Madeline's Rescue

The story opens with the same narration as the original picture book, up to the point where Madeline scares Miss Clavel by balancing on the edge of the bridge. Only in this book, Madeline doesn't just scare Miss Clavel; she falls off the bridge into the water. And that would have been the end for small Madeline, but that a dog jumped in the water and saved her from her watery doom. The girls adopt their canine hero, and Madeline is quickly recuperated. They name the dog Genevieve (a female dog for the female students). Aside from the fight that breaks out every night as the girls struggle to choose who gets to sleep with the dog, life is better than ever in the boarding school.

Until the day the school trustees pay a visit. They notice show more every detail, especially the dog's tail sticking out from under the bed. The snooty board members force Genevieve to leave, despite Madeline's strong protests. Miss Clavel does not argue; instead, she wisely waits until the unwanted visitors leave, and then shepherds the girls outside so they can search for their dear dog. They range across Paris, searching every spot a dog might choose, but Genevieve is nowhere to be found. In the middle of the night (of course), Miss Clavel senses something is not right, and heads outside to find Genevieve howling under a street light. Even better, she soon has puppies, just enough for each girl to have a dog of her own, and end the fighting between them.

I enjoyed this story better than the first Madeline book. I liked the way the author played with the earlier established narrative formula, and then changed it for dramatic effect. For example, Madeline falling off the bridge, and Miss Clavel waking up in the night three times towards the end of the book. The story has a handful of truly hilarious moments, such as the girls breaking out into fights over the dog as soon as the lights are out (examine the illustrations closely as those girls are seriously throwing down and it makes me laugh), or Madeline standing on a chair and declaring that Genevieve will have her vengeance! In addition to these funny touches, the narrative is more compelling, and the illustrations remain charming and full of vivid scenes from France. The series feels like it established itself in the original book, and in this book has successfully built upon the foundation with a more interesting and entertaining story. show less

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 show more 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...? show less

Madeline loves to prank and scare Miss Clavel, and this backfires when Madeline falls in the river. A dog, later named Genevieve, saves Madeline. The girls smuggle the dog in their room, but the inspectors pay a visit to the school and tell the girls they can't keep the dog. Miss Clavel finds a way for the girls to keep the dog, but they have to learn to share and not fight over Genevieve. This becomes easy when Genevieve has puppies! This book didn't end like the other Madeline books, but it was just as good! Love it!

Madline and her eleven school mates continue to live with Miss Clavel, where every day, rain or shine, they line up in twos and walk out into the city. This time Madeline falls into the river, and is rescued by a dog, whom the girls name Genevieve and take back to the school to live with them.

Charming story. Bright, colorful, humorous drawings. There’s a reason these books have remained popular for generations of children. It didn’t really appeal to me very much, but I can certainly see how young girls, in particular, would love Madeline and her escapades.

Fun book. Simple and elegant. Nice illustrations. I feel like I could read this book multiple times. Love the rhymes and makes me want to do the same. Now I just need grandchildren to read it to.

For us adults: What about the trustees, what happens when they come back? A dog rescued her, but although a Newfoundland would do that, and I miss my Newfies of old :-(, would an average dog save someone in the water? Well, it maybe looks like a yellow lab-ish, do labs save people in the water like Newfoundland dogs? Also, puppies are nice, but no mention of the cleaning needed for all the puppies:
And there on the stoop
Was a whole lot of puppy ...

(Stoop: is a small staircase ending in a platform and leading to the entrance of an apartment show more building or other building.) show less

This is a story about twelve little girls who live in Paris with a lady named Miss Clavel. The smallest one and the one who often causes the most trouble is Madeline. A dog named Genevieve saves her from drowning and soon becomes part of the family. However, during an inspection by the trustees they kicked poor Genevieve out. After searching everywhere for the dog the little girls gave up and went home. Genevieve returned on her own back to the house and everyone was so happy. The little girls soon fought over who the dog would sleep with and Miss Clavel said they needed to stop the fighting if they wanted Genevieve to stay. Not long after did Genevieve give birth and there were soon enough dogs for every little girl.

I love this book, show more I used to read this as a little girl and even had a Madeline doll! The illustrations in this book are amazing. The emotions are shown by the characters in the pictures without having to read the text on each page. The illustrations of the city are done with so much detail as if you were standing in front of them in real life. As the mood changes throughout the story so does the color and pictures on each page. The emotions of the characters are shown on their faces and by their body language. Something I found interesting is how the color and pictures vary depending on what the girls are doing. While they are looking for Genevieve the city is colorful but as soon as they seem to be back in their house the colors turn yellow again. The illustrator does a wonderful job of showing in a picture exactly the point the author is trying to convey in this story. show less

Madeline's rescue was the second Madeline book written by Ludwig Bemelmans. In this adventure, Madeline is saved by a dog whom she and the girls decide to name Genevieve. Ms. Clavel allows the girls to keep Genevieve who adjusts magnificently to her new life. Unfortunately, a group of trustees come to perform the annual inspection and kick Genevieve out of the house. After a long search across Paris, Ms. Clavel, Madeline, and the girls return home unsuccessful and heartbroken. Late in the night, Ms. Clavel hears a loud noise from outside and discovers Genevieve has found her way home. All the girls are so excited, a fight breaks out over who Genevieve gets to sleep with that night. Conveniently enough Genevieve has puppies at that exact show more moment and everyone has a companion of their own.
Although some of this book is a bit unrealistic, it still provides some great lessons about standing up for yourself in a respectful way and doing what's right rather than what you're told. When the trustees make Genevieve leave, Ms. Clavel politely asks the trustees to reconsider. When they refused, she realized their was no point in arguing. Instead, she calmly told the girls it was time for a walk and they all went looking for their missing friend. These are very important lessons for children to learn. When someone is being a bully, it's best not to fight back, but rather shake it off and keep moving forward. show less