Tell Me a Story, Mummy

by Carl Norac, Mei Matsuoka

It's bedtime on the farmyard, but Salsa the little goat can't sleep. She tries everything until, finally, she asks her mom to tell her a story. But tonight even Mommy's stories don't work, and in the end it's Salsa's own sweet story which sends her into a peaceful, dreamy sleep.

32 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2007

About the author

Carl Norac was born in Mons, Belgium, in 1960, the son of a writer and an actress. His early years were spent on a city housing estate, surrounded by playmates with whom he would act out Enid Blyton’s tales of adventure. His father later built a chalet and the family left the city to live in the middle of a forest. The importance of nature in his books comes from these years spent wandering among the trees. Every day after school, Carl went walking alone in the forest, making up stories. At the time, his parents owned a traveling puppet theatre and from the age of 12, Carl took part in their shows.

As a teenager, Carl wrote poems and received his first literary prize at the age of eighteen. This is when he started to travel throughout the world, mainly in Asia but also in Africa and the Americas. His children’s books are sometimes inspired by these travels that took him from sandy deserts to icy arctic wastes.

Carl Norac then worked in a number of different fields as a French teacher, a television scriptwriter, and a journalist before devoting himself completely to his passion—writing. In addition to poetry and plays, he has written about fifty children’s books and has received a lot of price ( He was also in the Honour List for The Andersen Prize in 2004 ) . Some of these, such as Les mots doux (I Love You So Much), have been translated more than twenty different languages with worldwide success. When he writes, the part he likes best is expressing the characters’ feelings. “A little bit of gentleness in a strange world.” These last years, he wrote some books directly in english, especially for Macmillan Chlidren’s Book ( with a american edition also by Clarion Books ). “My daddy is a giant” and “My mummy is magic”, the two first ones, are already translated in many languages. Carl Norac is the father of a little girl called Else.

Reviews

[Evelyn Armstrong]

This is a story of a little goat called Salsa. She could not sleep so she foolishly woke her mother up to ask her to tell her a story. Mother was not impressed! Salsa tried everything to get to sleep but nothing was happening. She even tried to get the other animals on the farm to help her, to no avail. Eventually Mummy gave up and tried to tell Salsa a story.

However, every time Mummy started a story, Salsa didn't like it, so she started her own one. As she begins to tell her own story, 'a story as sweet as grass... as sweet as flowers... as sweet as the evening sun...' Salsa begins to drift off in to a gentle sleep.

I found this book hilarious because the Mum was actually really annoyed that Salsa wouldn't sleep and didn't like any story that she would begin. Kind of reminds me of the good old days when my daughter was much younger.

I would recommend this book to young children in Early Years. I think it promotes independence and creativity.

[Julie Spencer]

A lovely book to share as a family read, especially before bedtime.

[Sarah]

Nearly a four due to the cute pictures of the animals sleeping with their blankets.

[Frederick Tan]

A tale of a little sheep who cannot sleep at night.