Books to read to improve your French
Hi! If you're learning French and are looking for something to read, here's a list of books I read and loved as a French pupil that you might want to discover!
Tistou Les Pouces Verts, by Maurice Druon: This is the story of Tistou, a child who can make flowers sprout wherever his hand lands. Tistou uses his power to help adults around him to bear the difficult aspects of life, such as war and sadness. As it is a kid book, it is quite easy to read and full of vocabulary (especially for learning the names of flowers!)
The Laure and Compagnie series, by Catherine Missonier: This series of five books recount the eccentric adventures of elementary school pupils. The stories are all very funny (ranging from a class discovering that their teacher is a secret agent to a story about an alien who turns into a human and lands in a fifth-grade classroom)
Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: You may already be familiar with this book, as it is widely known. It tells the story of a little boy traveling from planet to planet in the universe looking for a place to settle. It is a very touching philosophical tale and by far my favorite book on this list.
Le Petit Nicolas, by René Goscinny: Nicolas is a boy living in France in the 50s. He writes about his daily life in post-war France, his relationship with his friends, with school, and his parents. I loved these books as a child. They are easy to read and very useful for learning about French society in the 20th century.
Intermediate-Advanced (B2)
Le Château de ma Mère and La Gloire de mon Père, by Marcel Pagnol: these two novels are autobiographical. The author recounts his youth in Provence. The author's style is simple to understand, but his stories are moving and give the impression of falling back into childhood.
La Passe-Miroir, by Christelle Dabos: La Passe-Miroir is a series of French fantasy novels. Ophelia, a young woman living on the planet Anima, can tell the history of objects just by touching them. Her story begins when she gets engaged against her will to Thorn, a mysterious man from a frozen planet...
La Parure, Aux Champs and Le Horla, by Guy de Maupassant : Maupassant is one of France's most famous authors of short stories. I discovered those three in high school, and I really liked them because of their unexpected endings. These texts are short, but Maupassant lived in the 19th century, so his style is a bit more difficult to understand.
Voyage au Centre de la Terre, by Jules Verne (or, really, anything by Jules Verne): I think I must have read this book at least fifty times and I'm still not tired of it ;-)! Verne narrates the story of Axel and his uncle, Professor Lidenbrock, who, one day, find a map that might be able to lead them to the center of the Earth... The story is fascinating and the characters are quite endearing. However, there is a lot of scientific jargon that might be difficult to understand without a dictionary.
Hope these suggestions can help you find something to read!
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