Brandon Brown à la Conquête de Québec

by Lynnette St. George (Translator), Kristy Placido, Carol Gaab

It takes Brandon Brown less than a day to find trouble while on vacation with his family in Quebec, bad decisions and careless mischief can bring much more than a 12-year-old boy can handle alone. Will he and his new friend, Justin, outwit their parents, or will their mischievous antics eventually catch up with them?

Genres: School

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite a thriller. It brought you tough mischevious times to the boys getting caught and in big trouble. My only piece of critique is that it was not setting a good example for the readers because they boys made a silly choice to climb up a tree that was on fire just to hide from the adults. This book overall was a great short read but yet at the same time not setting a good example.

[aliyah overturf · Rating 1 out of 5]

wack

[Meadow · Rating 1 out of 5]

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE! I read this in class for French as someone who hates French and found this book terrible to read. It is hard to understand, has big words, and the kids in it are brats! Not a good example for young kids especially if they don’t know French! I would recommend this book to someone who has no life because this is what I feel the book is for! No hate to the author I think they tried to make a good book but they just failed! I do think that if it was in English this would be probably a little better but still sucks!

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the pantheon of literary anti-heroes, few are as profoundly grating as the titular protagonist of Brandon Brown à Québec. What begins as a promising familial voyage to the majestic Château Frontenac quickly devolves into a grueling marathon of juvenile delinquency, architectural indifference, and unjustified paranoia. If this narrative was intended to capture the whimsy of youth, it instead serves as a stark warning about the dangers of unchecked screen time and abysmal vacation parenting.

The novel’s inciting incident is as banal as it is irritating: twelve-year-old Brandon, explicitly forbidden by his mother from watching television, stays up until 5:00 A.M. consuming a cinematic smorgasbord of The Hunger Games, Iron Man, Batman, and Harry Potter VIII. The consequence of this minor rebellion is a relentless, suffocating cloud of fatigue that infects the rest of the text. As his mother attempts to share the historic splendor of La Citadelle and the beautiful Fontaine Tourny, Brandon responds with a symphony of infantile complaints, repeatedly declaring his exhaustion, his headaches, and his sheer refusal to take a family photograph.

But the novel truly descends into madness with the introduction of Justin, a fellow twelve-year-old tourist who operates with the moral compass of a feral raccoon. Having abandoned his own family on the tour bus in a fit of movie-induced panic, Brandon teams up with Justin to embark on a reign of terror across the Quebec countryside. The author frames their escapades as a boyish rejection of "boring" guided tours, but their so-called adventures are nothing more than a string of antisocial infractions.

In a local chocolaterie, Justin relentlessly mimics and mocks the patrons until the owner is forced to threaten the boys with expulsion. At a serene, pay-to-fish trout pond, Justin physically snatches a caught fish from a bewildered fisherman, opting to sarcastically parrot the man's entirely justified outrage. Later, the duo blatantly ignores a "Défense de nager" sign to plunge into a dangerous river. Finally, they tamper with maple syrup buckets in a protected forest, flagrantly disregarding a tour guide's desperate, repeated pleas not to climb or touch the delicate trees.

The author attempts to inject a psychological thriller element into this travelogue of bad behavior via the "méchant homme" (the bad man)—a mysterious, scowling adult whom Brandon hallucinates is a bloodthirsty assassin straight out of The Hunger Games. At one point, Brandon’s paranoia reaches such absurd heights that he legitimately wonders if this stranger has murdered his entire family. Yet, to the discerning reader, the "evil man" is simply the only responsible adult in the province. His sole "crimes" are observing the boys' rampant misbehavior and repeatedly demanding they return to the tour bus so the other tourists can finally leave.

Stylistically, the prose is a punishing loop of repetitive syntax, hammering the reader with Brandon's incessant fatigue and his irrational fears. It is an exhausting read, bereft of charm, character development, or any genuine cultural appreciation of Quebec City. Brandon Brown à Québec earns its single star not for its literary merit, but as a cautionary tale: a masterclass in how an insufferable protagonist can single-handedly ruin a perfectly good Canadian vacation.

[Mira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I thought that Brandon Brown à la Conquête de Québec (Brandon Brown #3) by Lynnette St. George is a very interesting story with an abundance of plot twists. If you know basic French and want a quick read, it is the perfect book for you. Even though it is the third in the series, before reading it you need no prior knowledge. Truly, even if you don't know any french, you could still read it as there is a very helpful glossary in the middle. What I also enjoyed was that there were two different sides so that when you turned the book upside down you could read it in present tense, and when you read it right side up you could read it in past tense, which is a bit difficult so I don't recommend doing that. All in all, while I kind of got bored of it after the first two chapters, it's pretty short and I learned a lot.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm proud to say I understood most of it! I read this for French class, and didn't particularly enjoy it story-wise, but I learned a bit about the language. (I also think kids books like this are a great way to learn a language, since they often use the simplest form and simplest words.)

[liv !! · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for French class which I can no longer take 😞 I am forced to take Spanish. What was up with that mechant homme??!! Let my boy Brandon rest! Anyways I’ll miss you Brandon brown lol, j’adore brandon parce qu’il regarde Hunger games☺️

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in class which was fun with kids being more entertained by this book.
J'aime la livre cars c'est bon example pour les enfants.

[Ava Mushiyev · Rating 2 out of 5]

this had more plot then the balled of song birds and snakes but also it was boring and just kids being dumb (I was forced to read this no hate to the author its a good children's book)

[Annie Wong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brandon gets into trouble every where he turns. By chance he even meets a boy his age, where they run around and explore Quebec city together. Although the story line isn't so great, it still was a learning experience because it is a French book as opposed to an English book.

[Priya · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was an okay book, i read it for french class 😪 not too interesting