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If you have any fabulous French books you would like to add to this list of recommendations, please let me know!
Le chat de l'empereur de Chine
Author : Evelyne Brisou-Pellen
· A short, illustrated novel about a young girl, Xian, who finds the Chinese Emperor's cat.
Vol au musée
Author : Yves Pinguilly
· Two children of different cultural backgrounds in France stumble on a mystery.
Les mille oiseaux de Sadako
Author : Eleanor Coerr
· Based on the real-life story of Sadako, a modern hero in Japan, who fought leukemia using an ancient Japanese proverb about origami cranes.
Tamit, l'enfant du Nil
Author Diane Barbara
· A short, illustrated novel about a young boy in ancient Egypt who sets off to find his mother and brother who have been captured by the Pharoah.
Arrivés à bon port
Author: André LeBlanc
· A book of archives and rare documents retracting the lives of thousands of immigrants coming to Canada throughout the 20th century. Aimed at children.
Les Nouvelles du sport
Author: dirigé par Nadia Ghalem
· A collection of stories about the amazing lives of 15 athletes in different sports.
Publisher: Bayard Jeunesse Canada.
· A large series of short fiction stories, illustrated like comic books, on various subjects.
Author: Dominique Demers
· One of the books that served as the basis for « La mystérieuse Mademoiselle C." the popular Quebec children's movie about a strange substitute teacher who helps the worst school in the county to build a library.
La nouvelle maîtresse
Author: Dominique Demers
· Another of the books in a series that served as the basis for « La mystérieuse Mademoiselle C." the popular Quebec children's movie about a strange substitute teacher.
Author: François Gravel
· A funny adventure series about the main character « Klonk » who takes on different mysteries and adventures. A good length for students in 4th and 5th grade, recommended by Québec-Amérique Jeunesse.
Les Os de mon squelette
Author: H.U.Osterwalder
· A picture book for the scientific mind. The book follows the story of a little boy who falls down the stairs and breaks a bone. The book goes on to show x-rays and diagrams of what actually happened when the bone broke. A good picture book for someone who does not like typical fiction stories.
Une twiga à Ottawa
Author : Mireille Messier
· A very short novel, in chapters for students just starting to move from picture books to novels in French. A short story about a brother and sister who win a giraffe from the Kenyan embassy in Ottawa.
Author : Hergé
· Although I would advise parents to review the content of these comic books before giving them to your children, the classic Belgian comic book can be a good way to motivate a child to read in French. Some of the books verge on the politically incorrect because they are so old, but most of them are fine. Please ask me if in doubt!
Les trois cosmonautes
Author : Umberto Eco
· A picture book about three astronauts who go to Mars and try to kill an alien but realize the alien is just like them. A good book for teaching about tolerance. Text difficult even though it is a picture book.
La série « Georges » (Curious George)
Author : H.A Rey & Margret Rey
· Very simple picture books that although they seem juvenile to some Grade 4s and Grade 5s, my Grade 4s last year really took a liking to some of them for their comedic value and I encouraged this during short independent reading because the books contain valuable French vocabulary even though they're for young children.
Abby H. ou, La vie en mauve
Author: Anne Mazer
· A short novel about Abby H., good for encouraging girls who would like to read more grown-up chapter books but find that the vocabulary is too difficult.
La série « Peanuts »
Author : Charles M.Schulz
· Similar to Curious George, although they are comic books, they do motivate children to read and the vocabulary in these books is advanced enough that they can be a challenge.
Les vacances du petit Nicolas
Author : Sempé/Goscinny
· Several of the literature groups this year will be getting to read the original « Petit Nicolas » by Sempé so I would ask parents not to read the original story with those students already reading it for Literature Circle. There are other books in the Petit Nicolas series, such as this one and they're among my favorites. The book is filled with short funny stories about the trouble that Nicolas and his pals get up to. The vocabulary can be challenging but is appropriate for this age level and is one of the famous children's novels from France.
Les récrés du petit Nicolas
Author: Sempé/Goscinny
· Several of the literature groups this year will be getting to read the original « Petit Nicolas » by Sempé so I would ask parents not to read the original story with those students already reading it for Literature Circle. There are other books in the Petit Nicolas series, such as this one and they're among my favorites. The book is filled with short funny stories about the trouble that Nicolas and his pals get up to. The vocabulary can be challenging but is appropriate for this age level and is one of the famous children's novels from France.
La série « Nouvelles histoires drôles »
Author : Phillippe Germain
· Books of short, funny stories for children. Admittedly I have never read one of these books (although I intend to) but my students last year got them from the school library and quite enjoyed them.
The Geronimo Stilton series en Français.
Author : Geronimo Stilton.
Different adventures of a mouse. A chapter book with short chapters, lots of pictures and word art that is visually appealing for students just starting to read novels in French.
The series “Jojo & Paco”A charming comic book series about a cat and a parrot. Not too much vocabulary and lots of pictures to help build vocabulary.
Les débrouillards
You can order through Bayard Jeunesse their website is:
www.bayardjeunesse.ca
They also have more specific magazines designed for different interests – explorers, science etc… for children!
La mystérieuse Mademoiselle C.
· A movie based on the novel by Dominique Demers about a peculiar substitute teacher who helps an unmotivated class of students in Quebec.
L'incomparable Mademoiselle C.
· The sequel to "La mystérieuse Mademoiselle C." I have not actually seen this sequel but if your child enjoyed the first movie it is most likely worth it.
La grenouille et la baleine
· A québécois movie from my childhood about a girl Daphne, who is about 12 years old and can communicate with whales.
Les aventuriers du timbre perdu
· Another movie from my childhood about a boy who discovers a magic solution to traveling by postage stamps.
Bach et Bottine
· A movie about a bright orphan girl.