Kitty Crowther is a Belgian author whose work is now finally being recognised on this side of the English Channel - but way back in 2012 I discovered one of her books completely by accident, and became completely obsessed with trying to translate it.

I'd read about "La Visite De Petite Mort" in someone else's book blog, where they'd produced an amazing article that really kicked my love of all things French and Belgian into high gear. It was the first time I'd seen Kitty's work, and also made me realise just what an amazing kidlit scene they have over there in France / Belgium, where children's books are treated like the art form they actually are, rather than frivolous means for adults to push their moral codes and constructs on a child audience.

Petite Mort is death. When he shows up, your time is at an end and it's time to accompany him on your final journey to the afterlife.

Petite Mort is also an individual who questions the way people when he shows up - after all it's not exactly a huge amount of fun when people are stricken with terror at the mere sight of your black cape and your scythe.

But one day Death turns up to one girl's house to find that she is not afraid of him, she almost welcomes him in - and before shuffling off her mortal coil she's determined to show Death just how wonderful her life has been - and how even though it's at an end there's still joy to be found.

Bear in mind this is how my terrible pigeon French and interpretation of the illustrations spins out this tale. It probably doesn't bear any resemblance to what I've described above but it's a keeper for many reasons.You'll never see anything like this fetching up in UK publishing lists. It's a dark book, it deals with a subject that seldom few creatives cope with bringing to a young audience in an effective way.
Kitty's illustrations are beautiful. Simple but beautiful, as are her characters. The whole concept of a core character questioning their reason for doing what they do is sheer genius.

But despite its rather funereal and sombre tone it is a book of joy as we described above, when Elsewise reveals why she's actually pleased to see Death, it'll break your heart in two.

This is a truly lovely book. I've often wished it would be picked up by someone like Tate Publishing  for translation (they've done such a fantastic job with so many of Kitty's other books).

As well as a link to the review of this, we've also included other Kitty Crowther books below.

Original Review Links

Le Visite De Petite Mort by Kitty Crowther (Lutin Poche)

Poka and Mia at the Bottom of the Garden by Kitty Crowther (Tate Publishing)

Poka and Mia - Wakey Wakey by Kitty Crowther (Tate Publishing)

ReaditDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 16th August 2019: "The Runaways" by Ulf Stark and Kitty Crowther (Gecko Press)

A love of French and Belgian Children's Books and a question - Are we done with 'dark and wordy' books? A ReadItTorial

Our first Book of the Week this week definitely shows what you can do if you break that horrid, horrid rule about '500 or so words' in a children's picture book.

The fabulous "The Runaways" by Ulf Stark and Kitty Crowther might be a lot wordier and longer than your average 'before bed' book, but it's worth investing the extra time and effort in, just because it's such a brilliant and beautiful story.

The story examines the cross-generational relationship between Gottfried Junior and his cantakerous but beloved old Grandfather. As rough as the sea, but becoming more and more frail in his old age, Grandfather suffers a fall one day and ends up in hospital.

Grandfather hates being in hospital, and pleads with his grandson to do one more thing for him before he passes away. One last visit to Grandfather's old house to attend to one or two last things.

How could any grandson resist a plea like that? So the two hatch a grand plan of escape, intricately plotted but superbly clever.

As Grandfather's important tasks unfold, the story takes on a touching turn that will tug at your heartstrings in the emotional finale.

We've long campaigned for picture book and chapter book creators to 'ditch the moralising' but this story shows how you can create something truly magical that has layer upon layer of strong messages we can all identify with, at any age. Thoughts of our own youth and vitality, versus thoughts of our autumn years and our mortality, and the desperate need to 'put our house in order' before we go.

It's just so beautifully written, and of course you don't need us to tell you just how amazing Kitty Crowther's illustrations for Ulf's text are, she's colossally talented and the pencil-like illustrations here are just so deliciously rendered with exquisite detail and feeling.

Can you tell we're totally won over by this?

Sum this book up in a sentence: A truly wonderful and thought-provoking story that shows what you can do when you're given room to stretch your word count, describing every delicious little detail of a grand cross-generational adventure.

Poka and Mia have been a brilliant discovery for us, we love these two blissfully cute and wonderful little insect characters and are so happy to see Belgian author Kitty Crowther's work finally being translated into English.

In Poka And Mia - Wakey Wakey, the day starts off just like our saturday mornings at ReadItDaddy Towers. If you can imagine for a moment (it doesn't take much of a stretch) that Charlotte is Mia and Mummy and Me are Poka...

"Just 5 more minutes Charlotte, er I mean Mia!"

Is that your experience of weekends too? (See, things are turned on their head on a weekday - It's usually me having to drag Charlotte out of bed for school!)

Mia is full of the joys of spring and can't wait to go out and explore. Poka, however, wants to snooze on and despite Mia very kindly making him breakfast in bed, the poor soul still looks very sleepy. Or does he?

There's such a lovely switch-around twist in this, that again nearly every parent on the planet will wholly identify with (specially us!)

Another winner from Kitty, we really can't wait to see more Poka and Mia books, they're utterly delightful.

Charlotte's best bit: Mia picking out clothes for the day.

Daddy's Favourite bit: That final page in the story. Oh it's so true!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Tate Publishing)

Like this? We think you'll love these too!

Poka and Mia at the Bottom of the Garden by Kitty Crowther (Tate Publishing)

We are SO GLAD that Kitty Crowther's incredible stories are finally being translated into English. We're new to "Poka and Mia", two endearing insects that are the stars of a whole series of children's stories by Kitty but now we've met them we really can't wait to read the rest of their tales.

Kitty's book "La Visite De Petit Mort" was a book I bought a while ago after spotting the amazing cover, and relishing the fact that it's got a dark twist or two to it, but is essentially a really positive and joyful story once you start to read it.

In "Poka and Mia at the Bottom of the Garden" Mia is playing in the garden and feels sure she's being watched. A mysterious pair of eyes glares at her from the bushes, and so she swiftly scuttles inside.

Poka tries to encourage Mia to come out to the shops but Mia doesn't want to leave the house. Things get decidedly worse at night as Mia spots a tiny little light glowing at the bottom of the garden.

Who IS the mysterious stranger who has moved in?

Mia, rather bravely, decides to investigate...

We were instantly hooked by this story, not least of all because of Kitty's aforementioned gift of setting up a story with a fairly 'dark' beginning, but turning things around mid-flow until you're positively cheering at the outcome. Charlotte once described her love of stories that "have something exciting to keep you reading" and she was rooted to the spot while we read this wonderful tale. Kitty's illustrations are glorious (and we love in particular her brilliant gift of imbuing her characters with the most fantastic expressions).

We'll be taking a further look at Poka and Mia stories very soon on the blog so watch out for more. In the meantime, if you're new to Kitty's work, these translated versions are a fantastic place to start - and we truly can't wait to see if the rest of Kitty's work drifts over the English Channel into our eager and waiting hands.

Charlotte's best bit: Poor Mia taken prisoner! EEP! How can she possibly escape?

Daddy's Favourite bit: This story is a real wow - It's got the lot, from a darkly tinged and slightly unnerving beginning to a shout-and-cheer-out-loud wonderful friendship and ending. Utterly BRILLIANT!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Tate Publishing)

Like this? We think you'll love these too!

La Visite De Petit Mort by Kitty Crowther

Finally, FINALLY we've managed to get our own copy of this rather delightful little French paperback that tells a cute story all about Death and...

Wait just a second. Did you just say "cute story" and then "Death" in the same sentence there? You did didn't you!

Yes that's right, you see Death is a delightful little child-like figure in Kitty Crowther's darkly delicious tale. My french skills are pretty poor and of course if you're directly translating a children's picture book from french into english when reading it to your child, it'll lose a little of its pace and flow so be warned, you may need to improvise (or hope that your child's french skills are better than yours!)

Death comes to visit folk and of course they're not always welcome. Most are scared witless by Death. Most feel the chill of cold down their spine but when Death drops in on a rather lovely girl one day, she's like a breath of fresh air.

She's not scared, she doesn't feel cold and she gives Death a new joie de vivre (oh the irony) as they dance, play hide and seek and have fun.

Nagging at the back of Death's mind is the feeling that something's wrong. This girl is so different. Why does she not fear Death as much as the others did?

I'll leave the absolutely beautiful twist in this story for you to discover, suffice to say that if you feel you're up to dipping into the sometimes quite harrowing world of french children's picture books, this particular story is an utter delight. Kitty Crowther's artwork is also a treat, absolutely beautiful - not quite what you'd expect from a book that's predominantly about...well...death!

It's a pretty rare book and goes in and out of stock on Amazon regularly, but if you ever spot it and have enough skill to translate it (google translate can be your friend but the results are probably a bit stilted, but it's an option I guess) then really do treat yourself to this, it's fabulous.

Charlotte's best bit: Elsewise the girl, so beautiful and happy and when Charlotte found out why, she was overjoyed.

Daddy's favourite bit: That rare example of a book that immediately sticks in your mind and nags at you until you hunt it down and read it for yourself. We borrowed a copy and had to have our own. It took quite a while to get one but it was absolutely worth it. Brilliant, dark and a great insight into why french children's picture books are definitely worth investigating if you've got the language skills to enjoy them.

(Pictured: La Visite De Petite Mort (Little Death's Visit) by Kitty Crowther)

Jenny Colgan's article on French children's picture books / bedtime reading struck a chord with me. On our weekly sojourn through the book world, Charlotte and I usually cover books that are light, breezy, colourful and fun but every now and again she spots something in the stacks that is the direct opposite of all of those books. Dark, scary, even slightly disturbing.