Tales, stories… Here are 6 ideas for children’s books to help you wait for Christmas

► “Roule Galette” by Natha Caputo and Pierre Belvès (1) and “Roule Galette and other tales” by Elena Selena (2)

Seventy-five years it has been rolling, the pretty pancake from the famous tale of Father Castor. To celebrate the anniversary of this great classic for toddlers, Flammarion Jeunesse is offering a new edition accompanied by a (royal!) porcelain bean, as well as a beautiful pop-up book which enlivens five other classics, including The Rainbird et Michka. Something to enjoy as a family around texts and illustrations of immutable charm.

► “Five Tales” by Posy Simmonds

Before becoming the queen of British graphic novels, Posy Simmonds worked in the British press and in children’s literature. In five of her carefully republished tales, the author of Tamara Drewe et Gemma Bovery shows the same tenderness for his characters, with a cloud of Roald Dahl-like cruelty. A pastry cat making a deal with mice to get rid of a horrible boss, a little rabbit making friends with city foxes: everything here is as delicious as Christmas pudding… with arsenic!

► “The 4 Aces, Anthology” by Georges Chaulet

Get ready to go back in time to the 1960s! With an old-fashioned charm, this beautiful anthological album brings together the first four succulent adventures of the 4 As. Under the elegant style of François Craenhals, in the most tradition of the “clear line” dear to Hergé, we happily follow the main, endearing characters although stereotypical, by Georges Chaulet: Lastic, Doc, Dina, Bouffi and their dog Oscar. An interesting documentary file mixing anecdotes and drawings completes this lovely intergenerational gift.

► “The one who wanted to do everything very, very well” by Alexis Jenni

This is the true story of Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen, whose uncompromising ambition carries him from success to success. Well, almost… Because not content with becoming world skating champion and competitive skier, this fellow who is keen on science lives three years on a perilous expedition without being able to reach the North Pole. No matter, on his return, safe and sound, he is celebrated as a hero and named ambassador. And it was under this costume that Fridtjof Nansen accomplished his greatest feat in 1922: obtaining the creation of a passport for stateless persons. A saving breakthrough crowned with a Nobel Peace Prize. With this beautiful album, Alexis Jenni, Prix Goncourt for The French Art of War, follows in the footsteps of a pacifist who wanted “do everything very, very well”.

► “Coboye” by Cécile

Exquisite tenderness, hearty laughter and a return to childhood. This is what we can expect from this collection with round lines and cheerful colors. The author compiles her childhood memories – mostly nonsense, of such enormity that we are often closer to Calvin et Hobbes than autobiography. Through this gallery of short stories, she tells herself as an obsessive child of the Wild West, living only to collect snails or climb trees. Overflowing imagination, limitless energy, carefreeness: these memories are often ours too. And funnier!

► “My Christmas crib” by Marie-Christine Vidal and Marie-Élise Masson

Bayard Jeunesse is offering a lovely box set for little ones this Christmas time. Three small cardboard books in the shape of characters from the nativity scene give voice to Mary, the Child Jesus and Joseph, to explain the story of the Nativity with tenderness and joy. A decor completes these books to handle, allowing the child to create their first nativity scene.