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Pierre in Love
A charming story about finding the courage to tell someone special how you feel about them.
Poor Pierre wishes he could tell Catherine how he feels about her, but Catherine is a graceful ballet teacher, and Pierre is merely a poor fisherman.
By making a few silly mistakes and a few more brave decisions, Pierre soon learns that being a fisherman may not make him so hard to love after all.
Pennypacker weaves a sweet story about finding the courage to let someone special into your heart, while Mathers' luscious illustrations draw readers into a colorful world full of hope and bravery.
Poor Pierre wishes he could tell Catherine how he feels about her, but Catherine is a graceful ballet teacher, and Pierre is merely a poor fisherman.
By making a few silly mistakes and a few more brave decisions, Pierre soon learns that being a fisherman may not make him so hard to love after all.
Pennypacker weaves a sweet story about finding the courage to let someone special into your heart, while Mathers' luscious illustrations draw readers into a colorful world full of hope and bravery.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 11, 2013
Pierre In Love....such a cute book I thought, when my niece picked it up. Then we went home and read it. Oh my Goodness. It is cute. It is also filled with a simple love for Catherine (we ended up clasping our hands to our heart and giving a big sigh everytime her name came up) and a fine lesson on being yourself.
Actually, to be honest, I cried about 3 pages from the end.
A good read, you should definately check it out. :)
Actually, to be honest, I cried about 3 pages from the end.
A good read, you should definately check it out. :)
November 28, 2009
A good one for Valentines Day....here's a story that reads well, but when read aloud, with full dramatic gusto, it is delightful. Hands down, one of my favourite children's books to read to 5 - 7 year olds. It's a bit long for anyone younger, but if you deliver it with panache, they'll be quite entertained.
August 25, 2017
I love this bizarre and overly romantic love story - truthfully, it's the fantastic illustrations and odd tidbits like she "chewed on fiery cinnamon candies to stay awake" that make this quirky picture book flat-out work for me. Certainly not for everyone, it definitely succeeded in bringing a grin to my face.
July 21, 2008
Once again, I love Sara Pennypacker. She never fails to make me smile!
May 28, 2011
A bit too advanced for my 3 year old, but it made this mommy choke up when reading. Can't wait to revisit it when she's older.
February 19, 2020
This was such a sweet little tale about love. My children were both deeply interested in the characters and how they would fall in love. It made for a special reading time experience.
February 10, 2021
Oh! Oh my. I would have reread this so many times when I was a 'tween starting to think about romance. And it would have been good for me... so much better than prince charming fairy tales....
I might have liked it when I was a bit younger, too. But some reviewers need to know that picture-book ≠ book for toddler. Also, if you're too cynical to enjoy this, I feel sad for you.
Read it to your sweetheart on Valentine's Day. And let me know if they like it.
I might have liked it when I was a bit younger, too. But some reviewers need to know that picture-book ≠ book for toddler. Also, if you're too cynical to enjoy this, I feel sad for you.
Read it to your sweetheart on Valentine's Day. And let me know if they like it.
January 25, 2021
This book is pretty darn cute. Pierre is a fisherman who dreams of the beautiful ballet teacher, Catherine. He spends half the book working up the courage to speak to her. When he finally does - will it work out for him or will he learn a lesson in disappointment? This book has just the right set of pictures, clever prose and a great storyline to keep even rather young children engaged.
May 2, 2023
This book is about a fisherman mouse named Pierre who falls in love with a ballet dancing bunny. They are both in love with each other and the story goes over the beginning of their relationship with all of the trials and tribulations. 4/5 stars.
February 1, 2018
read for Sandy's 3rd/4th grade author study of Sara Pennypacker.
March 6, 2021
Love this children's book.
The first book for both these women (author, illustrator).
It has such genuine feelings and insecurities.
A beautiful read I will always enjoy reading to my boys.
The first book for both these women (author, illustrator).
It has such genuine feelings and insecurities.
A beautiful read I will always enjoy reading to my boys.
February 17, 2022
Read with my son. A sweet and fun book.
October 7, 2016
Contrived story, ends before it gets realistic.
Pierre is a fisherman. He's in love with a ballet teacher. She's so elegant and he can't tell her that he loves her. He just watches her from a distance and acts all miserable. Then he wants to give her a gift, so he dresses up nicely and goes to her house but chickens out and leaves it on the doorstep. He keeps doing this, night after night. The ballet teacher sees all the gifts and it makes her happy. She hides in the bushes and jumps out to catch him.
He says, “I love you, and my deepest wish is that you can love me, too.” And she says, “I'm sorry, I can't love you. I'm in love with somebody else.” And he's sad and runs away. The next morning he feels a lot better and tells her to tell the person she's in love with.
He goes out and fishes and thinks how much better he feels and how she's hopefully happy now. And he comes back to shore and there's a bunch of paintings. And it's her, and she had painted all these paintings of him, and she says, “I didn't even recognize you last night! Wow! It was you the whole time!” And they love each other and they're in love.
A contrived coincidence. Two separate people have loved each other from a distance and never actually had a conversation, but they're in love. Hopefully it works out at the end. It doesn't really say. It just says, “They fell into each other's arms because their hearts had become one.” That's the end. Maybe they find out that they really aren't very nice people or something, who knows? They never really had a conversation.
For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.
Pierre is a fisherman. He's in love with a ballet teacher. She's so elegant and he can't tell her that he loves her. He just watches her from a distance and acts all miserable. Then he wants to give her a gift, so he dresses up nicely and goes to her house but chickens out and leaves it on the doorstep. He keeps doing this, night after night. The ballet teacher sees all the gifts and it makes her happy. She hides in the bushes and jumps out to catch him.
He says, “I love you, and my deepest wish is that you can love me, too.” And she says, “I'm sorry, I can't love you. I'm in love with somebody else.” And he's sad and runs away. The next morning he feels a lot better and tells her to tell the person she's in love with.
He goes out and fishes and thinks how much better he feels and how she's hopefully happy now. And he comes back to shore and there's a bunch of paintings. And it's her, and she had painted all these paintings of him, and she says, “I didn't even recognize you last night! Wow! It was you the whole time!” And they love each other and they're in love.
A contrived coincidence. Two separate people have loved each other from a distance and never actually had a conversation, but they're in love. Hopefully it works out at the end. It doesn't really say. It just says, “They fell into each other's arms because their hearts had become one.” That's the end. Maybe they find out that they really aren't very nice people or something, who knows? They never really had a conversation.
For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.
February 16, 2017
Very very cute.
Read
July 4, 2015Pierre was in love with a ballet dancer, Catherine. He would see her class when he left for work and pass by her portrait on his way home. He loved her. He wanted to talk to her. On his last pull in of the day he found a unbroken shell. He wanted to give it to Catherine. He got ready and ran out the door. When he got to the studio he chickened out and left the shell on the doorstep. When Catherine found the shell she was very happy. She wondered who could have left it. Pierre daydreamed about Catherine and wanted to do something more. He picked some roses and again got ready and headed to Catherine's. He just left them on the doorstep again. The next day he took a piece of driftwood shaped like a heart. Then a heart shaped wreath of sea grass. Then oysters for Catherine to eat. Catherine could not stand it any longer so she stayed up and caught Pierre that night. He exclaimed his love for her but she said that she already loved someone else but that she had not met him before. The next day he told Catherine that she needed to tell the man that she loved. He decided that he would try to be happy without her. When he pulled into port he says dozens of paintings of himself. Catherine popped out and confessed her love for him. She had not recognized him when he dressed up.
I would share this with students around Valentine's Day. It has a few French words so I could teach them about that.
I would share this with students around Valentine's Day. It has a few French words so I could teach them about that.
November 20, 2008
Synopsis
This Golden Kite winner tells the tale of the poor fisherman Pierre and his quest for the heart of the beautiful and cultured Catherine.
Review
This epic love story is likely to appeal only to girls who are a bit older. The soft romantic pictures, text-heavy pages and advanced vocabulary are a bit too advanced for kids under 5. Most boys are sure to be lost on the first page which describes the symptoms of love which Pierre is suffering. But girls are sure to enjoy in this boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back story. When, in the end, "their two hearts [become] one," contented sighs are sure to be had by all.
Critical Reviews
Publisher's Weekly
PW writes a review almost as lyrical as this "sweet but not treacly Valentine." It raves about the foggy palette for the pictures and "Shakespearian" story. The one point of criticism is that it subtly hints that target audience is more likely adults than kids.
Kirkus
This review also loves the marriage of soft, dreamy pictures and lyrical text. However, all the specific praise is reserved for the artwork.
Other Bibliographic Information
Published in 2007 by Scholastic, Inc.
40 pages
This Golden Kite winner tells the tale of the poor fisherman Pierre and his quest for the heart of the beautiful and cultured Catherine.
Review
This epic love story is likely to appeal only to girls who are a bit older. The soft romantic pictures, text-heavy pages and advanced vocabulary are a bit too advanced for kids under 5. Most boys are sure to be lost on the first page which describes the symptoms of love which Pierre is suffering. But girls are sure to enjoy in this boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back story. When, in the end, "their two hearts [become] one," contented sighs are sure to be had by all.
Critical Reviews
Publisher's Weekly
PW writes a review almost as lyrical as this "sweet but not treacly Valentine." It raves about the foggy palette for the pictures and "Shakespearian" story. The one point of criticism is that it subtly hints that target audience is more likely adults than kids.
Kirkus
This review also loves the marriage of soft, dreamy pictures and lyrical text. However, all the specific praise is reserved for the artwork.
Other Bibliographic Information
Published in 2007 by Scholastic, Inc.
40 pages
September 22, 2010
A fisherman named Pierre courts Catherine, a beautiful ballet instructor, even though he's certain she will never love him in return. Pennypacker (Clementine) wrote a sweet romance that would be a wonderful read-aloud for third to fifth graders. (The longer than average narrative and slow pace is likely to try the patience of younger children.) Mathers' sketchy, folk-art-like illustrations are a perfect match for the whimsical text. Although one suspects that parents will better appreciate the bruises of love than the target audience, this title would make a particularly good story time selection for Valentine's Day. Recommended for purchase in large libraries where the picture book section is popular.
December 6, 2012
This is a cute love story about a fisherman names Pierre that is madly in love with Catherine, a ballet teacher. Pierre is nervous and shy and does not profess his love his love to Catherine in publc. Instead he leaves her gifts from the sea at her front door step. Fianlly one day he works up the courage to tell her about his love and it couldnt have had a better result.
This is a really cute book that would be great for any classroom library or for a teacher to read around Valentine's day. This shows the kids to never be afraid to step out. I would recommend that you reead this book. I pernally thnk that they average age for this book for the students to read on their own would be 3rd grade.
This is a really cute book that would be great for any classroom library or for a teacher to read around Valentine's day. This shows the kids to never be afraid to step out. I would recommend that you reead this book. I pernally thnk that they average age for this book for the students to read on their own would be 3rd grade.
June 1, 2009
Loved this adorable book about a rat fisherman named Pierre who's in love with a rabbit ballet teacher named Catherine. He brings her little gifts from the sea, but is afraid to give them to her in person, and so he leaves them on her doorstop. She is secretly in love with him and only realize that he and the person leaving her gifts are the same person after he confesses his love to her and she doesn't recognize him, but does the next day when he's in his boat. And in the end, "their two hearts had become one." So sweet. Cute illustrations too. Recommended for ages 5-8.
April 11, 2012
This is a great book for Valentines Day. It is very vivid with illustrations and descriptive words. This book also encourages the idea that one should face fears and take chances. In the end, the outcomes may be very rewarding.This book would be great for students to become inspired to write about something they would like to do or have, or someone they really admire and care about. The students could adopt craft from the book to write their own narrative.
May 11, 2014
My five-year-old son picked out this book from the library last week.
I don't really have any serious problems with this book -- it is a sweet story and well-told -- except a tale of romantic love in picture book form? Really? When I finished reading the book, my son kissed me and the cat, although not necessarily in that order. That's the love he understands.
I don't really have any serious problems with this book -- it is a sweet story and well-told -- except a tale of romantic love in picture book form? Really? When I finished reading the book, my son kissed me and the cat, although not necessarily in that order. That's the love he understands.
November 19, 2010
This book was about a fisherman who falls in love with a ballet teacher. He is too scared to tell her so he keeps leaving presents for her at her door. At the end she finds out he loves her and vis versa...it wasn't that convincing to me.
September 22, 2007
a really charming book about a fisherman and a dance teacher where love is both blind and courageous. also, i love what simple things in this book make the dance teacher happy.
November 5, 2007
a sweet story about love and secret admirers tht can be shared around Valentine's Day or really any time of the year
JD
JD
January 13, 2008
Beautiful, romantic and wistful. My daughter and I loved this book. The paintings are wonderful too.
May 19, 2008
What's not to love? Certainly not Pierre!
March 12, 2009
SO ROMANTIC. We need to get this one back in.
July 20, 2009
So Sweet and charming.
January 28, 2011
Ah, to fall in love.
February 17, 2013
The sweetest.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews