From the Bibliothèque: Crotte de Nez

As part of every birthday and holiday gift for my older son, his grandmother - a teacher of many years now retired - always includes a book. Always always.

Today I thought I'd share one she sent a few years back entitled (tastefully enough) Crotte de Nez or "Boogers," by Alan Mets. It's a family favorite and always leaves the boys squirming in giggly delight...

In short, Jules the pig secretly loves Julie the sheep (who is repulsed by him, finding the amorous little pig smelly and rather disgusting). One day the Grand Méchant Loup (Big Bad Wolf) jumps out of the woods and snatches the two, carries them to his house in a sack and prepares to eat them. Jules volunteers to be eaten first, cleverly making the argument that his little coquettish friend would certainly taste better than "a poor stinky pig" and so the wolf should save the best for last. The wolf accepts his case, brings the ever observant Jules to his pristine kitchen, pulls a newly cleaned knife out of the dishwasher and advances toward Jules; Jules looks the wolf straight in the eyes, then... puts his finger up his nose, pulls out a sticky crotte de nez and with the "air of a connoisseur" sticks it in his mouth!!... fast forward past another enormous crotte de nez and Jules' explosion of foul gas, and you find the wolf running for his life...

In the end, Julie becomes enamored by the heroic smelly Jules. So love is rewarded, affection reciprocated. And to my 7 year-old son I add: be kind and don't judge others. You never know, they may end up saving your life one day :)