Captain Rosalie is a beautiful, sobering story.

Rosalie's father is a soldier, fighting in the war far away. Her mother works in a factory,. The teacher at the village school watches over Rosalie while her mother works. Each day Captain Rosalie hides among the coats at the back of the classroom, unnoticed and ignored, which suits her secret mission just fine. 

War leaves nothing untouched. Not the soldiers, not the countryside, not the families left behind. Her mother reads the letters her father sends home, but Rosalie can't help but wonder if she isn't be told the whole story. Fombelle's story of a young girl's determination to complete her mission--to learn to read--is beautiful. When she can finally read the letters for herself, she learns the horrible truths of war and loss, but the way in which she handles those truths speaks to the strength and resiliency of children. 

Accompanied by simple, charming illustrations, this story reads like a story of an earlier era--in the best way possible.

‘’Dogs bark in the distance, out there by the farms. The dead leaves whistle their way across the school yard.’’

1917, a cold autumn day in France. WWI has darkened Europe. The Great War, the war that was supposed to end all wars. How wrong the entire world was...A little girl with fiery red hair is waiting for her teacher. She is Rosalie. Her father is among the men who sacrificed themselves to defeat the Central Powers demon. Art and Imagination are her allies as her day pass in silence in the company of her mother and her classmates. Her world changes when a blue envelope arrives and Rosalie has to find the courage and will to show herself as a true Captain.

‘’The rain here is made of wood and steel.’’

The consequences of war are present everywhere. In the letters from Rosalie’s father, in the teacher who lost his arms, in the women who work in the factories. In the sketches on the letters, in Rosalie’s thoughts that try to fly beyond the villages and reach the battlefields. The beautiful illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault are moving and nostalgic in black, grey, brown, white and fiery red to resemble Rosalie’s hair.

I couldn’t help it. I cried and cried while I was reading. I cried because of the immense pain that is born out of war, a threat that will never vanish. I cried for the mothers and the wives, the daughters and the sons that have lost and will go losing each time war strikes because our race is so uncivilized that cannot resolve a so-called dispute through discussion, because there will always be a dictator who’d enjoy bathing the world in blood. I cried because the truth is we have learnt nothing from the past and we still resort to the same mistakes. Because we are still in darkness.

A beautiful, powerful story by Timothée de Fombelle, translated by Sam Gordon. An ode to resilience and hope that all children should read.

‘’I am a soldier on a mission. I am spying on the enemy. I am preparing my plan. I am Captain Rosalie.’’

Many thanks to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com

Captain Rosalie is a beautifully crafted novella that is at once heartbreaking and hopeful. There are no unnecessary words or wasted actions and yet it packs such a strong emotional reaction. de Fombelle brilliantly holds the mystery of Rosalie's secret mission until it is time to reveal it, yet upon rereading, I noticed subtle hints. Narrated by Rosalie, author de Fombelle and translator Gordon never lose the voice of a 5½-year-old as she plans her mission and closely watches the world around her. Her realistic voice is even there when she is reading the letters from her father, not knowing all the words, but knowing enough to understand what her father is saying.

Interestingly, while her mother made up letters that she thought would make Rosalie's father more real for her daughter, and ignoring the truth of what he actually wrote, this only served to make Rosalie more distant from him and inspired her to learn to read. And, it doesn't take much to figure out that the gendarme brought news that Rosalie's father was killed in action. But that isn't what the story is about. It is about adults telling kids the truth so that they don't have to find it out for themselves.

Arsenault's spare watercolor, pencil and ink illustrations are done in cold, barren winter grays and whites, with only touches of color - red hair for Rosalie, her mother, and her ally Edgar, and the flames of a fire, and the blue of the envelopes and letters from Rosalie's father add to the feeling of life and hope in the midst of death and despair.

If Captain Rosalie sounds familiar, it is because it was originally published in an anthology called The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items From the First World War. The stand alone version of Captain Rosalie will be available on June 11, 2019.

5★

“I have a secret.
The others think I’m drawing in my notebook when 
I’m sitting on the little bench underneath the coat hooks 
at the back of the classroom. They think I’m dreaming 
as I wait for evening to fall. And the teacher passes me 
by as he gives instruction to the students.
He places his hand on my hair.
But I am a soldier on a mission. I am spying on the 
enemy. I am preparing my plan.
I am Captain Rosalie.”

War. At five, little Rosalie is very young to be preparing for her mission, but she is one determined little redhead! Her father is a soldier, away at war, and her mother goes to work every day. The local teacher has agreed that Rosalie can sit quietly at the back of his class, and he will give her paper and pencils to draw with. 

My Goodreads review includes a few illustrations. I will show the captions here.

[Picture captioned: A picture of Rosalie sitting on her stool]

She likes to put her stool under the coat rack where she can spy on the class, and the children are happy to hang their coats over and around her.

[Picture captioned: Picture of Rosalie, the spy, blending in with the coats]

Rosalie’s mother is always excited to get letters from Rosalie’s father from the front. She reads them aloud to Rosalie. When the letters begin to reminisce, Rosalie gets impatient.

[Picture captioned: Picture of Rosalie, frustrated with her mother]

But mother loves to read and re-read and remember her husband.

[Picture captioned: Picture of mother, reading and thinking of her husband]

Captain Rosalie is adamant she is going to complete her mission, and she continues to plan.

[Picture captioned: Picture of Rosalie, ready for anything]

This is a beautiful, moving story, more than a picture book for children. In some ways, it reminds me of Shaun Tan's unique The Arrival, which is a universal story told solely through illustrations. Like "The Arrival", this will spark a lot of conversation amongst adults and children alike. (Link to my review of The Arrival, with many illustrations)

It is absolutely wonderful. I am impressed that when it was translated from the original French, even the illustrations have been modified for English readers. 

I thank NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the preview copy from which I have so shamelessly shared a few illustrations. It is still available on NetGalley and due to be published 11 June 2019.

This is a bit of a strange picture book. Being quite heavy on the text, it will probably only appeal to older readers, especially given the subject matter. For me, it almost didn't seem like a children's book: from the mature voice of the supposed five-year-old to the disturbing descriptions of life in the trenches, Captain Rosalie seems almost like it was intended for a much older audience.

The story follows five-year-old Rosalie, a young girl who lives in France during the Great War. Her father is off in the trenches, and her mother works in a factory... which leaves Rosalie in the care of the schoolteacher. Being a little too young for school, she sits at the back of the class while she watches and listens. She repeatedly talks about her mission, the nature of which is a mystery until well into the story. Letters arrive from the front, and Rosalie's mother reads them to her. Rosalie doesn't seem much interested, as she doesn't remember her father (it's 1917, so he's likely been away since she was a toddler). But one day a letter in a blue envelope arrives, and it seems to upset her mother. Rosalie makes a plan to find the letter and figure out what it says.

I'm not sure exactly how this book is supposed to read. Given the mature-sounding voice of Rosalie, it almost seems like she's telling the story years later. But the narrative is written in the present tense, which seems like an odd choice for that sort of story. I'm also a bit confused by Rosalie's comments about liking to see her mother tired and sad. Is there something wrong with this child? (Perhaps not, but in any case, trying to tease out the complex emotions of a five-year-old child is a lot for a picture book to ask of young readers.)

The illustrations are fine, but nothing special. Rosalie's bright orange hair is set off amid a background of more muted pink and grey tones. It works for the subject matter, but I don't know if the pictures are particularly memorable.

Overall, I did enjoy this one, but perhaps not as much as I was expecting. I think my inability to categorize it is interfering a bit with my enjoyment. I'm not quite sure who to recommend this one to, given the subject matter and sophisticated voice of the text.

I received an electronic ARC from Candlewick Press through NetGalley.
A tender story of a 5-year old girl on a secret mission. She remembers nothing but war (World War I). Her father is a soldier; her mother has to work in one of the factories. She stays at school with the older students. That's her secret mission place. She is in disguise as a 5-year old little girl and is really Captain Rosalie taking note of everything happening in the classroom.
The author captures the tragic consequences of war as seen through a child's eyes. She does complete her mission (learning to read) and sneaks home to read her father's letters from the front. She discovers her mother has been pretending he wrote about joyful events and future activities when in reality he has been describing his experiences and fears. The blue envelope contains the final piece of her mission and she discovers her father was killed in battle; her mother had not been able to tell her.
The illustrations have a dark quality that emphasizes the story's point. The language translation works well for English readers.
Definitely a book to read together and use as a springboard for further discussion.

I was intrigued by the title and the water colors.  The text did not deliver.

This book is twice as long as a typical picture book, with far too much text for a young child to sit through.  The protagonist is two young to appeal to an older reader.  And the content is far too dark for many children younger than ten to comprehend.  

An absent father forces a mother to send her preschool daughter to stay at the local school all day, from before the building opens to hours after the last student leaves.  This is either absurd or very scary, depending on one's disposition.  Then, the father dies and the mother lies.  The little girl fakes her disappearance to sneak into the house alone and read the letters.  The happy ending is intended to be that the little girl has learned to read.  But, does that really make anything at all okay?