Translations
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NICHOLAS

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ni
  • Reading level: Age from 8 
  • Hardcover: 136 pages
  • Publisher: Phaidon Press; Translation edition (June 14, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • Product Dimensions: 22 X 15 cm 
  • This classic book about a mischievous schoolboy and his friends, originally published in French in 1959, is now available in English. The expertly translated text is enlivened by artwork by a New Yorker cartoonist to create the unforgettable milieu of Nicholas and his rowdy friends. A collection of 19 escapades, the stories introduce the protagonist and his cohorts as they wreak havoc out of simple, everyday situations at school, on the playground, and at home. Pestering the substitute teacher, trying to adopt a lost dog, and quarreling over soccer positions (only to find there isn't even a ball) make for hilarious and timeless anecdotes that will have readers giggling. Adults will also appreciate Nicholas's childlike perception of each troublesome situation through his comments at the end of each adventure. These charming vignettes beg to be shared aloud in a classroom or library setting. A delightful choice for spicing up middle-grade collections and for exposing kids to stories from abroad.

    GRAMMAR IS A SWEET, GENTLE SONG

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    prod0228
    Format: Hardcover
    Number of pages: 120
    Author: Orsenna, Erik
    Illustrator: Black, Moishe
    Publisher: George Braziller
    Date Published: 1/05/2004
    Language: English

    A grammar lesson disguised as a short novel (more precisely, a novella in novel’s clothing), Grammar is a Gentle, Sweet Song follows the adventures of a brother and sister, Thomas and Jeanne, after being shipwrecked on an extraordinary island where words prance around like living beings and you can buy the perfect word for any occasion at the market. Rendered mute by the trauma of their shipwreck, the siblings, under the kindly influence of Monsieur Henri, one of the island’s residents, seek to unlock their tongues by exploring the mysteries of the island. Among the wonders they encounter is the idea of marriages between words:

    "To be frank, they were pretty odd marriages. More like friendships. It reminded me of how schools used to be long ago, before they were co-ed. In the kingdom of French words, the boys stay with the boys and the girls with the girls... The article would go into the City Hall through one door and the adjective through another. The last to arrive was the noun. All three would disappear from sight: the roof of the building hid them from view... They would come back out together holding hands and with a complete agreement — Le chateau enchante, "the enchanted castle" — or all feminine — La maison hantee, "the haunted house"... "
    And, later, this lovely bit of whimsy:
    "I’m going to let you in on a secret: adjectives are deeply sentimental. They think their marriage will last forever...which just shows how little they know the congenital infidelity of the nouns, that bunch of dedicated bachelors, changing their qualifiers as casually as their socks. "

    Not everything in Grammar is a Gentle, Sweet Song has the same playfulness, and the book falters when it becomes serious, but the playful sections more than make up for the miscues. The siblings are interesting characters, for sure, but the pleasures of the book exist mostly on the level of metaphor and are considerable.

    SEGU

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    segu
    Format: Paperback
    Number of pages: 512
    Author: Conde, Maryse
    Publisher: Penguin Books
    Date Published: 1/09/1996
    Language: English

    An epic novel set in the West African kingdom of Bambara (old Mali) in 1797, exhaustive in its detail and thoroughly addicting. Conde transforms actual historical events into a full-blooded, lively tale. Translated from French.

    A powerful novel of Africa's history and the men and women who determined its fate. From the East came Islam. From the West, the slave trade. The battle for Africa's soul had begun...
    "A wondrous novel about a period of African history few other writers have addressed... Much of the novel's radiance comes from the lush descriptions of a traditional life that is both exotic and violent."
    (THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW)

    "Segu is an overwhelming accomplishment. It injects into the density of history characters who are as alive as you and I. Passionate, lusty, greedy, they are in conflict with themselves as well as with God and Mammon. Maryse Conde has done us all a tremendous service by rendering history so compelling and exciting. Segu is a literary masterpiece I could not put down."
    (LOUISE MERIWETHER)

    THE LAST OF THE AFRICAN KINGS

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    Last of the african
    Format: Paperback
    Number of pages: 204
    Author: Conde, Maryse
    Translator: Philcox, Richard
    Afterword by: Hewitt, Leah D.
    Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
    Date Published: 1/11/1997
    Language: English

    The Last of the African Kings (Les derniers rois mages) follows the wayward fortunes of a noble African family. It begins with the regal Behanzin, an African king who opposed French colonialism and was exiled to distant Martinique. In the course of the novel, Maryse Conde tell of Behanzin's scattered offspring and their lives in the Caribbean and the United States. With many characters and countless stories, The Last of the African Kings skillfully intertwines the themes of exile, lost origins, memory, and hope. The book is set mainly in the Americas, from the Caribbean to modern-day South Carolina, yet Africa hovers always in the background

    HAVE MERCY ON US ALL

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    have mercy

    AUTHOR: Fred Vargas

    Three times a day in a Parisian square, a curious modern-day crier announces the news items that are left in his box. Over the course of a few days he receives a number of disturbing and potentous messages of malicious intent, all of them referring to the Black Death. Strange marks have also appeared on the doors of several buildings: symbols once used to ward off the plague. Detective Commissaire Adamsberg begins to sense a connection, even a grotesque menace. Then charred and flea-bitten corpses are found. The press seizes on their plague-like symptoms, and the panic sets in...

    Originally published with the title: Pars vite et reviens tard.

    FEAR AND TREMBLING

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    fear and trembling
    AUTHOR: Amelie Nothomb

    'Fear and Trembling' tells the story of a young woman who spends a year working at a Japanese firm. She soon learns that at the Yumimoto Corporation hierarchy means everything, and her time there soon turns into a comic nightmare of terror and self-abasement.

    Originally published as 'Stupeur et Tremblements'

    THE BOOK OF PROPER NAMES

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    book of proper names
    AUTHOR: Amélie Nothomb
    Plectrude is an orphan with a gift for dance. She is looked after by her aunt who falls obsessively in love with her. This is a tale of lost mothers, haunted adolescence and fate.

    LA PRISONNIERE

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    LA PRISONNIERE
    AUTHOR: Malika Oufkir, Michelle Fitoussi
    This is the true story of the hardship endured by a Moroccan family incarcerated for 20 years by King Hassan II of Morocco. The father had been executed for attempting to assassinate the king, and the author Malika and her five siblings were separated from each other and the outside world.

    JUST LIKE HEAVEN

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    AUTHOR: Marc Levy  

    Originally published as If Only It Were True

    Levy's bestselling novel about a man contacted by a woman whose body lies in a coma on the other side of San Francisco is now adapted as a motion picture from DreamWorks, starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo

    THE LITTLE PRINCE

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    LIL PRINCE

    AUTHOR: Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

    Published by Egmont.

    A pilot forced to land in the Sahara meets a little prince. The wise and enchanting stories the prince tells of his own planet with its three volcanoes and a haughty flower are unforgetable. A strange and wonderful parable for all ages, with superb illustrations by the author.

    THE LITTLE PRINCE

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    LITTLE PRINCE

    AUTHOR: Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

    Published by Wordsworth.

    On one level this work is the story of an airman's discovery of a small boy from another planet in the desert and his stories of intergalactic travel, and on the other hand it is a thought-provoking allegory of the human condition.

    CHOCOLAT

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    CHOCOLAT
    AUTHOR: Joanne Harris
    An exotic stranger opens a chocolate boutique in a French village at the beginning of Lent, the traditional season for self-denial, dividing the community and causing a conflict that escalates into a Church not Chocolate battle.