Sissi et le Fugitif est l’histoire de Sissi, jeune fille, encore Sissi de Bavière, qui risque sa vie et son avenir pour sauver la vie d’un fugitif.
This small, edited edition of Les Miserables is the perfect version for French learners. It recounts the complete story of Les Miserables (obviously lThis small, edited edition of Les Miserables is the perfect version for French learners. It recounts the complete story of Les Miserables (obviously leaving out details for the sake of length and comprehension), so newer readers can feel engaged in the plot without being bogged down by difficult language. The edition has language notes for vocab and for location (explanation of the placement of the different arrondissements and nearby cities). The questions and variety of interactive exercises at the end of each chapter helped to reinforce comprehension. The book also included different essays on subjects pertaining to the plot - where the legal system had failed French citizens in the past, for example - and I considered skipping these, but was glad I didn't. I found the extra information on the history and political climate of the era fascinating. This was a fun read with great illustrations made even stronger by supplemental listening and reading activities....more
Un Papillon dans la Cite is a coming of age novel centering around Felicie, a girl who has grown up in Guadeloupe with her grandmother, hearing only sUn Papillon dans la Cite is a coming of age novel centering around Felicie, a girl who has grown up in Guadeloupe with her grandmother, hearing only stories of her young mother who left for France when Felicie was just a baby. One day, a letter arrives for Felicie, and she's told that her mother plans to send a friend to Guadeloupe to retrieve Felicie and bring her to live with her mother, her step-father, and her new infant brother in France. Felicie's new French life isn't exactly what she anticipated in the Cite with its tall government-subsidized buildings and the melange of immigrants living in small apartments alongside her. And yet, struggling to find her place in France, to fit in with her new family, and to live without her beloved Man Ya and native Guadeloupe, Felicie sets out to improve herself through education and to figure out who she is and where she is going. This was such a meaningful novel. The universal themes of identity and belonging really struck a chord with me. The protagonist, Felicie, was a complicated and likeable girl, torn between wanting to please her mother and hating to disappoint her grandmother. I also loved the longing for home, and the complicated combination of a need for independence coupled with an attachment to loved ones. My eyes welled with tears quite a few times while reading this novel. While I've never had to leave a country permanently or had to learn to live with another family member, that strong feeling of growing pains was so familiar and bittersweet to me....more
Christine Arnothy recounts her difficult fifteenth year during World War Two. With the Russians invading Hungary and the Germans trying to push them bChristine Arnothy recounts her difficult fifteenth year during World War Two. With the Russians invading Hungary and the Germans trying to push them back, Budapest's occupants entered a high stakes game of trying to stay alive. Arnothy lived in the cellar underneath the family's apartment building along with her parent, neighbors, and a faithful former Hungarian soldier who sought to bring the occupants the food and supplies they needed. The story included the desperate search for flour, how the citizens snuck across the city in search of water, how Christine attempted to hide food and water to keep the horses in the apartment's stairwell alive, and how eventually, Christine and her family managed to escape the war-torn city in search of a new life. This book showed a different side of World War Two. So often, I read about Germany and Poland, but seeing Hungary during the war was informative. The book was somewhat difficult to follow with its long musings and short bursts of heavy action, and occasionally, the timing seemed a little off (so long in the cellar followed by a much longer period in the countryside that flew by in the course of a few pages), but overall, this book felt important and necessary. It carried many of the same themes of Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, and expressed the teenage confusion brought on by an extended time of contemplating death and finality. But this book, which I read in French, "J'ai quinze ans et je ne veux pas mourir," but also exists in English, "I am Fifteen--and I don't want to die," opened my eyes to a country and a people that I had not previously spent much time knowing. This was a great and worthwhile read....more
In Antoine de St. Exupery's classic novel, Le Petit Prince, the narrator finds himself stranded in the desert, and just when all seems lost, a little In Antoine de St. Exupery's classic novel, Le Petit Prince, the narrator finds himself stranded in the desert, and just when all seems lost, a little gentleman shows up and recounts the strange story of how he fell from Asteroid B612, visited a myriad of other planets, and finally landed on planet earth to discover some harsh realities about humans. I had my level four French students attempt to read this book this year, and they did a great job with it. They loved the story. The language was basic enough to understand, but very wry and funny. The language of the piece was also beautiful and full of insights. This is such a great book. The ending is a bit of a question mark, and my students in particular did not seem to like the direction the author chose to take. All in all, however, this was a fun, interesting, and classic read....more
Pascaline is a newly divorced, 40-something, trying to restart her life. She moves into a new apartment, but quickly feels ill-at-ease. She soon learnPascaline is a newly divorced, 40-something, trying to restart her life. She moves into a new apartment, but quickly feels ill-at-ease. She soon learns that a young girl, Anna, had been killed there some years earlier. Pascaline becomes obsessed with the case and with the serial killer who went on to murder seven girls across seven years. La Memoire des Murs is the telling of Pascaline's gradual unraveling as she follows the case and begins to see similarities between it and her own life. This truly creepy novella is a quick read, and is a perfect book for anyone new to reading in French....more
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