!' - Rachel, age 10 (YARA review) Praise for Madame Pamplemousse and her Incredible Edibles- 'Think Amelie scripted by Heston Blumenthal' - Financial Times 'Enchanting debut ... witty, warm-hearted and as delectable as one of the dishes it describes, this is as much a hymn to the culinary arts as to the magic of kindness, and is recommended for 9s' - Amanda Craig, The Times 'A sophisticated book for sophisticated readers. Warmly recommended for librarians who need children as an excuse to buy the book' - School Librarian… (more)
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This is an absolutely delightful time-travel adventure for younger readers getting their teeth in to chapter books. It was an absolute delight from start to finish -- high stakes (the spirit of Paris is at risk! our protagonist, Madeleine, is threatened with imprisonment for the rest of her childhood), high energy (an average of one near escape per chapter), quirky, and fantastical. The language is lush. The world building is spacious, and yet detailed, with each environment economically sketched. The characters are lovely -- a little caricatured, as might be expected from urban fantasy for middle school (in some ways, it reminded me of the best of Roald Dahl), but every named character had their own features.

There are a number of incidental features that I love. The characters last names are all food -- I didn't recognise one, so had to look it up, with Google Translate providing the entertaining 'Norway lobster' as the English. The historical/mythical beasties are all ones that an average middle class kid might be expected to know, but enough detail is given that familiarity is not required. And while the protagonist, Madeleine, ends up lost and alone, things start to look up when an adult is involved, and it is not Madeleine's responsibility to solve things, just to be the helping hand when required. And when things get tough with both Madeleine and Camembert (the cat) in danger, Madame Pampelmousse sends Madeleine out of danger because "I can save him, but then I can't protect you". Too many of the children's books I've read have adults as capricious, dangerous, and unhelpful, and I don't want that children never be exposed to the idea that adults can be forces for good. ( )
  fred_mouse | Apr 22, 2018 |
This was a little out there for me. I did love the first of this series so much. I'm still looking forward to more Madame Pamplemousse books. ( )
  njcur | Jun 10, 2015 |
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For Rosie and the caterpillar
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In the city of Paris, in the district of Montmartre, at the top of a steep, winding hill, there is a café.
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In Paris there is a cafe, elegantly furnished with polished wooden tables and an awning of striped gold and green, whose walls are filled with drinks such as Green Fairy Liqueur, Mermaid Madeira and Red Devil Lemonade. And sitting on the bar is a large, silver, steam-powered expresso coffee machine.The cafe is owned by Monsieur Moutarde, and Monsieur Moutarde has made the most extraordinary discovery. With the help of his friend, Madame Pamplemousse, he has created a time travel machine (for that is what the expresso coffee machine is). Very special, highly flavoured, intense ingredients are fed into the machine where they are subatomically blended with quantum froth and space-time foam. The resulting liquid looks like a small black coffee - but in fact transports the drinker through time and space. But this is a dangerous invention. For who knows what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands? Before long Monsieur Moutarde, Madame Pamplemousse, her cat, Camembert, and her friend, Madeleine, are on the run through time and space to capture a TRex's freshly caught drool and rare sphinx's tears, the vital ingredients for a tonic that will both save them and revive the ailing spirit of Paris. A magical romp that will charm and delight. 'A feat in extraordinary imagination. A truly wonderful tale, in the style of the fabulously historical and nonsensical stories of yore, it will absolutely delight any reader intent on taking an unexpected trip - to fanciful literary satisfaction. Wonderful stuff.' - Australian Women Online 'A classic charm with the added excitement of time travel - and it's fabulously Parisian.' - Bookseller + Publisher 'Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Cafe is an amazing book to read and I can't wait until the other books in the series come out!' - Rachel, age 10 (YARA review) Praise for Madame Pamplemousse and her Incredible Edibles- 'Think Amelie scripted by Heston Blumenthal' - Financial Times 'Enchanting debut ... witty, warm-hearted and as delectable as one of the dishes it describes, this is as much a hymn to the culinary arts as to the magic of kindness, and is recommended for 9s' - Amanda Craig, The Times 'A sophisticated book for sophisticated readers. Warmly recommended for librarians who need children as an excuse to buy the book' - School Librarian

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