This is the three hundred and sixteenth secondary library newsletter. This week: meet the real heroes of the magical city of Helm, the mighty cleaners… ; follow Ayoun’s complicated love life – nosy mom, incredible ex etc (in French) ; discover a beautifully illustrated rewriting of H.G. Wells War of worlds ; and as always, all the new books that we recently catalogued…
Voici la trois-cent-seizième lettre d’information de la bibliothèque secondaire. Cette semaine: rencontrez les véritables héros de la cité magique de Helm, les intrépides nettoyeurs… (en anglais) ; suivez les aventures amoureuses compliquées d’Ayoun – une mère indiscrète, une ex incroyable etc… ; découvrez une réécriture joliment illustrée de la Guerre des monde D’H. G. Wells (en anglais) ; et enfin, comme d’habitude, les nouveautés que nous avons cataloguées récemment…
THE SPICK AND THE SPAN / Pil Van Martin
Imaginative, magical, wildly funny, and with a truly unique world, The Spick and the Span is an extraordinary, exciting fantasy middle grade adventure.
Thanks to many generations of careless magicians, the city of Helm is overflowing with magic, which has made it a very dangerous place to live. Leave anything alone for too long and it will transform into something your house will turn to gingerbread, your teapot will start pouring pond water or – if you’re really unlucky – your floor will turn to lava. The magicians liked to pretend it’s them who keep the worst magical hiccups in check, but the real heroes of the whole sorry situation are of a wholly different equally well known but decidedly less respected. The heroes of the city of Helm are the cleaners.
Ward, an ambitious twelve-year-old cleaner, wants nothing more than to belong to the League of Cleaners, who will grant him the prestige and popularity he’s been looking for all his life – if only he can pass three near-impossible tests. Struggling toward this goal with a team he doesn’t trust, Ward’s world is upended when his friend disappears and mysterious magic-eating monsters appear all over the city and start tearing holes in the fabric of reality. Suddenly his ambitions are the least of his problems…
Hugely funny and exciting, and with an incredibly imaginative, original story, The Spick and the Span is the unmissable fantasy middle grade debut of 2025 – you’ll never look at magic the same way again…
The Spick and the span, F VAN, 314 pages.
MON EX, MA MÈRE ET MOI / Insa Sané
” T’attends pas à trouver des blancs destriers, des capes et des épées, et oublie les souliers de vair. “
De l’autre côté du périph’, on ne croit pas aux contes de fée. L’amour, Ayoun n’y a jamais goûté. Il passe son temps avec ses potes, à tenter d’éviter les embrouilles et s’occuper de son asso de soutien aux jeunes du quartier. C’est là que débarque Emilie.
Emilie est belle, généreuse et vient d’une autre planète, dans la banlieue parisienne. Mais c’est aussi la copine de sa cousine et, en moins de temps qu’il n’en faut pour le dire, elle a intégré sa famille ! Or la daronne sénégalaise ne rigole pas avec l’engagement.
Ayoun se laissera-t-il séduire par celle que sa propre mère, au gant de fer, a déjà adoptée ? Et cela même quand la rue réclamera ses droits ?
Mon ex, ma mère et moi, R SAN, 237 pages.
CHRIS MOULD’S WAR OF THE WORLDS / Chris Mould
A stunning full-colour illustrated adaptation of H. G. Wells’ sci-fi classic, from the illustrator of A Boy Called Christmas, The Iron Man and Animal Farm.
1894. Across space, this earth is being watched by envious eyes. What seems to be a meteorite falls to earth, but from the debris unfolds a terrifying alien threat… Leon and his scientist wife race against the clock to end the war of all worlds.
In this modernised and abridged graphic novel Chris Mould brings to life the arrival of these giant alien lifeforms in glorious full colour.
Chris Mould’s War of the worlds, F MOU, 159 pages.
OUR LATEST ACQUISITIONS / NOS DERNIÈRES NOUVEAUTÉS
And finally, discover all the new books that we catalogued recently.
Pour finir, voici les livres que nous avons catalogués récemment.
