Series: Lynn Curlee Wonders of the World #10
Published by Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing on May 5, 2026
Genres: Children's, Children's Educational
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A fascinating visual history of Notre-Dame, “the World’s Cathedral,” that highlights the burning and reconstruction of the cherished building from award-winning author-illustrator Lynn Curlee.
On April 15, 2019, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris was almost destroyed by fire, an event that shocked and riveted the entire world as it played out in real time on TV and across the internet.
The story of the fire and its aftermath, along with the rebuilding of the historic cathedral, offers an exciting narrative around which Lynn Curlee builds an illustrated story for middle grade readers about this internationally cherished monument.
In the way that only he can, Lynn illuminates captivating information about cathedrals, gothic architecture, French history, restoration of old buildings, heroism under fire, and even Quasimodo, the famous Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
This illustrated children’s book is full of fascinating information about the Notre-Dame cathedral. The book opens with the story of the horrifying fire that occurred in 2019, and then moves back in time. Lynn Curlee shares information about the cathedral’s original construction, survival of social upheavals and wars, and various changes and restoration efforts. After this, he covers the fire again in greater detail, and he writes about the astonishingly fast and effective process of restoring the cathedral.
Notre-Dame: The World’s Cathedral is only forty-eight pages long, but it is not a standard picture book. The text is lengthy and dense, and the author offers a wealth of information. Each double page spread has text on one side, and a full-color illustration on the other. The text appears in a small font, and is printed in two columns. The wordiness and more cramped formatting will be a turn-off for some kids, but architecture nerds and history buffs will appreciate the deep dive.
The author never talks down to kids, and he also avoids the trend of making virtue-signaling judgments about the past. Curlee presents history as it was, writing about religious ideas, social movements, and political upheaval in a matter-of-fact style. He also explains the science and engineering concepts in an understandable way, and illustrated diagrams help with this. There is also a glossary at the end.
I really enjoyed reading Notre-Dame: The World’s Cathedral. I learned a lot that I didn’t know, both about the cathedral’s history and about the process of restoring it after the fire. This book will appeal to upper elementary readers and older who find this landmark fascinating, or who have a passion for architecture, engineering, or history.