Soulières: Draw Me a Sheep!
“If you please, draw me a sheep!” said St. Exupéry's Little Prince. Those immortal words have introduced countless children to the delights of words and books, and they still inspire, even today.
Children's publisher Soulières éditeur (Saint-Lambert) has adapted them as the standard-bearer for its school competition. Dessine-moi une vache and Dessine-moi un chat invite children in grades one through four and grades five and six respectively to explore the universe of its two signature collections: Ma petite vache a mal aux pattes (84 titles) and Chat de gouttière (29 titles).
Each participating school will receive a book from the collection, a poster and a catalogue, and the ten winning schools will get an author' visit. The formula has been tested and it enables the publisher to distribute its three collections - including Graffiti - among young readers.
The support of the Canada Council allowed Soulières to organize the competitions simultaneously while actively pursuing a project aimed at teachers. Over the next two years, it will produce 120 new education sheets that can be downloaded for free from its web site.
Written by publishing specialist Francine Vallée and multidisciplinary artist Édith Bourget, each sheet will accompany a title. The sheets will summarize the action, help determine the themes, establish correlations with other disciplines - math, science, art - point out the key competencies called upon and suggest other books or films on similar subjects. They will be a tremendous aid for classroom discussions.
And along the way, the 'petite vache' should see sales increase by 3 % to 7 %, helping the publishing house to distinguish itself in children's literature. The recipient of several literary awards, it has already translated some titles into Korean and Serbian, and since 2006, all of its books are printed on Enviro paper. The Little Prince would have approved…