Before we visit new countries with our children, we like to discover literature that inspires travel. Here are books we would recommend sharing with your children (or reading yourself) before you visit France.
Books for young readers and to read aloud
Cezanne and the Apple Boy by Laurence Anholt
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
A Walk in Monet’s Garden by Francesca Crespi
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and Richard Howard
Dodsworth in Paris by Tim Egan
Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson
Anatole by Eve Titus
E is for Eiffel Tower: A France Alphabet by Helen L. Wilbur
For grade school readers
Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures #11: Framed in France by Jeff Brown
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
Secret Agent Jack Stalwart: The Mystery of the Mona Lisa: France Book 3 by Elizabeth Singer Hunt
Night of the New Magicians, Magic Treehouse #35 by Mary Pope Osborne
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice Provensen
Thea Stilton and the Mystery in Paris by Thea Stilton
For middle school/high school students
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg
The Royal Diaries: Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles by Kathryn Lasky
The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, A World War II Soldier by Walter Dean Myers
Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
My favorites
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
The Cleaner of Chartres by Salley Vickers
Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
This post may contain affiliate links, however, all recommendations are my own.
Looks like we are on the same wavelength! These are great books that we have recommended as well. Glad to find someone else that travels the way that we do. Looking forward to swapping book ideas.
I LOVED The Painted Girls! It left me dying to know what was true and what was added for the sake of the story. I also enjoyed The Paris Wife…now I have a few more to add to my list! 🙂
Beth | Adventuring the Great Wide Somewhere recently posted…La Vie Parisienne – Partie Un
I love them all! I read every night before bed and am always looking for new recommendations!