The biggest family in France lived in an old castle in the forest of Fontaine-bleau south of Paris. It was made up of twenty little girls and thirty-one little boys. And the castle was an orphanage.

Brigitte, the happiest orphan, thought their family was perfect. Josine, the youngest, didn't agree. They still needed a grandmother—a grandmother with a big, soft lap and an apron smelling of gingerbread. So begins the orphelines' search.

But some ladies are too skinny to be proper, comfortable grandmothers. Some don't have snowy white hair and others smell of cologne instead of gingerbread. Worst of all, none seems to want fifty-one grandchildren! In desperation, Josine locks one candidate in the dungeon. When the terrified woman tells the villagers, they all decide to keep away from the orphanage and the orphelines. Now where will the children find a grandmother?

Natalie Savage Carlson's latest book about the enchanting French orphans will delight fans of her other Orpheline books as well as captivate new friends.

From the dust jacket