Last month I saw the term buveur d’encre on a list of translations for bookworm in different languages. My dictionary only had one translation for bookworm and that was rat de bibliothèque, so I googled buveur d'encre and pictures of this book came up.

 

A few days later, a copy of Le buveur d’encre by Éric Sanvoisin & Martin Matje showed up in my mailbox.

Inexplicable, really.

 

Buveur d’encre means ink drinker and I think it’s a fabulous term!

 

Also, I am teaching myself to read French, so this little book (for ages 7 and up) was the perfect resource.

 

My grasp of the language is still weak, so it took me some time to read it and I definitely needed my dictionary, but I wanted to know what happened. Most language book texts are rather dull and I need to practice with something that keeps my interest. I find it nearly impossible to stay motivated when I don’t really care what the next sentence is.

 

Odilon is a young boy who hates books and whose bibliophile father owns a bookstore. One day, a strange customer floats in and begins to drink out of a book using a straw, and so Odilon decides to follow him even though he’s scared.

 

And then … oh, but the book is only a few pages long, so I’ll stop here so as not to write in any spoilers.

 

So, if you are looking for a book for a budding ink drinker, this is it. I noticed that there is a whole series of them, nine at least. And I loved the illustrations as well.

 

Also, I just realized that what a great excuse (as if one would even need one!) to buy cute children’s books even after your own kids have moved out—you just read them in a foreign language and so they count as language resources. Serious business.

 

J’adore ce livre!

Happy ink drinking :-)

 

p.s. – this series is also available in English