Anni's Diary of France  •  Anni Axworthy TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 32 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) Taking the form of an illustrated diary, this book is a lively record of a family trip to France, featuring food, art and history. Illustrations, photographs and informative text crowd the scrapbook-style pages. Written for young readers ages 8-10. (FRN46, $6.95)
Around the World in Eighty Days  •  Jules Verne  •  Barry Moser LITERATURE •  1988 •  HARD COVER  • 242 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS This edition of the many adventures of Phileas Fogg features the illustrations of Barry Moser. It took more than one hundred years after this book was published for someone to finally make it around the world in a balloon. (GEN32, $25.99)
Bel Ria, Dog of War  •  Sheila Burnford LITERATURE •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 256 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS In the summer of 1940, a performing dog whose gypsy owner has been killed by the Nazis wanders through war-torn Europe, affecting the lives of the humans he encounters. A moving tale for readers aged 10 and up. Brumford is also the author of The Incredible Journey. (FRN621, $17.95)
Bonjour France! Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Your Holiday in France  •  Rebecca Welby GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  FLEXI-BOUND  • 60 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) (FRN616, $16.95)
Cathedral, The Story of its Construction  •  David MacAulay ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1973 •  HARD COVER  • 77 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) In this illuminating book for young readers, master draughtsman MacAulay presents text and innovative drawings that detail the planning and construction of a 13th-century Gothic cathedral. It's a masterpiece. (EUR24, $18.00)
Eyewitness Art: Monet  •  Jude Welton ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1999 •  HARD COVER  • 64 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A slim, oversize biography of the painter, targeted to middle schoolers and featuring hundreds of drawings and color reproductions of Monet's most famous work. (GEN192, $15.99)
Eyewitness: Impressionism  •  Jude Welton ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 64 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A visual survey of Impressionism for kids ages 9-12, including hundreds of images and ingeniously arranged facts. (GEN194, $15.99)
The Family Under the Bridge  •  Natalie Savage Carlson  •  Garth Williams LITERATURE •  1989 •  PAPER  • 123 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) Armand was a hobo back in the days when hoboes threw Christmas parties -- and were Parisian! This charming, wonderfully human story recounts the Parisian adventures of Armand and the three homeless children who made him shed his grumpy ways. It won a Newbery Medal. With illustrations by Garth Williams, of "Little House" book fame. Ages 9-12. (FRN313, $5.99)
I Is Someone Else  •  Patrick Cooper LITERATURE •  2007 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS Set in 1966, fifteen-year-old Stephen embarks on a search for his missing brother that takes him on a cross-continental journey and forces him to address his own dark past. (ASA57, $6.50)
Kids French Picture Dictionary  •  Inc. Berlitz International LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  2003 •  PAPER  • 128 PAGES • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) 1,000 words central to a child's everyday life -- animals, flowers, people, colors, numbers and activities -- teach even the youngest readers French. Each word is illustrated and accompanied by a phonetic transcription and phrase. (FRN391, $12.95)
The King in the Window  •  Adam Gopnik LITERATURE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 410 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS Gopnik (Paris to the Moon) tries his hand at writing for a younger crowd with this adventure through Parisian streets and history. Oliver, a 12-year-old American living with his expat parents in Paris, gets himself caught up with the ghostly Window Wraiths, and unwittingly is pushed into the role of leading a battle against evil. Classic Parisian settings are thrown into an otherworldly light as his adventures unfold, with many historical figures making appearances throughout. Fun, and absorbing. (FRN540, $9.99)
Learn French Together  •  Living Language LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  2006 •  BOXED • FAMILY These multimedia boxed sets feature CDs, games, srickers and adorable illustrations to help kids and parents pick up a new language together. (FRN622, $22.95)
Linnea in Monet's Garden  •  Christina Bjork  •  Lena Anderson  •  Joan Sandin ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1987 •  HARD COVER  • 52 PAGES • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) A very floral introduction to the art of Monet and his Impressionist circle for children ages 5 to 8. Linnea and her neighbor frolic in Monet's garden at Giverny and look at Impressionist paintings in Paris. It's a great primer for kids on their way to Giverny and a gentle first lesson in art history. Nicely illustrated, too. (FRN312, $16.00)
The Little Prince  •  Antoine de Saint Exupery  •  Richard Howard LITERATURE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 83 PAGES • FAMILY Antoine de Saint-Exupery's modern fable, enshrined in the hearts of thousands, is re-translated by Richard Howard. First published in 1943, "Le Petit Prince" tells of a naif extraterrestrial waif who wanders from planet to planet, learning wisdom as he goes. Though not set in France, it's a French classic. (FRN361, $10.00)
Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles (Austria-Hungary, 1769)  •  Kathryn Lasky LITERATURE •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 238 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) The ill-fated future queen of France records life at the Habsburg palace in Austria in this novel-in-diary-format, written by the reliably excellent children's author Kathryn Lasky. The teenaged Marie is almost of marrying age, and the future is full of possibility. An entry in Scholastic's "Princess Diaries" series, for ages 9 to 12. The book is designed to feel like a real princess's diary, with gold-embossed pages and a sturdy binding. (FRN342, $10.95)
Pardon My French  •  Cathy Hapka LITERATURE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS The fourth book in the Students Across the Seven Seas series. Missing her boyfriend, Nicole is lonely in the City of Lights when she studies abroad. But with the help of some new friends -- and a handsome Frenchman -- she just might change her mind. (FRN617, $6.99)
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver  •  E.L. Konigsburg LITERATURE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 208 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS A marvelous fictionalized portrait of Eleanor of Aquitaine who was queen of France and England successively, traveler to Constantinople, wife of a future saint, mother of Richard the Lionheart and for 15 years a prisoner of the English Crown. E.L. Konigsburg's irreverent, feminist, educational young-adult novel begins on a cloud in heaven, where Eleanor is awaiting the induction into heaven of her husband Henry II of England, who has spent the last 800 years in -- well -- not in heaven, at any rate. The rest of the book is a flashback. (GBR245, $5.99)
The Ramsay Scallop  •  Frances Temple LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS Highly recommended for young teens with a taste for historical fiction and a modicum of patience, this sprawling novel tells of a medieval pilgrimage through France to Santiago, Spain. The book takes a cue from Chaucer, telling the stories not only of the protagonists (teenaged fiances who don't get along) but also of the strangers they meet. In doing so, it recreates much of the 13th-century western European world within its pages. Ages 12-14. (FRN389, $7.00)
The Red Keep: A Story of Burgundy in Year 1165  •  Allen French  •  Andew Wyeth LITERATURE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 370 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS A classic tale of knights and robbers in the French countryside for young adults, much enhanced by Andrew Wyeth's incomparable illustrations. (FRN81, $15.95)
The Scarlet Pimpernel  •  Baroness Orczy LITERATURE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS Odd's fish, m'dear, you must read this novel. Wildly popular since his debut in 1903, the man known as the Scarlet Pimpernel is a foppy English lord by day and a daring genius by night. The time is the French Revolution, specifically Robespierre's Reign of Terror, and in Paris the aristos are going to the guillotine by the hundreds. One man, and one man only, seems poised to save their lives…"is he from heaven, or is he from hell, that damned elusive pimpernel?" Ages 12 and up. (FRN363, $9.95)
This is Paris  •  Miroslav Sasek CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 64 PAGES • YOUNG READERS (Age 4-8) A classic portrait of Paris for children. First published in 1958, this is a facsimile edition of Sasek's charming original. The Louvre, Eiffel Tower and other famed attractions are depicted with bright, stylized illustrations. Ages 4-8. (FRN466, $17.95)
The Three Musketeers  •  Alexandre Dumas LITERATURE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 696 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS This French standard is rip-roaring fare for young adults, who'll stay up 'til the wee hours to find out what became of D'Artagnan, Aramis, Athos, Porthos and the nefarious Lady DeWinter. What a page-turner! Ages 12 and up. (FRN362, $12.95)
Vincent Van Gogh, Portrait of an Artist  •  Sandra Jordan  •  Jan Greenberg BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2003 •  PAPER  • 144 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A compassionate, unsensationalistic biography, well written and geared for kids ages 9-12. With an eight-page insert of color reproductions. (NTH60, $6.99)
The Yellow House, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin Side by Side  •  Susan Goldman Rubin  •  Joseph A. Smith ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2001 •  HARD COVER • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) An illustrated book depicting the two months Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin spent together in Provence. Intended for children, but appropriate for anyone with an interest in the painters and their friendship. (FRN285, $18.95)