Author: Ludwig Bemelmans
Title: Madeline
Illustrator: Ludwig Bemelmans
Publisher: the Penguin Group
Year: 1967
Genre: Caldecott
Format: Hardcover
Reading Level: Assisted, emergent reader
Interest level: Early elementary
Topics: Paris, girls, sick, visit, hospital, routine
Summary: There was was an old house where there lived 12 little girls. Every day they made two straight lines, broke their bread, brushed their teeth, and went to bed. Every day at half past nine they left the house, in two straight lines, in rain or shine. The smallest girl was Madeline. One night Miss Clavel woke up and said, "something is not right!" She rushed to the girls' room and found Madeline awake and crying. The doctor came and said it was her appendix and he took her away to the hospital. She stayed there for some time. On the tenth day Miss Clavel and the other girls went to visit Madeline. They brought her flowers and she showed them her scar. Soon they left and went back to the house. They broke their bread, brushed their teeth, and went to bed. In the middle of the night Miss Clavel woke up and said, "something is not right!" She rushed to the girls' room to find them all crying that they want their appendix out too!
Extension Activity: Have the children write down or draw pictures of things they do every day that is part of a routine. Ask them if they've even been to the hospital and what it was like. Ask them to draw something to bring to a friend if they were in the hospital.
