Happy Bastille Day! Time to read some books set in France.
Ten days ago I was celebrating US independence at a gorgeous lake in Idaho. Today, Parisians celebrate Bastille Day.
Books to read
Sadly, I won’t be in Paris to witness the celebration. But for all of us stuck in non-French cities, we can still read! Below, I have a round-up of some of my favorite books set in France, a lesson plan that involves reading about the storming of the Bastille, and a hotel rec near where the Bastille once stood.
Before we get to all that, a quick note about my recommended booklist:
ALL THE BOOKS ARE RECENTLY PUBLISHED!
With the exception of HUGO CABARET (published in 2007), all the recommendations were published in the last five years. This matters because book lists that feature titles from the early 2000s often lack diversity.1
In addition to characters who better represent the population of kids in the United States (although that representation still has a way to go!), new books tend to be less sexist, more historically accurate, the humor tends to hit better, and the artistic styles jibe better with kids.
I’m not saying to purge your house of classics, but look for recent books too!
Except for Barbar. Maybe you’ll want to purge your house of that classic. In her newsletter Readable Moments, Sri does a great job breaking down the colonial righteousness of Barbar:
Anyway, here is my book list:
Picture Books
MADAME SAQUI, REVOLUTIONARY ROPE DANCER by Lisa Robinson, illustrated by Rebecca Green This picture book biography about a tightrope walker in Paris is sent during the French Revolution.
A WISH IN THE DARK by Christina Soontornvat A Thai-inspired fantasy retelling of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. Just like Les Mis, this book is a tale of rich vs poor, a prisoner, and the tension between law and justice.
SYLVIA’S BOOKSHOP by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Katy Wu The story of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore, its owner Sylvia Beach, and the many great writers who gathered there. My kids and I were super excited to visit the store in Paris after reading the book.
Shakespeare and Company bookstore. Photos by Jenna Vandenberg A DREAM OF FLIGHT: Alberto Santos-Dumont’s Race Around the Eiffel Tower by Rob Polivka and Jef Polivka, illustrated by Rob Polivka Long before the airplane was invented, young Alberto was born in Brazil. He moved to Paris in the 1890s. Inspired by a hot air balloon ride, be began designing airships. The picture book shows the highs and lows as his career as an inventor.
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ALICE! The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Simona Ciraolo. The story of Alice Guy-Blaché, one of filmmaking's first and greatest innovators in the early 1900s. Mara Rockliff also wrote MESMERIZED: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Battled All of France, which I also love.
Middle Grade books
THE MONA LISA VANISHES: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day with art by Brett Helquist The book weaves together a bumbling thief, and even more bumbling museum guard, and Leonardo da Vinci (not bumbling) in a hilarious true-crime story set in turn-of-the-century France. Literary agent Jenn Laughran raves about the book on her podcast, and her glowing review made me buy the book.
THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selznick This illustrated mystery novel is about an orphan clock keeper who lives secretly in a Parisian train station. The book features lots of wonder and magic and it’s no wonder at all that the book won a Caldecott, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and that the Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the book won an Oscar.
NEVERS, by Sara Cassidy I already wrote about this book and the French Revolution snippet that I read to my students every year. Click here to read (or re-read!) about how much I love this book.
Bookstack! Photo by Jenna Vandenberg
Young Adult novels
CATHERINE’S WAR By Julia Billet, illustrated by Claire Fauvel and translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger This historical graphic novel is based on author Billet’s mother’s experience, who moved from town to town in France during WWII in attempt to stay hidden from Nazis. A VERY gripping tale, and the art is fantastic.
MAD, BAD, AND DANGEROUS TO KNOW by Samira Ahmed 17-year-old Khayyam Maquet is spending the summer in Paris caught between a French guy and a ex-ish-boyfriend back in America. But also, she’s trying to untangle a 19th-century mystery about a Muslim woman whose path may have intersected with Alexandre Dumas…ancestor to the cute French guy mentioned in the previous sentence.
VOICES: THE FINAL HOURS OF JOAN OF ARC by David Elliott I thought I hated poetry until I read this book. It is so, so gorgeous and brilliant. For any English teachers out there, this book is a PERFECT mentor text, because so many different types of poetry are showcased in this book.
"With stunning lyricism, these poems fashion an enlivened, gripping narrative that addresses themes of gender identity, class and vocation, and innocence and culpability, bringing fresh nuance to an oft-told story."—Publishers Weekly Photo by Jenna Vandenberg
THIS LIGHT BETWEEEN US by Andrew Fukuda When author Fukuda learned that Anne Frank had a pen-pal, his imagination kicked into gear and this book was born. THE LIGHT features a Japanese American teenaged boy on Bainbridge Island and a Jewish girl in Paris during WWII, before and after the protagonists are shipped off to Manzanar and Auschwitz.
A place to explore: Hôtel Castex and Place des Vosges, near where the Bastille once stood
The Bastille isn’t in Paris anymore. Those stormers did a pretty good job destroying it. Now, the July column and the Opéra Bastille are the most notable features in the Place de la Bastille is the area.
When my family went to Paris last year, we stayed at Hôtel Castex, which is just a few blocks from the square. The hotel is great for families, because they have a double room situation. My husband and I had a room, the kids were next door, and we shared a private hallway. Breakfast was great too :)
It’s a GREAT location. It may have been stormy and revolutionary 200 years ago, but today the area (the Marais) is pretty chill, felt very safe, and didn’t seem too touristy. We were a quick walk away from the Place des Vosges, a cute park lined with red brick mansions and tons of great restaurants. It was also an easy walk to the Seine, Notre-Dame, and Hôtel de Ville. The Louve was only a couple miles away - we walked there and took the subway back. We all really loved Paris, and I credit our stay in this part of the city as the reason.
A lesson to teach: Reading Dickens
Here is the excerpt of A TALE OF TWO CITIES wherein Charles Dickens writes about the storming of the Bastille. Whenever I have students read difficult texts, I always include space for them to stop and draw what they have read. The document includes drawing spaces every couple of paragraphs.
Here is a bit about Dickens, A TALE OF TWO CITIES and the French Revolution, which might be good for kids to read before tackling the reading.
Happy teaching, reading, and exploring! See y’all next week!
No, not always - I see you, Gyo Fujikawa!
For adults, I recommend Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale about Paris and the French countryside during WWII and the Nazi invasion. My daughter just got back from Paris, where she goes once or twice a year for work, and I've been encouraging her to read it.