Elizabeth, who blogs at Breaking the Circle has opened her home to a series of interviews about favorite children’s books. She kindly invited me over and I gladly accepted.
If you have a little bit of time, stop by Elizabeth’s blog to read what others have to say about their favorite children’s books.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for having me over. It was a real pleasure.
The next installment of Favorite Children’s Books is hosted by Evelyne Holingue, a published author who grew up in France and raised her children in America. Like Aunty Uta, Evelyne’s multicultural experience lends an interesting perspective to this topic.
Tell us about yourself, Evelyne!
I had never been to the USA when the young man I met in Paris told me that he would love to live there one day. Unlike me he had been there many times, visiting both coasts extensively. Honestly, I didn’t really think about his American dreams until one night, shortly after we got married, he told me that we should go. I remember excitement and anxiety stirring inside me, working at the making of a totally foreign stew.
Retrospectively, I’m glad I agreed. Saying no to the dreams of the man I love would have been hard. Now that we have been living in the…
View original post 1,110 more words
Evelyne Holingue 
It was my pleasure, Evelyne.
Love,
E
I’m glad we met through our mutual blogs, Elizabeth.
This time, I thought the comment belonged on the original site, but it was very nice to get to know a little more about you through this interview.
I don’t do reblog but Elizabeth and I are currently working on a manuscript with several common components so I was happy to be part of her interesting Favorite Children’s Books series since I love this topic. One of the great things with our blogs is our paths cross and ultimately meet. A unique network of people. Thanks, Dan.
Wonderful Evelyne! I’m so glad you shared this interview on your blog. Huge hugs.
Good to see you again, Teagan. One interesting thing about interviews is to get unique questions that trigger different answers. See you soo on your blog.
j’ai beaucoup aimé tes réponses 🙂 je me doutais que le petit prince te plaisait!
Je suis contente que tu aies lu mon billet en anglais et aussi que tu aies pu te douter que Le Petit Prince me plaisait beaucoup. A plus tard sur ton blog.
Evelyne, I loved this. It was fascinating to hear your perspective on the way your two nationalities affected the way you saw these books. I’d never considered how it must feel to have children born in a different culture to your native one, but the way you dealt with it sounds magical for your children. And the way you used American literature to help your English. Great post.
Thank you, Andrea. Coming from you who writes with such sensibility, I’m glad to read this comment. Every situation has its set of challenges and bonuses. I didn’t really chose to move away but from day one decided to embrace the opportunity. Reading was always one of my very favorite activities in life, so it was natural that I wanted to share books with my kids. I had just never thought that it would be in another country and with another language. Ultimately I think we all gained from the experience. See you soon, Andrea.
I love your phrase “foreign stew.”
I enjoyed this post. The Little Prince is one of my childhood favorites. I am sad to say, my children do not love it as much. Perhaps I should try to get them to read it again. It has bee a long time since I’ve read it – it’s now on my list of books to reread.
Nice to see you, Claire. I’m sure that my kids love The Little Prince because I read it in French first. Even though the English translation is excellent, the story sounds more poetic when read in French. My daughter’s reaction was clear: she wanted me to read it in my native language when she wasn’t doing well because French remains for them the language of home and love. I’m glad you also liked some of my writing! See you soon.