Loula Is Leaving for Africa
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Loula has had enough of her terrible triplet brothers and decides to run away to Africa. Luckily, her mother’s chauffeur, Gilbert, knows just how to get there. Together, Loula and Gilbert ride camels, cross a desert and, most important, use heaps of imagination in this heartwarming adventure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Loula's brothers "mean, horrible, stinky" triplets have pushed her too far. She announces that she's taking off for Africa; her theatrical parents merely smile. Only the family's chauffeur, Gilbert, understands what Loula really needs, and he squires her through a glorious afternoon of make-believe. "Mademoiselle, look! What luck! Here is a restaurant. Which would you prefer," he says, offering her cotton candy and an ice cream cone, "Ostrich egg souffl or a grasshopper sandwich?" They cross the desert (he carries her through a sandbox), go for a camel ride (bouncy playground ducks), and take a paddleboat to a remote island ("It is so quiet," Loula says contentedly, as they share a cup of "tea" and admire the setting sun). Villeneuve's (The Red Scarf) ink-and-watercolor vignettes have a deliciously swoopy lightness of touch. Somehow, that Loula is the daughter of rich parents with a chauffeur to drive her around does not rankle; it's all part of the fancy. The afternoon she and Gilbert share has the innocent sweetness of a '30s film romance, right to the moment he carries the sleeping explorer into the house. Ages 4 7.