Madeline and the Cats of Rome

I’ve already written about how much my girls and I love the Madeline books, but I think the newest Madeline book deserves some attention of its own.

You’re thinking, “Newest Madeline book?  I thought the author, Ludwig Bemelmans, died a long time ago.”

Yes, he did.  Yes, there were only a few Madeline books.  But now, there’s one more.

Belemen’s grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano, wrote Madeline and the Cats of Rome in the tradition of his grandfather.  He wrote a biography of his grandfather, and studied Bemelmans’ artistic and writing style extensively before writing this book.

All his hard work shows:  the rhythmic and lyrical writing; the illustrations depicting actual landmarks, some in color and some black and yellow.  A new reader of Madeline would not be able to pick out which Madeline book was not written by the original author.  Of course, those of us who know and love Madeline would recognize the new title right away.

I think even die-hard Madeline fans will appreciate this new addition to the original Madeline books.  I, for one, hope Marciano is working on more Madeline books.