jld Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 What do they like to read? Specifically, is there anything you can recommend for my ds10? He likes BD -- Asterix, Tintin, Lucky Luke, Boule et Bill, etc., but I'd like him to read chapter books, too. He's reading various Petit Nicholas books right now, and loved the Omelette au Sucre series (Arrou-Vignod). He's read some French translations from English or Spanish (books by King-Smith or the Manolito series by Lindo), just to have reading material in French, but I'd like to have him read more French books by French authors. Dd14 has a lot of jr. high books he'll eventually read, but I'd like to be able to offer him something he'd find interesting now. And while we're on the subject of dd14 . . . can anybody recommend any favorite French books or authors for her? Her favorite author so far is Annie Pietri (Les Orangers de Versailles, and a couple others), and she has enjoyed Marie Berthelat (La Fille au Pinceau d'Or). She has a lot of Annie Jay books on her shelf to read, and I think some by Anne-Marie Cadot-Colin (sheesh -- do you have to be named Anne or Marie to write books in France?). She does not like Odile Weulersse -- at all. Any other ideas? She's going to get some classics, but I'd like her to read some fiction by contemporary authors, too. I'm just not very familiar with them. And I'd like to stick to jr. high or high school level books -- not adult level yet, please!:) Merci, mesdames! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Are you allowing your kids to read Harry Potter? Quebec literature is booming with decent novels that deal with mythology, ancient cultures, and so forth. However I think a family that would object to HP would also objects to these novels. Take a look at Les Intouchables http://www.lesintouchables.com/ Amos Daragon is the biggest hit around. Translated in many many languages (28?) but never published in English, it's been a big success around the world, turned into a tv show and a weekly series. Be warned though, that at the end of the series mankind gets rid of all gods, and deemed itself free of gods. While Quebec literature is mostly good French, it *is* a reflection of our culture, very very atheist. ETA: it seems it has been published in English after all, just last summer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 There's a whole list here http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/enseign/lettres/inspection/annexes/Lectures_college.pdf 'college' in France means from grade 6 to grade 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 Thanks a lot for that list, Cleo. I'm going to ask dd to look at it . . . Yes, the kids have read all the HP books. They really don't want to read English books translated into French anymore. A few years ago, when I wasn't familiar with French authors at all, and just didn't know what to get, I bought French translations of books that I knew were good in English, as I just wanted the kids to get practice reading in French. But now they won't accept that anymore, and they're even getting picky about which authors they read, so I was hoping for some personal recommendations . . . Merci de votre aide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Wow, Cleo, that is a fantastic list for college. Do you happen to have anything like that for grades 4-6?!? My boys are working on some Cabane Magique & Club des Cinq books, but, like jld mentioned, it would be nice to try some French authors. (Though if you have other suggestions along the CM/CdC books, those would be good, too!) yvonne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 (edited) You can also buy tons of books here: http://www.renaud-bray.com/Livres_Jeunesse.aspx?wbgc_iNo=138&cPage=1 There are 12 pages to go through! If you're unsure about a book, you can ask me to check it out. There's a RenaudBray store within 10 minutes from me. Books by Brian Perro, Dominique Demers, Mario Francis, and Gilles Tibo (a tad younger) are usually well liked. Lucie Papineau is for the younger set, they're easy readers. Edited December 3, 2009 by CleoQc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 Yvonne, my ds10 thinks your boys would really enjoy the Omelette au Sucre series by Jean-Philippe Arrou-vignod (4 books in the series). He also heartily recommends any of the Petit Nicolas books! He doesn't like to read English books translated into French because he says the jokes aren't the same when they're translated (he's big into humorous books). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Thank you, so much, Cleo! I'm off to check that site out. And thanks for the tips on authors. I sure wish amazon.fr had as much Look Inside functionality as the US amazon site. yvonne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted December 4, 2009 Share Posted December 4, 2009 Thank you for the suggestion, jld! I hadn't heard of the Omelette au Sucre series before your mention of it. I'm going to order the first one with my next amazon.fr order. I have Petit Nicolas somewhere from my high school days, so I don't want to buy another set. Maybe I'll try to convince the library to pick some up. :) How did your 10 year old come to be reading French at 10? Is your family bilingual? Or living in a French speaking area? My dh is French & speaks only French to the children. However, he lets them respond in English (despite my pleas to plead complete ignorance unless they reply in French!) They have a good vocabulary & I can do the grammar with them (French lit major and a year at the Universite de Geneve), but they'd be leaps and bounds further along if he'd insist on French from them. Oh, well.... Thanks again for the suggestion. If your son happens across any others that he'd recommend, please do post!!! yvonne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted December 4, 2009 Author Share Posted December 4, 2009 I understand only too well, Yvonne. My dh is lax about making the kids respond in French, too. Maybe it's just dads . . . He always speaks to them in French, though, so that's at least something. Three years ago we moved to France for 16 mos., and now we're in India. Dd14 and ds7 are in France right now for 6 weeks, so that should bring dd back to complete fluency and get ds into some kind of groove. And if he comes back speaking more French to his dad, that will spur ds10 and ds4 to speak more, too. I was a Spanish major in college, not French, and have just learned the language through living it with dh and the kids. My reading and writing skills aren't great, but I'm okay, more or less, with speaking and listening. Dd and ds10 started reading French (really reading French, not just taking forever to get through a book, like before) after about 6-8 months in France. They read at grade level, which has really helped keep their French up. About those Petit Nicolas books . . . I didn't realize it, but there are lots of them: Les Recrees du PN, Les Vacances du PN, PN et les Copains, etc. And I bet your boys would like anything by Arrou-Vignod. I, too, am grateful to Cleo for that list she found (the Nancy-Metz one), and need to spend some time on it. What do you use for grammar? (My ds10 just left the room after this mention of grammar. He really doesn't want to even hear about studying it. I hope he matures soon.:glare:) Nice to "meet" you!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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