Tuesday Treasure
In the world of this story words are made in a factory. The words are then sold in shops and boutiques. "People must buy and swallow the words they need to speak." The factory churns out words of all kinds day and night but some words are very valuable and cost more money than others. The poor people of the town often have to scavenge for words in the trash and these are usually dull and uninteresting words. Words that go on sale are usually useless too often because they are so old-fashioned. Very occasionally, though, special words can be found floating the air. Phileas has a net for word catching. He has collected three special words and he has plans to share them with Cybele for her birthday.
Phileas wishes he could just say Hello, how are you? and Happy Birthday ... but he doesn't have those words. And deep in his heart he also wishes he could say I love you - but he hasn't saved enough money for those precious words. All he can do is smile when he sees Cybele.
On the day of her birthday Phileas sees Cybele on the stairs. Just as he is about to share his three precious words Oscar jumps in and blurts out 17 loud words declaring HIS love for Cybele. Phileas feels defeated but he has so much love in his heart.
"He utters his words. Off they float to Cybele like beautiful butterflies.
cherry!
ruby!
chimes!
Cybele stops smiling and looks right at Phileas. She doesn't have any words to use, so instead she gently and softly kisses Phileas's cheek."
Remember Phileas had three words. He actually has one more - the perfect word to use right now - the word again!
I have mentioned Phileas's fortune in a number posts recently so I wanted give you more details about this gentle love story. You can see the whole book here. Take a look at this French theatre production based on this book - it looks amazing! Phileas's fortune has been translated into 20 languages. I am happy to say this book from 2010 is still in print. My copy came from a wonderful school library but I had added Phileas's fortune to my own book shopping list.
Phileas's fortune was originally published in French with the title La grande fabrique de mots. The English language edition is translated by Julia Frank-Neil. Valeria Docampo comes from Argentina - you can see some her other books on her web site.
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