French SATS equivalent shock!

[Bonsoir]

I was researching the French equivalent to SATS, which take place at the end of French CE1 (second year of primary, equivalent to English Year 3) and CM2 (fifth year of primary, equivalent to English Year 6).

In 2010, the literary text which formed the basis for most of the CE1 test of French language was...

Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf (in translation, obviously)



Does this just confirm my observations that French literature for children is pants?

[BriocheDoree]

Well, have to say we haven't dug that far into French literature, but certainly all the stuff for younger kids is pretty pants (martine, anyone...??)
Be interesting to see what they read in CP next year...

[Bonsoir]

Juliette
Martine
Caroline

all as truly dreadful as one another! But it helps one understand the bourgeoise perfectionist mindset.

I quite like Babar for the insights into French socialism, too!

But hardly literature for bringing up liberal-minded children.

[scouserabroad]

My DDs read imported Maisy Mouse books. Thank you Amazon & UK based grandma I used to love Martine when I was little, and 20 years later I still like it in a nostalgic kind of way.

Has anyone tried Comtesse de Ségur? Was very popular with me & girl cousins when we were children, not sure it's very PC though.

[BriocheDoree]

lol @ bonsoir

[teafortwo]

Ernest et Célestine are charming but I do have problems falling in love with any other books. Generally there seems to be too many adults around the place!

A few years ago we met the famous pre-school writing duo Alex Sanders and Pierrick Bisinski. They explained that their publisher will not translate their books into English because they think they would have problems selling to an English speaking audience. They asked dh and my opinion on this decision...

DH said "Hmmm... the thing is English childrens books are very nice. You know good stories and beautiful pictures. No-one would be interested in your stuff over there."

I was soooo !

"You could have put it in a polite way!" I gasped. "I mean, it is their work you were putting down!"

"...but it really is the truth!" DH defended himself. "I couldn't bring myself to lie to them."

I don't read to dd in French but force dh to provide DH with resources. I am starting to be quite drawn to Carl Norac and
Aurélia Fronty... but my French isn't good enough to know if the text is beautiful... I feel it should be but am afraid it isn't... can anyone offer any advice???

[cory]

psml at teafortwo's husband

but this really confirms my own impression of French bookshops: the only children's books worth having are translations from English

and English children's books tend to be very high quality

my dcs are lucky as their other language is Swedish, which is also very strong on children's literature