Since it does not look like Neil Gaiman's latest children's book Chu's Day is going to be translated into French any time soon, I decided to buy it in English and simply translate it on the fly as I read it to my unilingual son.

First, my opinion: it is a delightful book, funny and bright. Chu is a great panda cub with aviator goggles and a propensity to cause havoc when he sneezes. I'm in love.

Second, Chaton's opinion: he does not find the book funny. This has nothing to do with my translation or my reading style. It's about the train. You see, when Chu finally sneezes and "bad things happen", a train is blown off its tracks. Trains are Chaton's very favorite things in the world. We spend most of our playtime going on trains and taking subway trips. Trains are important to my son. Chu causes a train to go off tracks, therefore "il n'est pas gentil". This said, I do think Chaton likes the book; we have read it 3 times since last night. Chaton now accepts that Chu's "Oops" is an apology of sorts, but he is dead focussed on the train. He acknowledges there are other things blown away, but he wants to go back to look at the train.

Hopefully, he will see the humour and embrace the entire story as he matures in the next year. Being three is hard.

Edited to add on 13 June 2013: Chaton admitted he liked the book last night. He said it was new and there was a train and it was about "la zournée de Tsou". The book now lives in his bedroom, where precious few books reside. Less important books stay in the living room.

Edited to add on 16 June 2013:

@tournevis so sweet. Sorry about that train.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) June 12, 2013

Edited to add on 23 June 2013: My son now loves the book. We have read it almost every night since the 12th. He spent the better part of yesterday running around the house going "Atsooooooo!!! Wooosh!" and laughing. He still remarks that the train is never going to make it to the station, but he is no longer obsessive about it. Further, last night, we read another book. YÉ!