Thursday November 14, 2024, Sébastien Servant, children's author, present at the book fair this weekend, came to Sainte-Marie college, in Fougères, to meet two classes of 5eor 24 students in total.
Reading of Monsters, novel dealing with harassment, raised many questions among middle school students, both on the plot and on the author's profession.
In the story, Otto the hero will meet another Otto, the monster. The young people questioned the author on the reasons for choosing the same first name, as well as on the number of illustrations and the design of the cover. Stéphane Servant readily responded and developed his profession as a writer. “The editor chose the cover. He also chose Nicola Zouliamis, the illustrator and decided to put a lot of drawings. »
Tales and the circus
He continued the discussion by talking about his childhood and the sources of his inspiration.
When I was a child, there were no Books in the house. But when I went to my grandmother's house, she read me Charles Perrault's stories.
I also attended a circus school in my childhood and this world, where danger is very present, fascinates me. There is often also a grandmother who eats cakes like mine and who doesn't like cats in my texts. I enjoy quirky characters and I think a good book should feed the reader's imagination.
To conclude, Stéphane Servant clarified that“From sending to the publisher to publication, it takes about a year and a half. I rewrote Monsters three times because writing also means rewriting. A sequel is possible but the text is not finished and I don't know if it will be released. »
Until Sunday November 17, 2024, Children's Book Fair at Espace Aumailrie, Fougères.
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