Jean-François Chabas

(A copy was provided to read and review.)

Since childhood I love to hear fairytales, folktales, fables, legends, basically the whole lot and now, being a tiny bit older, I enjoy collecting interesting and unique ones from all over the world.

The Enchanted Chest stands out, the artwork is simply a must see.

A fisherman finds a beautiful chest in his fishing net, but struggles to open it.
While he is still battering the truly stunning trunk with his tools, one of the King's guards appears. He show more claims the still unopened item for the ruler of the land, who is a greedy character indeed.

Once the confiscated item is inside the palace and placed in front of the King, he has to agree, this sure looks like an amazing treasure trove, only it still is locked.
But try as he might, neither the Emperor himself nor his locksmith, strong man "I love breaking things", magician, alchemist, they all fail to break the lock. Finally, there's the advice from a young kitchen hand, maybe the lynx could help, as the animal can see through walls.
The animal is caught and she finds herself in front of the throne, but will the lynx succeed where all the others failed?

Now, here's the thing, everybody who loves fairytales, will probably by now expect a certain ending, and let's just say, at first, the lynx behaves accordingly, but the last page of the book and particularly the last sentence are quite a surprise. There's a twist I didn't see coming.

The author looks here at deception and that sometimes, not knowing the full truth or maybe not wanting to see the reality can still make us very happy, depending how we are prepared to deceive ourselves.

I hugely enjoyed reading the story, the writing flows nicely and is funny and the twist at the end, as mentioned before, I sure didn't see coming.
The illustrations are utterly beautiful and I agree with one of the reviews in the US, I also immediately was reminded of Gustav Klimt. David Sala's artwork is a total delight.

Five star shaped diamonds for The Enchanted Chest from me. show less

A quirky tale about a greedy ruler, his mistreated servants, the personified creature that outsmarts them all, with a one-liner moral at the end. 2.75-3 stars for the story, 4 stars for the mosaic, expressive, and colorful artwork.

Net Galley Feedback

I picked up this little book in a charity shop. Aimed at young French readers of about 10 years old I found it really helpful for me in trying to learn the language. I was pleased to be able to read a real book in a foreign language. A first for me. The story itself is no great shakes but displays a French fascination with American culture and, as you might expect for a children's book, an inter-generational plot.

In the spirit of old-fashioned fairy tales, a nice story for kids. Interesting style of illustrations.