[ book tip by Hannah Geismar ] Oscar And The Lady In Pink looks like a children's book, but it defies the idea of what a children's book is supposed to be like, and if I were a librarian I wouldn't know how to categorize it or where to put it, except maybe next to Antoine de Saint Exupery's The Little Prince.

Oscar is 10 years old and in hospital with terminal cancer. The lady in pink mentioned in the title is Granny Rose, an old lady who works at the hospital as a volunteer, spending time with the children. Oscar knows he is dying and he is suffering from the fact that no one seems to have the courage to be honest with him, not even his own parents. Granny Rose is the only person who has the guts to communicate openly with him, and one day she asks Oscar to play a game: He is supposed to pretend that every day equals ten years of his own life. Every night he writes a letter to God telling him how the day - and the ten imaginary years - went, and Oscar[s 'life' turns out to be surprisingly rich and full of experiences. And if you wonder what a boy in a hospital can possibly experience that can make up for a whole life, the answer is: a lot!

Oscar And The Lady In Pink is one of those books that makes you want to meet the author and ask, 'How did you write this?' because it seems impossible that someone just sat down and invented this story out of the blue. Despite the subject matter, it is an incredibly positive book and it's written with a lot of humour and love. It's a bit sad, but very funny, very sweet and very clever.

Original French version, Oscar Et La Dame Rose, Editions Albin Michel 2002

[ book info ] Schmitt, Eric-Emmanuel: Oscar And The Lady In Pink. Atlantic Books, 2005 .