The illustrations are lovely. Its beautiful colourful pastel palette that reminds me of candy and the sparkles lend it a fairytale feel that suits the mundane magic of Vivienne’s day. And there really is a strong sense of it with the way it focuses on sensory explorations of her day. I love Paris and though while reading it made me long to be back it’s not particularly tied to the city. I did enjoy the section in Fifi’s Fleurs where Vivienne and Fifi talked about the Fleur-de-lis.

I’m not personally a fan of italicising foreign words. However this is an example I think it does it well. Only doing so in the first instance that the word appears. It’s fantastic that a children’s book is encouraging French and it’s done so well. The words come up in ways that can be contextually understood either in-text or with an illustration. Or, if more than a few words, a bracketed translation. Those only start to be included after having built up a little vocabulary already.

It’s a sweet story and one I see many people enjoying it. For the beauty of its art. For the bilingualism. For its lovely descriptions.