Best places in the UK for quality French children’s books? (bilingual family)

[willsswlondon]

Hi all,

We're a UK-based family doing OPOL. DH is French, I'm English, and we have DS3 and a 5-month-old.

We're pretty consistent with French at home - DH speaks French to DS, we watch TV in French, and we read French books.

The TV side has actually been much easier than I expected because DS is happy to watch programmes he already loves dubbed into French, like Paw Patrol, Bluey etc.

Books are proving much harder though. In English he's completely obsessed with authors like Julia Donaldson, Rachel Bright and Chris Haughton. He asks for them over and over because the stories, illustrations and rhymes are just so good.

I haven't managed to find French books that he gets nearly as excited about. We've tried T'choupi, Petit Ours Brun etc but it hasn't really clicked.

My worry is that if French books don't have characters and stories he genuinely loves, it'll always feel like the "less fun" language, which can't be great for raising a bilingual child.

So I'd love recommendations from anyone raising bilingual French/English children.

Where in the UK do you find really high-quality French stories that your children genuinely ask to read again and again / prefer over English books?

Happy to buy from France if there is nothing in the UK. Thanks!

Ours love t'choupi and petit ours brun. But we hsve a lot of Peppa Pig books in French, picked up in charity shop in France when visiting in-laws

Thanks! Did you buy any French books from the UK, or were they mostly picked up on trips to France? We don't go to France that often, so don't have much opportunity.

Not cheap but Julia Donaldson etc you can get in French translations from Amazon.fr

they deliver over here (for a higher delivery charge obviously)

In South Kensington there is the Institut Francais and some French bookshops nearby. I think they also have a branch in Edinburgh?

You could have a browse at the Bibliothèque Quentin Blake at the Institut Français, if you're in the London area? Might give you some ideas for books to buy.
https://www.institut-francais.org.uk/library/#/

Probably not currently suitable, but the family favourites to buy from France were Tintin, Astérix and we did like French Where's Wally too.

Cornebidouille, beurk (le mange-doudou, la nuit de beurk, le bain de beurk, la boîte de beurk etc), C’est moi le plus fort. Possibly Billy le hamster Cowboy but I’m not convinced. Kids seem to like them though. Chris Haugton translated into French is also good. Roule ma Poule by Édouard Manceau is absolutely hysterical. If you want your 5 year old to learn to read in French then the Frissons au CP series is great for that age group.

Thanks for all the great book suggestions it sounds like there’s a lot out there other than Tchoupi!

I was actually asking about where I can buy these books in the UK? Is it just the Institut Français or buying from France?

I was hoping y’all would be able to let me into a secret of an e-commerce site in the UK that has good kids books in foreign languages and not too expensive! Does that exist? Amazon UK has pretty limited selection of just the obvious ones that I already have. Thanks in advance!

The Institut Français and Librairie La Page are both in South Kensington. Very close to the museums!

Librairie La Page website filtered to “youth”.

edited for autocorrects!

It was a very long time ago (the 90s 😁) but I remember Blackwells in Oxford having children's books in French.

I got lots of French books of Vinted.

Buying from France, not UK but online - Momox (second-hand) delivers to UK.

Some favourites translated into French might be a good start - the Julia Donaldson books, for example.

Otherwise the P'tit Loup series of books are decent.

(I also dislike T'choupi and my kids weren't fans either).

Crabouillabesse
La cabane magique series