SPOILER

I first read this book when I was in primary (elementary) school - in the 1970s. I have been hooked on french culture ever since. Basically this is about a gang of street kids in suburban Paris during or after the war, who manage to round up the members of a gang of bumbling thieves who have stolen 100 million francs. ( )

A group of French kiddos are given a broken-down toy horse that fast becomes they're favorite pastime. But it links them to a group of robber and makes life much more interesting for them than they'd bargained for.
On the vintage children's books scale, this one leans more toward dated than charming, I'm afraid. ( )

The story is set in an outlying workingclass area of Paris after WW2 and features a gang of children, a train robbery and a battered headless horse/tricycle. All the elements of classic children's literature here with the intrepid children outwitting a bunch of fairly bumbling robbers, along with supportive parents and a distracted policeman. What I really liked was just the simple joie de vivre of the children whose favourite pastime is taking turns to ride the old horse trike down the steepest street in their area. Also Marion, the oldest girl, has trained most of the neighbourhood dogs and adopted numerous strays which comes in handy when dealing with the thugs.
There are a couple more books about this gang of children and I read somewhere that Berna grew up in this area of Paris so really captures the essence of these children and their community. I also have to commend the b&w illustrations in my edition by English illustrator Richard Kennedy, in the notes it says he made his sketches in Paris and this adds to the authenticity. ( )