Lesson one: the gender binary.
The English are strict disciplinarians.
If you’re not weeping, you’re not counting hard enough.
I cannot for the life of me work out what is happening here. The chapter deals with Christmas and related vocabulary. At no point does the text allude to the terrifying third panel of this illustration. Maybe French children instinctively understand the murky pagan origins of the holiday, close to the winter solstice, as a symbolic rebellion against death, and the monster here depicted is a visual metaphor for mortality and the inescapable melancholy underpinning the festive season.
The page in its entirety, including a patronising letter from “Tom”.
Let’s end on a lighter, but still baffling note.
Etc.