Salaried readers

Arms loaded with beautiful picture books for young and old, I have been reading aloud since the “first hour” for Read With Me.
I crisscross the Hauts-de-France region to the seaside on the Côte d'Opale, and even a little further, to share readings, forge intergenerational links and transmit.

This little book "Stories of the Night" hasn't left me since I found it! It allows me to meet newborns, children, college students and adults. A magnificent and fantastic book with a poetic and sweet text, which always touches me so much! A tenderness book, like a night light to better get through the night like a journey of words and images, three little stories to send thousands of stars into the eyes of young and old...

"Petites histoires de nuit" [Stories of the Night] by Kitty Crowther - Ed. Pastel - 2017

I have always loved books and reading. When I was little, I made wonderful trips and beautiful encounters there. As a mother, I naturally shared this pleasure with my daughters from birth. Volunteer reader in their school, then in my town, I became a municipal reader. And that's how my path crossed that of Read With Me. Reader-trainer since 1997, I travel on the roads of our region and sometimes a little further to share my readings of picture books with all ages. Beautiful shares. Many small seeds sown. The greatest gift, these parents to whom I read as children and who say to me: “Now I read to my child”.

"I, Ming" is one of my favorite picture books. The illustrations take me back to my childhood. With true and sincere feelings that connect two generations, this book testifies to the importance given to the things of life. It comforts me in my choices and gives me a strong emotion.

"Moi Ming" [I, Ming] by Clotilde Bernos and Nathalie Novi – Ed. Rue du Monde – 2002

Native of Arras, capital of Pas-de-Calais, I studied economics and management, in order to better fight from the inside the financial system disconnected from the real economy, for a world fairer and more respectful of Nature and Human... I hope to contribute to the promotion of reading with better success (it will not be difficult, alas). Working at The North Safeguarding Association for a couple of years, I became responsible for Read With Me in 2011, the year in which Juliette Campagne, its founder and director, placed the relay in my moved and trembling hands.

"The Tunnel" by Anthony Browne is a picture book dear to my heart. The flowers in the wallpapers are magnificent and I like the powerful and fantastic narrative that the images and the text weave together. I have the feeling to draw from it essential evocations: Feminine masculine. Brother sister. Inside Outside. Action contemplation.
Polarities that make the world dance.

"Le Tunnel" [The Tunnel] by Anthony Browne – Ed. Kaleidoscope – 1989

First volunteer, salaried reader in 2004, then trainer, I especially enjoy reading with teenagers and adults. I love words and playing with them. In a way, I am "reader-city", [pun in French between "lectrice-cité" and "electricity"] to present the current meaning of the necessary words to life.
To teenagers first of all who need light and warmth to grow.
Next, to adults: those with numerous school failures who are sometimes reconciled with literature, and learners who, through the grace of their accent, proudly discover the richness of French.
Thus, nourished by stories, everyone is charged like a well "wadded" battery [pun in French between "ouatée" and "watt"]!

As for the favorite picture book…one word, I would say…Heart. To pronounce in the form of an image, above all. Because…
…valiant physical heart to bear the weight of books every day,
…emotional heart to receive with each reading a zest of attention, a cloud of listening.
Acclaimed by young and old, "In My Heart" gives hope to read the words and weaken the evils of the soul.

"Dans mon petit cœur" [In My Heart] by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey – Ed. by La Martiniere – 1989

I have been sharing the Read With Me adventure for a long time! Volunteer, trainee, I followed the team in various places. Then I became a specialized children's bookseller for a few years, before rejoining Read With Me as a reader, trainer and project manager. The adventure goes on !...

"The Endless Tree" speaks to me of life, of death, of transmission, of grief, of courage, of wonder, of play, of meeting, of links...
Claude Ponti's picture books, you have to fall into them! And not just when you're little!
His poetic and abundant universe sometimes intimidates or repels adults, and his long stories require time to sit with children... But sharing his picture books is to offer a wealth of language, inexhaustible meaning , essential stories where every child, every adult draws strength to Grow!
And then there are his "little" picture books: Tromboline and Foulbazar, Monsieur Monsieur and Mademoiselle Moiselle!... And “it’s never too much when it’s good! ".

"L'arbre sans fin" [The Endless Tree] by Claude Ponti – Ed. L’école des loisirs – 1992

Reading gives me multiple sensations, and the book as an object is precious to me.
The feeling of being here and elsewhere with reading is a delicious pleasure that I savored with my loved ones and then as a mother reader. A meeting in 2003 allowed me to join the fine Read With Me team until 2011 to find it again with enthusiasm in 2020. As a story passer, I traveled the areas of Valenciennes and Cambrai, to share new adventures.

Among my many favorites, "The Giving Tree" is the one for which I have a very special tenderness. Small treasure of my library to which I often return, it is in my eyes a model of benevolence, and pays homage to the tree in all its beauty. This story which questions, tackles, casually, important things such as friendship, complicity, expectation, sharing in life, death, man and his relationship with Mother Nature. In the end, what is essential in our life course.

"L'arbre généreux" [The Giving Tree] by Shel Silverstein – Ed. L'école des loisirs– 1982

I joined Read With Me in April 2011. Already a storyteller and actress, here I am a reader out loud and a trainer. And since then, with my pink wheeled suitcase, my backpack...pink... I happily criss-cross the streets and alleys of the former mining basin. I venture joyfully down the country lanes of Sud-Arrageois and Cambrésis. I open my suitcase and my backpack in the Maternal and Child Protection centers, the nurseries, the early childhood relays, the receptions parents-children, the maternal centers, the nursery schools, the middle schools.

And I often read "Tom Thumb"...
Because it's a tale and it's happening today.
Because it's cruel and full of hope.
Because there is the city, exclusion, fear and the forest of tales, a place of all possibilities.
Because there is the striking text of Stéphane Servant and the sublime illustrations of Ilya Green.
Because we learn to grow, to build ourselves, to escape the ogre.
Because we all have 3 pebbles in our pocket...

"Ti Poucet" [Tom Thumb] by Stéphane Servant and Ilya Green – Ed. Rue du Monde – 2009

It is often said that the encounters we have are never the result of chance... or is it just chance that makes things right? In any case, it was in 2011 that I crossed paths with Read With Me. Since then, as a reader-trainer, I have traveled the wider Valenciennois and Maubeugeois with my suitcases or my boxes of picture books, telling stories and experiencing moments of sharing, each more appreciable than the other. In PMI, in college, in school, in social center, in Medical-Educational Institute, in home… A whole story.

Generally, it's up to us to choose our picture books, but sometimes it feels like they're choosing us. There on a shelf, a book "Grandmother Sugar and Grandfather Chocolate" caught my eye... and hasn't left my side since. A small square picture book. A colorful picture book, rounded shapes, a text accessible to toddlers and adults alike. A very sweet picture book on the background of argument and above all love, which reminds us that it is often good to forgive.

"Grand-mère Sucre et Grand-père Chocolat" [Sugar Grandmother and Chocolate Grandfather] by Gigi Bigot and Josse Goffin – Ed. Bayard Jeunesse – 2019

An after-school facilitator, I met Read With Me in 2001 and then discovered reading aloud and the picture book. Then a real passion was born. First a reading mother, I became an employee in 2011. Today a reader-trainer, I am a story passer in Avesnois, Cambrésis and Thiérache, and read wherever possible, with all audiences.

There are picture books which, in the course of an affectionate stroll, fall under our noses and strike us right in the heart. We don't necessarily know why right away.
We observe it... We read it aloud to hear it better... We analyze it... If we want...
And that's when he immerses us in memories... In a certain past... In a story that we had forgotten...
Maybe a story of ours...
But it is perhaps just for the depth of the words or the watercolors of the torn pages of the diary that I present to you "The Guy". What is certain is that it moves me every time I read it!

"Le Type" [The Guy] by Philippe Barbeau and Fabienne Cinquin – Ed. L'atelier du poisson soluble – 2004

Hey hello! I have been riding for Read With Me since 2011. A meeting during one of my storytelling performances, and presto, here I am on the road to read to toddlers and adults alike, in all possible places. Reader-trainer, I criss-cross the areas of Dunkirk, Calais and French maritime Flanders. Weather permitting, I can even read on the beautiful beaches of Nord and Pas-de-Calais.

Regularly, I read "Waiting For You" by Émilie Vast. “Waiting for you, I saw the rain turn to snow…”, she writes. Seeing the days and months pass with the changes of nature, a woman awaits her child, to whom, once born, she will tell about the world that awaited him. A privileged moment between a mother and her child. A marvelous picture book that approaches motherhood with delicacy, poetry and emotions, like an ode to time passing and to life so beautiful and full of promise.

"En t'attendant" [Waiting For You] by Émilie Vast – Ed. MeMo – 2014

I have been a reader at Read With Me for a few years in the Lille metropolitan area, especially with children and middle school students. Also an actress, reading aloud is now an integral part of my artistic work.

"Lawrence All Alone" is my most favorite album, which I read to children… and adults. I really like this story of a little rabbit eager for freedom... like me! He advances in life by taking cross roads, he sometimes gets lost, meets people who will make him grow, reveal him to himself. He can't wait to leave the family cocoon to live his own life... But his mom stays warm in his heart. He writes to her, thinks of her, confides when he sees her... It touches me a lot because I don't believe in the saying "out of sight, out of mind"... I rather think that when you love it's "at the life to death...".

"Laurent tout seul" [Lawrence All Alone] by Anaïs Vaugelade – Ed. The school of leisure – 1998

After a professional career in child psychiatry and then in perinatal care, where I read children's picture books aloud, I joined Read With Me in 2014: reader of the beaches and pastures on the Opal Coast, in the areas of Montreuil-sur-mer and Boulogne-sur-mer, in Maternal and child protection center, at the Asylum seeker reception center, in the districts...
Preparing picture books, taking them on a journey and sharing them in encounters with children and their parents is a constantly renewed adventure. These thousand and one little moments of wonder nourish my thinking to continue to defend the imagination and the vitality of the language of the story!

As my favorite picture book, I choose "Bark, George!" ...
... for the pleasure of reading and rereading it, delighting me with its images, funny and telling at the same time,
... for the curious and amazed attention it always arouses in young and old alike,
... and for the final touch, of a stunning humor, which says a lot about the capacities of children-George to surprise us and to affirm themselves without conformity!

"Aboie, Georges !" [Bark, George!] by Jules Feiffer – Ed. Pastel – 2000

Wow, that's something. An adventure, a real one.
Read With Me, I fell into it when I was not that small. And hop ! A few years of volunteering. And then one day... I dare... and in 2017 I become an salaried reader aloud. For me, reading aloud conjures up an amazed childhood with wide eyes, challenges my adult curiosity and invites me to a constantly renewed orality.

I particularly enjoy reading with babies and their parents. Often, I choose "Dadaaa". In this picture book, everything is there to read the face and the voice. Behind an apparent simplicity, it is a deep exchange, eye to eye, made of dense silences where discovery is activated. Imagining emotions that do not say what they are, "Dadaaa" invites us to experience the emergence of oral language in an authentic shared reading experience.
Wow, that's something. An adventure, a real one.

"Dadaaa" – Michiyo Namura – Ed. L'école des loisirs – 2012

Read With Me, a companionship that has lasted since 2004!
Specialized educator and young mother, I become a volunteer. Then I created the association Lectures Vagabondes [Vagabond Readings] in Lille Sud, which I directed for 12 years. A time employee of the association La Clé [The Key] in Lille, I joined in 2019 The North Safeguarding Association as an educator with families of Roma culture in squats and slums, and for Read With Me as a reader-trainer off-road, with everyone and everywhere, especially anywhere! Meeting, reading, talking to each other, singing, being surprised, dreaming together, bonding, observing, listening, sharing... I remain in love with these emotions and these ever-renewed surprises.

A favorite picture book?... Let's say... my favorite of the day is "The Lamb Who Wouldn't Be A Sheep". A picture book that advocates responsiveness, solidarity, collective intelligence and resistance against all kinds of wolves, but also the protection of all differences.
Like any good picture book, everyone sees it, takes what they want, but everything is finely said!

"L’agneau qui ne voulait pas être un mouton" [The Lamb That Did Not Want To Be A Sheep] by Didier Jean and Zad – Ed. Syros Jeunesse – 2003

I recently joined the Read With Me team and I am very happy to be part of the adventure! Reading is a passion passed on to me by my grandmother. It constitutes for me an essential nourishment, just like culture in general and allows me to travel, to wake up, to question myself, to reassure myself, to identify myself and to take refuge because reading also has a consoling virtue. Through my job as a teacher but also as a mother, I had the opportunity to read aloud many picture books.

"Stone Soup" by Anaïs Vaugelade is one of my favorite picture books. This story of a cunning old wolf who, despite his ambiguous gaze and emaciated appearance, attracts the curiosity of the animals in the village where he stops one winter evening will bring out the values of sharing, solidarity and generosity.
A hymn to hospitality!

"Une soupe au caillou" [Stone Soup] by Anaïs Vaugelade – Ed. The leisure school – 2000

It was with joy and enthusiasm that I joined Read With Me. Speech therapist, a follower for more than a decade of reading committees and conferences of Read With Me, I came to feed on "nuggets and finds" to share with children and colleagues. At the end of a Read With Me conference, I said to myself: come on, hop, I dare! I go ! And here I am, a volunteer reader. Then, an employed reader since January 2022, I work in kindergarten, micro-nursery and PMI center, while continuing to work part-time as a speech therapist in ITEP (Therapeutic Educational and Pedagogical Institute).

"The Blue Chair" moved me a lot when I read it for the first time. This album has awakened the child who slumbered in me and upset the adult... With a simple chair (blue!), it opens up a space of all possibilities. The humorous text celebrates the power of the imagination, while the illustrations remain rooted in reality. The staging magnifies the complicity and jubilation of the game between the two friends... until the arrival of a rational camelid and devoid of imagination.

"La chaise bleue" [The Blue Chair] by Claude Boujon – Ed. L'école des loisirs – 1996

After studying at the Beaux-Arts, I became an actor, then a director and a teacher. I met Read With Me fifteen years ago while leading a vocal practice course. With this mesh of reading aloud and images, reading albums was a great discovery and opened up a new field of exploration. Since then, I lead at Read With Me, alongside my theatrical activities, training on reading aloud to become aware of the body and the voice. It is in the eyes of my daughter that I have been able to see these books live every day, and to understand, in the shared intimacy, the importance of these readings for a little one. Today, I travel in the company of picture books in my artistic work.

"The Sweetest Fig" is a picture book, certainly not for the little ones. It's the story of a little dog, his greedy and selfish master dentist, an old lady and magic figs... A superbly illustrated tale with Kafkaesque accents and a very American atmosphere... Fantastic!

"Une figue de rêve" [The Sweetest Fig] by Chris Van Allsburg – Ed. L'école des loisirs – 1995