Les Miserables: A BabyLit® French Language Primer

BabyLit® Primers

by Jennifer Adams, Alison Oliver (Illustrator)

Revised and updated edition



Introduce your bébé to the world of Victor Hugo with 10 words and phrases from the classic Les Miserables. Colorful, eye-catching illustrations of characters and objects from the novel pair with French translations you’ll want to hear your baby say again and again.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, France, Classics, Literature, Language

22 pages, Board book

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Jennifer Adams is the author of more than forty books. Her bestselling BabyLit board books (published by Gibbs Smith) introduce small children to the world of classic literature and have sold 1.5 million copies. She is the author of another series of board books, My Little Cities.

Jennifer’s picture books for children, Edgar Gets Ready for Bed, Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart and Edgar and the Tree House of Usher are inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” She also has two new picture books forthcoming from HarperCollins.

Her titles also include books for adults, including Y is for Yorick, a slightly irreverent look at Shakespeare, and Remarkably Jane, notable quotations on Jane Austen.

Jennifer graduated from the University of Washington. She has 20 years’ experience as a book editor, including at Gibbs Smith and Quirk Books. She currently works as a consulting editor for Sounds True, developing their children’s line. Jennifer works some evenings at her local independent bookstore, The King’s English, to feed her book habit. She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, Bill Dunford, who is also a writer.

(bio from author's website)

Reviews

[Melissa Swistek · Rating 3 out of 5]

In comparison to some of the other BabyLit books, this one at least included some lines from the actual books which hinted at a story. A better French primer than the Aladdin book (sounds primer) of the same series.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read French at all, but I didn't even care. I had to pick this up when I saw it - baby Les Mis! It makes me super happy.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rowan had a lot of fun with the French. Kylie speaks some French, but I don't speak any, so it was fun practice for me. Rowan enjoyed it with both of us.

[Everett Earles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dad sounded NUTS reading this. And they say I speak gibberish…

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

E is OBSESSED with this one. Not sure why.

[Lynne Marie]

A Cybils Board Book Nominee.

[Lina K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how it softens Les Mis. It has a happy ending for Les Amis!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I like this more in concept than in reality. This BabyLit French language primer on Les Mis doesn't actually introduce babies to the story of Les Mis. That's okay; it's probably a bit heavy for babies, anyway. Instead it has high-contrast artwork (which I really like), short lines from Les Mis in both the original French and in English, and then vocabulary words in French and English. Some of the choices are simple and seem to be introducing the main characters from the novel - the first 2 pages are "Man" and "L'Homme" with artwork and text about Jean Valjean, for example, and then there's "Woman" + "La Femme" for Fantine, "Girl" + "La Fille" for Cosette, "Bread" + "Le Pain," etc. But some of the choices were more obscure - "rat," for example - and some of the accompanying texts didn't make a whole lot of sense - "Javert was rigid with the buttons of his coat" for "Policeman" + "Le Gendarme." Still, I like this concept a lot. I like introducing important works of literature to my baby while he's young, and I like bilingual texts, so I won't be too critical of this.

[DaddyReads2Daughter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of the BabyLit Books but I’m always a bit underwhelmed when I read them with my daughter. Since I’m plodding my way through the 1,400+ pages of Les Mis, I thought it might be fun to pick this up for my toddler. The art work is great. As is true with all the BabyLit Books, this doesn’t tell the classic story. Rather it uses elements of the classic story to teach a particular thing (Spanish, French, shapes, colors, etc.). This one teaches a few French words. I just wish there was more to it!

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

These Baby Lit primers are a great idea, teaching kids basic concepts while introducing them to classic literature. They're all filled with characters and plot points from the books along with some fun art. My only complaint is these won't give you much of an idea what the real book is about unless you've already read it.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure who this book is aimed at- middle aged women obsessed with Les Mis? Most likely. A cute little board book- but more suited to toddlers than babies as it introduces some basic, and not so basic words in English and French.

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[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super cute book! I read it to my niece and she loved it! She pretends that she’s Fantine and I’m Cosette, even though she doesn’t really know what the real book is about. I love this collection of books! They are all super cute and each one focuses on something. Like this one teaches some French words.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

BabyLit is a series of board books that uses classic works of literature to teach a concept. This board book uses Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" and the concept is the French language. It is a cute series with nice illustrations.

[Alicia Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

For: lit fans; readers looking for a book introducing French in an entertaining way (one page will have the word and sentence in English while the opposite side with have the French translation).

Possible red flags: doesn't really follow the original work or give context to that story.

[Kiely]

This may be the only print copy of Les Miserables I’ll ever read from cover to cover. 😏😂

I’ll keep slugging away with the 1400-page version, but considering I’ve stalled in the same place twice, about 20% of the way through, 15+ years apart, things aren’t looking so hot. 😅

[Brittany & Adaline Bear · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love an introduction to the classics, especially if it is a classic your dad is currently reading. Requires a bit of experience with the French language, if you plan on pronouncing the words properly.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Les Miserables, French language, Jennifer Adams, Alison Oliver
"Priest. Monseigneur Bienvenu was strolling in his garden."
[I had a spare hour and was in the library, so I looked at these cool little books]

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice.

[Daniel Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs a pronunciation guide

[Jocelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction into the world of Victor Hugo and the French Language.

[TJ & AJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book. For some kids, this might be their first introduction to the idea that different groups of people speak different languages. Not one of TJ's favorites though.

[Lillian Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Half in English with the opposite page in French to help teach babies new words!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is even better than the Spanish one because it has a small storyline under the characters/words to learn.

[Breanne]

sorry to all the french babies in my neighborhood bc my childless ass pulled this out of the little free library and i’m not putting it back

[NK92 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the best I've seen of Alison Oliver's art, most is pretty garbage, but it is still just okay. This is otherwise a fun/educational book, but it is probably better to buy actual classic board books in French that have better art (ex. Bonsoir Lune). More for mom than baby.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and was so excited! This book is a part of the Baby Lit series published by Gibbs Smith. The website for the BabyLit books is BabyLit.com. I am a fan of Les Miserables and I wish my girls were still young so I could read them the baby board book as if we were watching the play. Each page introduces a character or an important part of the story in both English and French. This is a beautiful book. If my girls were still young, we would have the whole series on our bookshelves.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series!!! I handsell these constantly, and actually gave them their own shelf with a staff rec card. This book is just as wonderful as the rest of the series, and it's a great addition to any kid's (or adult's!) library!

Thank you to Gibbs Smith and Goodreads for the ARC!

[Kate Puleo Unger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Board Book ages 0-2

This book is cute. It teaches some simple vocabulary - in English and in French - and has some descriptions of characters from the story.

http://www.momsradius.com/2016/12/cyb...

[Debee Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. My Granddaughter found it a lttle difficult due to no experience hearing french before but once she heard the language a bit it was fun for her.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A super cute, simple French language primer. Don't expect the story, of course, but this is a neat way to introduce your child not only to the story but also to the original language of the work.