Ernest et Célestine au musée

Title	Ernest et Célestine au musée
Author	Gabrielle Vincent
Call Number	PQ2682.I5325 E76 1985
Location	3rd Floor Muth
Rating	Recommended
Book Review	If you're looking for a lunchtime armchair escape and would like to brush up on your French (with help from Google Translate), try your hand at reading this charming French children's book about an inseparable bear and mouse--best friends whose equally charming backstory can be viewed on Kanopy in fine form as an 80-minute animated film dubbed in English, or available in its original French. See chapman.kanopy.com/video/ernest-celestine In this story, Ernest and Celestine are accidentally separated from each other during an outing to a museum, where Ernest is interested in a job. Both characters share a love for art and its history, and Celestine's tiny art supplies can be spotted on the floor of their shared home in the final pages of the story. Their temporary separation and frenzied search for one another brings excitement to the museum, as seen in Gabrielle Vincent's whimsically sketched watercolor illustrations. She somehow captures an impossible juxtaposition of stillness and motion, and leaves the reader wanting to know just exactly how this odd couple's friendship came about. The 2012 Academy Award-nominated film adaptation of the Ernest & Celestine children's book series reveals just that--how a bear and a mouse from communities who fear one another came to be the unlikeliest of roommates, transforming perspectives around them. The animation, voices, and accompanying soundtrack all enliven Gabrielle Vincent's stories, taking the viewer inside a fractured world not so different from our own. Both book and film alike could be a bit scary for little ones, so I'd recommend these tales only for age seven or eight and up (if you're thinking of sharing with a Celestine-aged/sized human being). I can assure you of happy endings, in any case. Tout est bien qui finit bien!
Submitted By	Erin Rivero
Department or Major	Leatherby Libraries
Status	Staff
Chapman Email	erivero@chapman.edu