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

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.