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Clair-de-Lune lives with her grandmother in the tippy-top of a peculiar old building. Every day she practices ballet, just like her mother before her—the famous ballerina who died when Clair-de-Lune was just a baby. Since that day, Clair-de-Lune hasn’t uttered a word.
Then one day the girl who cannot speak meets a remarkable mouse who can. Bonaventure dreams of founding a dancing school just for mice—but he dreams of helping his new friend, too. Soon the brave little mouse introduces Clair-de-Lune to a hidden world inside, and yet somehow beyond, her building—a world that slowly begins to open her heart. Maybe one day her dreams will come true, too.
This delicately blended tale exists on the borders of many worlds—ballet and everyday life, love and fear, and most of all, silence and sound. In fact, the "weight of things unsaid" drives the story of twelve-year-old Clair-de-Lune, who cannot speak. She is the daughter of a great ballerina who danced the most beautiful dance of her career and never rose from her final pas seul. Had she died trying to say something? With light touches Golds evokes both mystery and compassion, setting the stage for the girl who cannot speak to meet a mouse who can. The charming mouse characters are reminiscent of George Selden's whimsical animals. Where else would a brilliant deaf mouse live but in a church organ? How does a mouse choreographer address that troublesome matter of the tail? And what else could you possibly call a pair of mice who live in a print shop, but Leonard and Virginia? And yet we also find here a textured darkness reminiscent of DiCamillo's Despereaux, as well as of older narratives, such as the more tragic tales penned by Hans Christian Andersen. Clair-de-Lune takes place in a world both child-sized and emotionally large. The building in which the girl and her grandmother live has unsuspected dimensions. The mice in her world have unsuspected depths, and a monk, Brother Inchmahone, with unerring insights and his own secret sorrow, is a kindly yet unobtrusive ally. Golds has a gentle storytelling voice that nonetheless carries great conviction. She speaks directly to the child reader, striking a balance between surprise and prediction that allows for grief, yet leads to a satisfying ending. 2006, Knopf/Random House, and Ages 8 to 12.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
James Gravil
reviewed Clair-de-Lune on January 04, 2013 Clair-de-Lune
2020 EDIT: A reread from this year that is so far the only one that's even better on the second visit.
No, more than better: 'Clair de Lune' is a near perfect original children's fairy tale. I can't gush enough how enchanting, creative, delightful, sweet, charming, sorrowful, and bittersweet this book is; short yet brimming and swelling with magic.
The power and potential it holds is winsome, sirenic.
A twelve-year-old ballerina without a voice; a dead ballerina mother shrouded in mystery; a secretive and heartbroken grandmother; a mouse with a dream of teaching other mice to dance, and of writing and performing his own mouse ballet; a kindhearted monk who lives on the other side of a magical portal - to a seaside monastery; lessons in speaking but most importantly, listening; an ever changing tower home; a lost bird with a red crested plumage and heart who is Clair de Lune's voice; a devious cat; a fortune teller; dancing and the hard work, toil and sacrifice that comes with it; a lesson on how love is the most important thing there is.
Seriously, why has 'Clair de Lune' not been made into an animated movie yet?! It was written exactly for it!
There is a daring tragedy near the end, which I appreciate. There is healing and hope - a promise of freedom and adventure on the horizon - to the happily ever after, as well. The fairy tale is so intricately and cleverly structured!
The only problem is that the ending is a little rushed, with not every story thread resolved; thus the singular reason for 'Clair de Lune' not turning out a favourite, a perfect bright star, for me. Furthermore, Clair de Lune - young, active, determined, wishful, thoughtful, sensitive, caring, and heartfelt - doesn't really have any female friends.
But I can't let that deter me from pronouncing 'Clair de Lune' a criminally underrated masterpiece. There are not many original fairy tales and children's books like it. It needs to be considered a classic. To everyone who may read this review, read this book. Tell everyone you know to read it. Recommend it to as many people as possible. Make more and more and more people aware of its existence. An animated tour de force may still be possible!
Additionally: Clair de Lune's mother, the famous La Lune, had died of a broken heart onstage when Clair de Lune was a baby. La Lune was seventeen and very petite and thin. Heartbreak, and a borderline, impossibly difficult ballet dance for humans, are what took her life. Yet no one wonders how she survived childbirth? This detail is never mentioned. Keep in mind also that this is set in the 19th century, back when that mortality rate was high, when the all-male doctors didn't give a £"&%*! about pregnant women, and midwives were still stigmatized after the witch hunting era. I just thought I'd put that out there.
Final Score: 4.5/5
Original Review:
A book I once picked up in my school library - a book no one seems to know exists.
A charming, original fairy tale. 'Clair de Lune' is a ballet story that is both magical and tragic - tragical, as it were. Sweet and seemingly simple, but subtle and intricate in its storytelling. It becomes unexpectedly sad as well towards the dramatic climax.
I enjoyed this wistful and mysterious gem. I think it can be an enjoyable treat for young aspiring dancers too.
If only this was more well-known. It would make a good children's fantasy tale in another medium, such as animation.
Final Score: 4/5
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