There was magic in that box of pancake flour.  Charles was sure that if he just knew how, he could make French crepes for Mardi Gras, the crepes they always had to celebrate the day before Lent in Paris. But how to make French crepes from a package of ordinary American pancake flour—that was the puzzle.Charles could read French quite well—he was  just ten years old—but he couldn't read English, and all the directions on the box were printed in English.

It was a difficult problem that required deep thought, but Charles was equal to it.  He not only solved the problem, but he kept the surprise for his mother and little sister, Zezette, and made very good friends of two American GI's besides.

Paris in the springtime today is the background for this appealing story with its overtones of sadness and gaiety, of courage and kindness, which will linger long after the story is but a memory.

From the dust jacket