Customer Reviews

Monsieur Saguette and His Baguette

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With so many children's books hitting the market every year, it takes a superior sense of fun to stand out. Frank Asch's hysterically bizarre "Monsieur Saguette and His Baguette" has the wit to do just that.

The title character, a simple Frenchman with a predilection for soup and bread, visits his local boulangerie in search of his favorite staple. Baguette in hand, he then sets off on a series of rescues, saving the day with his all-purpose baked good. When France is crawling with crocodilians ready to consume infants, trust Mr. Saguette to find a way to wedge the gator's jaws open with his trusty lunch. Robbers stand no chance against his loaf; marching bands (France is loaded with them, right?) can only march thanks to this man's love for bread. Like "The Simpsons" inanimate carbon rod, Mr. Saguette's baguette continually saves the day. It's about as daffy as daffy gets.

Everyone we've shared this book with has laughed at its wackiness. My wife wonders why Mr. Saguette would want to eat his baguette after a gator's slobbered all over it, but who's enforcing logic on this food-obsessed Frenchman?

There's nothing not to like here, from the simple illustrations to the witty story. Author Asch has created a clever character who is both whimsical and sincere. I hope for all of us that we get more of this Gallic gourmand.

Highly recommended for young children...and their parents, too.

Author/illustrator Frank Asch builds this basically one-joke book around the clever uses to which a man puts his baguette. Monsieur Saguette, with a stereotypical beret on his head and a kerchief embracing his neck, decides that he needs some bread to go with his pot of soup. Zuts alors! He is out of bread, so he walks to the local boulangerie (bakery) to buy a baguette (a long, crusty loaf of bread often known in America as "French bread"). The adventure really begins on the way home, as he wields his baguette to rescue a number of daunting situations. The premise is interesting, and Mr. Asch uses a palette of nicely soft colors (created using Photoshop software), but the book's details set a tone that doesn't fit the otherwise gentle trappings of this book for toddlers and early grade- schoolers.

The dissonance begins with the first encounter. A little girl is crying because her cat is stuck in a tree. However, her face isn't just sad, but angry as well, and the story doesn't suggest this feeling. With her puddles of tears and downward pointing eyebrows, it almost looks like an act, as if she hoisted (by its petard or something) the cat into the tree. Saguette uses the baguette as a ladder to reach the cat. If this sounds like quibbling, the next scene may convince you that Asch wasn't thinking enough of his potential audience.

"As Monsieur Saguette continued on his way home he came upon a chilling sight. An alligator has escaped from the zoo and is about to eat a baby... "Help! Help!" cried the baby's mother."

A confused baby sits in the middle of the street near an overturned buggy (an allusion to "Potempkin," anyone?) as a very large alligator with huge sharp teeth walks right up to it. The mother throws up her hands and screams. This is a very unsettling picture. OF course, Saguette props open the gator's mouth with the baguette, and all is well again. The baguette must be especially crusty because it is still firm enough to convince a robber on the Parisian quay (dock) that a gun is lodged in his back. The robber (who, by the way, is holding a real gun) begs "Please don't shoot... "I give up!" A gendarme takes the gun, and the robber, in a genuinely amusing throwaway says "I want to talk to my lawyer." In another not-quite-right scene, a marching band is not marching; instead, various musicians are playing games, holding hands, petting a dog, and generally looking as if they are relieved that they are not marching. Saguette asks somewhat incongruously, "What's the problem?" The bandleader has inexplicably lost his baton, but the baguette keeps time just as well. The parade resumes, and the musicians look just as pleasantly diverted as when they were on an unplanned break. These unvarying emotions are simply too facile.

Monsieur Saguette finally arrives at his little home (strange that this section of Paris is so rural looking) and thoroughly enjoys his lunch. He even throws the crumbs out the window for les petites oiseaux (birds) to enjoy. I would have liked that spirit throughout the book. Asch is obviously a skilled artist and storyteller, the pace is well measured, the simple story says much about imagination and creativity, and the colors are very pleasant. However, the few slips described here quickly decreased its appeal. (This review is dedicated to Madame (now, Docteur) Klein, who is invited to correct any errors here.)

ORIGINAL POST (Dec., 29, 2008): After reading the reviews for this book, I was a little apprehensive about buying it. Why would I want to expose my five and six year olds to an "angry" looking girl (per one reviewer), a baby about to be eaten by a gator or a robbery in progress? For that matter, what lessons would my kids learn about eating bread that's been stepped on by a feline, slobbered on by a reptile, handled by a stranger's bare hands,...? Anyway, this was much adoo about nothing, as is often the case when parents go through a neurotic phase.

Both kids love the book. They ask to have it read to them quite often, and my older child also enjoys reading it aloud. As a matter of fact, eventhough one of my kids noted the expected "obvious" condition of the baguette at the end of the story, my other child retorted (quite logically) that it must have been packaged in plastic before leaving the boulangerie. Hmmm, good point.

UPDATE (Nov. 27, 2009): This book was recently read to a class of about 20 1st graders. All were enthralled with the story, asking questions, making comments (all good and insightful). They were captivated during the reading.

My son is almost 3, and loves this book. We first read it at the library, and he loved it so much he would beg me to not return it at the end of our borrow period. We were headed off for a two week vacation, and he pleaded with me to bring it along, at which point we decided it should be a book we own. The story is silly, but very creative as you follow along the adventure of Monsieur Saguette as he returns home from the bakery with his baguette. Definately worth owning.