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Une enfance créole #2
School Days
School Days (Chemin-d’Ecole) is a captivating narrative based on Patrick Chamoiseau’s childhood in Fort-de-France, Martinique. It is a revelatory account of the colonial world that shaped one of the liveliest and most creative voices in French and Caribbean literature today.
Through the eyes of the boy Chamoiseau, we meet his severe, Francophile teacher, a man intent upon banishing all remnants of Creole from his students’ speech. This domineering man is succeeded by an equally autocratic teacher, an Africanist and proponent of “Negritude.” Along the way we are also introduced to Big Bellybutton, the class scapegoat, whose tales of Creole heroes and heroines, magic, zombies, and fantastic animals provide a fertile contrast to the imported French fairy tales told in school.
In prose punctuated by Creolisms and ribald humor, Chamoiseau infuses the universal terrors, joys, and disappointments of a child’s early school days with the unique experiences of a Creole boy forced to confront the dominant culture in a colonial school. School Days mixes understanding with laughter, knowledge with entertainment—in ways that will fascinate and delight readers of all ages.
Through the eyes of the boy Chamoiseau, we meet his severe, Francophile teacher, a man intent upon banishing all remnants of Creole from his students’ speech. This domineering man is succeeded by an equally autocratic teacher, an Africanist and proponent of “Negritude.” Along the way we are also introduced to Big Bellybutton, the class scapegoat, whose tales of Creole heroes and heroines, magic, zombies, and fantastic animals provide a fertile contrast to the imported French fairy tales told in school.
In prose punctuated by Creolisms and ribald humor, Chamoiseau infuses the universal terrors, joys, and disappointments of a child’s early school days with the unique experiences of a Creole boy forced to confront the dominant culture in a colonial school. School Days mixes understanding with laughter, knowledge with entertainment—in ways that will fascinate and delight readers of all ages.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
12 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Chamoiseau
92 books199 followersPatrick Chamoiseau is a French author from Martinique known for his work in the créolité movement.
Chamoiseau was born on December 3, 1953 in Fort-de-France, Martinique, where he currently resides. After he studied law in Paris he returned to Martinique inspired by Édouard Glissant to take a close interest in Creole culture. Chamoiseau is the author of a historical work on the Antilles under the reign of Napoléon Bonaparte and several non-fiction books which include Éloge de la créolité (In Praise of Creoleness), co-authored with Jean Bernabé and Raphaël Confiant. Awarded the Prix Carbet (1990) for Antan d’enfance. His novel Texaco was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1992, and was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. It has been described as "a masterpiece, the work of a genius, a novel that deserves to be known as much as Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth and Cesaire’s Return to My Native Land".
Chamoiseau may also safely be considered as one of the most innovative writers to hit the French literary scene since Louis-Ferdinand Céline. His freeform use of French language — a highly complex yet fluid mixture of constant invention and "creolism" — fuels a poignant and sensuous depiction of Martinique people in particular and humanity at large.
(from Wikipedia)
Chamoiseau was born on December 3, 1953 in Fort-de-France, Martinique, where he currently resides. After he studied law in Paris he returned to Martinique inspired by Édouard Glissant to take a close interest in Creole culture. Chamoiseau is the author of a historical work on the Antilles under the reign of Napoléon Bonaparte and several non-fiction books which include Éloge de la créolité (In Praise of Creoleness), co-authored with Jean Bernabé and Raphaël Confiant. Awarded the Prix Carbet (1990) for Antan d’enfance. His novel Texaco was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1992, and was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. It has been described as "a masterpiece, the work of a genius, a novel that deserves to be known as much as Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth and Cesaire’s Return to My Native Land".
Chamoiseau may also safely be considered as one of the most innovative writers to hit the French literary scene since Louis-Ferdinand Céline. His freeform use of French language — a highly complex yet fluid mixture of constant invention and "creolism" — fuels a poignant and sensuous depiction of Martinique people in particular and humanity at large.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 22, 2018
Kind of want to give this 1 star because it was boring af...but also the writing was decent so I feel like I can't really justify that low of a rating.
At least it was a quick read!
At least it was a quick read!
October 9, 2025
A really wonderful look into a childhood in Martinique. The representations of how colonialism affects your self image and introduces racism, even at a very young age, was very moving.
April 2, 2010
Patrick Chamoiseau (1953-) is a renowned and innovative Francophone author from Martinique, who uses a combination of French and Creole in his novels and short stories and writes extensively about Creole culture (créolité). He is best known for his novel Texaco, which won the Prix Goncourt in 1992.
School Days (Chemin d'école) is narrated by a Martiniquan boy (perhaps a younger version of Chamoiseau?) who is the youngest of his family's four children. He sees his brothers and sister go off to school every morning, and endlessly pesters his mother to let him go, too. Naturally, the day comes when he is ready for kindergarten, and, not unexpectedly, he is terrified once he learns that he will be without his beloved mother.
He soon grows to love school, under the kindly tutelage of his first teacher, until it is time to enter first grade, with its older kids and intimidating staff. He and most of the Creole speaking children in his class struggle with the work, as their haughty and Eurocentric teacher insists that they speak only perfectly accented French. His best friend is Big Bellybutton, who falls in disfavor with the teacher because of his poor background and inability to speak properly, and is routinely bullied by the older boys during recess while the teachers turn a blind eye.
The quiet and shy, but mischievous narrator learns to respect and love books and reading from his first grade teacher. At the same time, he is enriched by the friendship of Big Bellybutton, who shares his "underground language" and joie de vivre with him.
School Days is a lighthearted and humorous tale of the life of a young child in a postcolonial Caribbean country, as he struggles to fit in with his classmates and develop his own identity.
School Days (Chemin d'école) is narrated by a Martiniquan boy (perhaps a younger version of Chamoiseau?) who is the youngest of his family's four children. He sees his brothers and sister go off to school every morning, and endlessly pesters his mother to let him go, too. Naturally, the day comes when he is ready for kindergarten, and, not unexpectedly, he is terrified once he learns that he will be without his beloved mother.
He soon grows to love school, under the kindly tutelage of his first teacher, until it is time to enter first grade, with its older kids and intimidating staff. He and most of the Creole speaking children in his class struggle with the work, as their haughty and Eurocentric teacher insists that they speak only perfectly accented French. His best friend is Big Bellybutton, who falls in disfavor with the teacher because of his poor background and inability to speak properly, and is routinely bullied by the older boys during recess while the teachers turn a blind eye.
The quiet and shy, but mischievous narrator learns to respect and love books and reading from his first grade teacher. At the same time, he is enriched by the friendship of Big Bellybutton, who shares his "underground language" and joie de vivre with him.
School Days is a lighthearted and humorous tale of the life of a young child in a postcolonial Caribbean country, as he struggles to fit in with his classmates and develop his own identity.
October 17, 2014
"Forgetting sometimes vanishes into oblivion. Its the threshold of recollection on the edge of absence." For those who come from countries which are named by their colonizers, cities named after European brutes, schooling system which are installed to favor the invaders long after their departure as though the regime never ended, for those, who in order to grow up and be validated as a proper being, have to first forget themselves and who they are; this is an ode, our sweet rebellion with a poetic euphony disguising the howling frustrations. Chamoiseau creates almost his entire genre inside the autobiography genre by writing in short, compact paragraphs that have their own little concentrated gunpowder so they read quick but once you finish the verse, it explodes with metaphors and rhythm. It reads 'Tick Tick' then it finishes like 'Boom'. Again 'Tick Tick' then again 'Boom.'
March 30, 2018
While I totally appreciated the content of this book, I found it rather boring to read. Chamoiseau's book School Days is an account of a young boy's difficult schooling in Martinique under the colonial French rule. He presents issues of racism and power imbalance in the eurocentric school system that has too often been imposed on traditional North American societies. While all of these issues are things I am thoroughly interested in, this book was disappointing for me mainly because I wasn't a fan of Chamoiseau's writing style. I would not recommend it to others.
July 17, 2008
Did part of my thesis on this, so if you really want to dive into it, there is alot there. For the casual read though, unless your into Creole culture, might not enjoy it as much.
April 26, 2021
This was the last book I had to read for my English class and I really did not care for it. It was not bad by any means and there were a few parts of it that I did like, however, I found the book to be repetitive and boring. I'm not sure if it is because it is a translated work but it really did not interest me and I barely remained focused while reading it.
February 9, 2021
I loved this book! Basing my judgement on Linda Coverdale's (beautiful) translation, I believe the novel is wonderfully written; Chamoiseau's lyrical style captures the whimsy and imagination of childhood, emphasized poetically by the chorus-esque Répondeurs.
I tend to enjoy historical fiction for the reflection and information it provides outside of dry old textbooks, and this book did an excellent job of inspiring me to look more into a historical narrative that I never knew existed. That being said, this book is certainly more notable for its thematic and societal dialogue than for personal and fleshed out characters. While occasionally touching at the heartstrings, most of the novel's characters are symbolic representations of "larger" ideas and thus lose some personality in the process. However, seeing the political statement behind this characterization, I don't think it detracts from the novel - rather, it emphasizes its message.
I definitely recommend reading the preface in the beginning of the book for context before reading. It outlines the major themes explored in the novel, which brings heaps of meaning to some of the silly little scenes. I read this as part of a school assignment, too, so I also did a bit of Wikipedia research into the Negritude movement before reading, which I think enhanced the novel even further. And it doesn't hurt to pause to Google the occasional allusion (and boy are there many) to French/Creole culture to get the full scope!
All in all, this book is simultaneously a heart warming and heart breaking narrative of the suppression of Creole culture. And as a final testament, I found an amazing line on every page from start to finish.
(So if you're wondering whether or not to pick up this book, in the words of Chamoiseau's Répondeurs:
Readers, on your mark!
Ho: off you go!)
I tend to enjoy historical fiction for the reflection and information it provides outside of dry old textbooks, and this book did an excellent job of inspiring me to look more into a historical narrative that I never knew existed. That being said, this book is certainly more notable for its thematic and societal dialogue than for personal and fleshed out characters. While occasionally touching at the heartstrings, most of the novel's characters are symbolic representations of "larger" ideas and thus lose some personality in the process. However, seeing the political statement behind this characterization, I don't think it detracts from the novel - rather, it emphasizes its message.
I definitely recommend reading the preface in the beginning of the book for context before reading. It outlines the major themes explored in the novel, which brings heaps of meaning to some of the silly little scenes. I read this as part of a school assignment, too, so I also did a bit of Wikipedia research into the Negritude movement before reading, which I think enhanced the novel even further. And it doesn't hurt to pause to Google the occasional allusion (and boy are there many) to French/Creole culture to get the full scope!
All in all, this book is simultaneously a heart warming and heart breaking narrative of the suppression of Creole culture. And as a final testament, I found an amazing line on every page from start to finish.
(So if you're wondering whether or not to pick up this book, in the words of Chamoiseau's Répondeurs:
Readers, on your mark!
Ho: off you go!)
October 20, 2022
I actually really enjoyed this book. It was cute and funny at times, astute and powerfully vocal at others. The writing and prose was beautiful, poetic and dramatic without being excessive.
Perfectly captured childish innocence and catastrophization (that’s not a word but we’re going with it) while also making very real claims about racism and colonialism.
Despite some of the language, I think this book would be a very good choice for high schoolers to help demonstrate the role of schools/education system in perpetuating and propagating colonial superiority and the internalized inferiority of the colonized.
Perfectly captured childish innocence and catastrophization (that’s not a word but we’re going with it) while also making very real claims about racism and colonialism.
Despite some of the language, I think this book would be a very good choice for high schoolers to help demonstrate the role of schools/education system in perpetuating and propagating colonial superiority and the internalized inferiority of the colonized.
July 29, 2011
Heartbreaking, evocative, and thoughtful memoir of how one loses their culture and identity, slowly but surely because of imperialist ideals. At the same time, its a very surreal tale of childhood, and its typical trials.
September 17, 2024
very short and sweet! the second half picks up more on the themes of colonialism and assimilation and a distinct kind of harsh schooling that is present within colonized nations...oftentimes the sole form of education possible
December 6, 2023
Not my cup of tea. The plot is loose, very straightforward, and the themes are clear from the beginning, but it's witty and the way it's told like an oral history is clever. Chamoiseau's strongest point is his ability to make the ordinary seem extraordinary and I can't fault that in the least, so the star is only docked for a personal taste reason. I wouldn't have read it at all if I wasn't required to by a class, but I can easily say it's one of the better ones I've read this year for school purposes, as it did make me laugh and I did find it genuinely pretty pleasant.
July 19, 2025
3 stars I think this book is an acquired taste. There isn't a crazy amount of plot but Chamoiseau's writing carried this book. I can definitely see why people think that this book was overwritten but I feel like people would enjoy it more if they just looked at the beauty of his writing.
February 15, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. It was exactly what I was looking for. Beautifully written and incredible content.
September 6, 2017
*Required reading for English
Really enjoyed this! Great story about the struggles and fun times of childhood!
Really enjoyed this! Great story about the struggles and fun times of childhood!
July 15, 2019
Overall this was an enlightening read for school life outside of my own counry. The most powerful text came during the last 20 pages, with raw honesty.
Read
October 31, 2022Skim-read as I had to finish it quickly for school. I’m not really sure what to rate it, but I liked it and it was very thought-provoking.
November 4, 2022
delightful
September 5, 2011
Generally I do not enjoy books in translation. I could tell that this book was creatively written, but since the thing I most enjoy is a book with a strong plot and strong characters, I didn't enjoy this book as much as others I have read. I understand how the author was innovative with the chorus of voices that respond to what he is saying, but being unfamiliar with how that fit his culture or why they said what they did, I couldn't relate.
The book is autobiographical, and an interesting way of showing the mind of a small child with an interest in learning even before school.
This book changed a long held opinion of mine. Isn't that always a sign of a good book? I have always felt that school was better when the parents did not challenge the opinions of the teachers so much. This book showed the abuses that can happen when parents never question what teachers are saying or how they are teaching. There has to be a balance.
The book is autobiographical, and an interesting way of showing the mind of a small child with an interest in learning even before school.
This book changed a long held opinion of mine. Isn't that always a sign of a good book? I have always felt that school was better when the parents did not challenge the opinions of the teachers so much. This book showed the abuses that can happen when parents never question what teachers are saying or how they are teaching. There has to be a balance.
June 4, 2014
This exploration of school, culture, language and colonialism starts off amazingly. The portrait of the little boy and how he views the world around him is crafted so meticulously and beautifully in the first part of the book by author, Chamoiseau that I was excited to see where he was going to take me. Oddly however and, from my pov, jarringly the narrative speeds up in pace over the the last section like the author got tired of telling the story and was just rushing to wrap it up. The book drew to a less than satisfying conclusion by the end wasting what seemed like so much potential. This still warrants 4 stars but this could have easily been a 5 star classic had the ending been stronger. I also wish my French was good enough to have allowed me to read this in its original language although kudos to Linda Coverdale for the, nonetheless, impressive translation.
July 6, 2013
Petit tome plus doux qu'amère; souvenirs d'un écolier créole entre sa langue de 'Manman' et ses premiers pas dans une école coloniale sous la houlette d'un Maître qui s'applique énergiquement d'aprrrrendrrrre le vrrrrrrai frrrrrançais aux ti-personnes, dont le petit Chamoiseau et son camarade Gros-Lombric.
Un certain charme.
Un certain charme.
October 23, 2011
The translation made it overly complicated to read and understand the culture of 'Les Repondeurs' which are present throughout the book. It is a great historical reference point for studying the Colonial period of France.
May 2, 2025
3 stars I think this book is an acquired taste. There isn’t a crazy amount of plot but Chamoiseau’s writing carried this book. I can definitely see why people think that this book was overwritten but I feel like people would enjoy it more if they just looked at the beauty of his writing.
September 4, 2011
Love, love, love it! Such a sweet book!
May 26, 2011
I remember liking it but most of the details escape me now. :/
September 30, 2011
Such a delightful little book - at once funny and carefree, but at the same time has so much to say about colonialism, racism, losing (and finding again) the ability to love to learn.
October 11, 2011
This was colourfully written, but I found it tough to get through. Maybe a bit more knowledge of the Creole culture would have helped my understanding and enjoyment of it.
June 16, 2013
Gorgeous!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews