These children write their own story for the Partir en livre festival

This Monday, June 24, 2024, in Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf (Seine-Maritime), the school children took part in an original creative workshop: the making of a kamishibaï, a small Japanese paper theater. An activity which is part of the “Partir en livre” youth festival.

A chest falls to the bottom of the ocean. What is hidden inside? The clownfish, the mata turtle, the pufferfish and the lanternfish circle around without finding the key. An atmosphere of fear and curiosity reigns. Before a sire shark, a hammerhead shark, a seahorse, a shrimp and even… a seaweed arrive to lend them a hand!

This story was invented by a CM1 class from the Monod-Camus school group, in Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf (Seine-Maritime). At their side: an illustrator and a children’s author, both of whom came to lead a workshop on the occasion of the “Partir en livre” festival.

Watch the report by M. Queïnnec, D. Meunier and J. Matz:

At the end of two days of the workshop, the 27 students in the class will have designed a kamishibai, a small Japanese theater. In a butai, a sort of wooden structure, illustrations are slipped. By unrolling the illustrations, we obtain a story full of poetry, which is revealed throughout the pages.

Their kamishibai has a dozen plates, with a text written on the back. The story is co-written with Florence Jenner-Metz, a children’s author, and code-drawn by Thierry Chapeau, already familiar with this type of format.

With two images, you can make three, four, five, create stops. You can play with the butaï, make believe that someone is knocking at the door… Ideas come and it all works together.

Thierry Chapeau

at France 3 Normandy

Good surprise in the room: the children are getting involved! Loukas loves to write. So, he gives his all to his part: the arrival of a shrimp near the mysterious chest. Louis counts the minutes…

“I love drawing, I practice at home. I’ve already done lots of drawings, but I’m not very good at drawing animals“, admits Charly, 9 years old. “You have to be very diligent, know how to draw a little. It fascinates me, it helps pass the time.“, Yasser says studiously.

“I think it’s quite unifying for children to have these kinds of projects. It gives them something concrete: they know what the point of learning to write French correctly is!“, enthuses Estelle Guesrée, their teacher.

The project has all the more meaning as the result of the students’ work will be used as part of a workshop at the Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf media library on July 16, announces Hélène Vaillant, the head of this structure.

For 8 years, the municipality has been supporting these cultural activities labeled “Partir en livre” and subsidized by the National Book Center. The media libraries of Elbeuf, Cléon and Caudebec-lès-Elbeuf also join in.

Photo competition, stories, shows and poetry, until July 21 in Normandy and everywhere else, children will be able to discover reading differently, to rediscover the pleasure of reading as part of this fun and educational festival.

And it works : “It’s a pleasure to write for young people: we have a lot of fun, we convey values, dreams, perhaps a little beauty in our world tooassure Florence Jenner-Metz. And children still love to read. Fortunately !“