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French is not spoken only in France.
French is indeed the official language of Luxembourg, the Democratic Republic Of Congo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Haiti, Monaco, and of more than 15 countries of Africa.
French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. French may be spoken by approximately 750 million people by 2050 leading both English and Mandarin as per a Forbes article.
Around 270 million people speak French worldwide as their native and secondary language. The enormity of the number suggests why so many students and adults opt to learn French.
The moment you vow to learn French, you enroll in a class, and they teach you all the theory about the French language.
But still, the mastery you seek doesn’t come. You get stuck in the intermediate-level purgatory.
One of the few techniques that can help you get out of this purgatory is reading books in French.
Reading in a foreign language exposes you to the language.
Reading indeed helps you become more comfortable with the words and the grammatical rules as per an article by brainscape.com
The article by interlinearbooks.com tells interesting stats on how reading helps to strengthen vocabulary by helping you learn thousands of new words.
You may want to take up reading books in French if you’re serious about mastering French.
Thus, I bring you 13 books in French for beginners that will seriously help you grow fluent in French.
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Le Petit Nicolas
One of the best books for learning French that you should pick up first is Le Petit Nicolas.
Before you begin reading Le Petit Nicolas let me tell you that this French book is going to make you nostalgic because it will evoke memories of your childhood.
Le Petit Nicolas is considered equivalent to Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé, Le Petit Nicolas brings forth an idealized version of childhood - especially from 1950s France - from the eyes of a little boy Nicolas.
Since you read it with Nicolas as the first person, you feel good humor flowing your way, as a result of which you may end up laughing out loud many times.
Every chapter in Le Petit Nicolas is a pleasant individual episode on its own.
The best part is that when you read the sentences you feel as they have been written by a young boy that makes the reading experience charming and blissful.
Le Petit Nicolas, a great beginner’s French book, directly improves your French fluency.
Any new French word you encounter will be repeated multiple times in the book that will help strengthen your vocabulary plus you will end up learning a few slangs too that are common in France.
A foreign language has a flow and your mind requires training to get into the rhythm of the language or else you keep translating the sentences on the go.
Le Petit Nicolas has been written in such a way that you catch the flow of the French language because the sentences are easy to translate.
You can also read this book aloud in your French language group or your French class.
I am sure that you will feel richer in French than you felt before.
Les Aventures de Tintin (The Adventures of Tintin)
To be honest I am slightly biased towards Tintin because he was one of my favorite childhood heroes.
I still indulge in watching Tintin animated series on Youtube.
Created by Hergé, a Belgian cartoonist (original name - Georges Rumi) Tintin is a passionate press reporter who along with his loyal and fluffy dog Snowy, sets on to stop evil and find the truth.
Additional characters such as uptight Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, ditsy detectives Thomson, and Thompson also make regular appearances adding both humor and flavor to the story.
If you are seeking to upgrade your French by reading graphic novels of the mystery genre, those which are super action-packed then you should buy ‘Les Adventures de Tintin’ right away.
Not only for beginners but this is the best book to learn French for intermediate level students too.
The clean plot, expressive cartoon drawings with pleasant drawings of surroundings simply transports you.
Your mind doesn’t even feel any effort in translating the sentences.
The intent in the writing gives context to the sentences because of which you automatically deduce the meaning of the new words you encounter. This quality makes all 24 comic books of Les Adventures de Tintin easy french reads.
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Le Petit Prince
Le Petit Prince is one renowned French beginner’s book.
Published in 1943 by the French writer - also an aviator - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, more than 200 million copies of Le Petit Prince have been sold worldwide in different languages.
The narrator who is a pilot crashes in a desert where he finds a boy. The narrator calls him the ‘Little Prince’ and gets to know that the boy arrived from an asteroid B-612.
Over eight days, the Little Prince tells the narrator his journey of traveling several planets on which he meets a king, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, a geographer, and a few other characters.
The book expresses how adults lack imagination and how children acquire wisdom by exploring the world around them.
The story is short which is what a French beginner needs.
You will also find the plot deep in meaning, which would require some pondering.
But this is how you go to the intermediate level by reading light and imagining more.
This quality of Le Petit Prince makes it one of the best books to learn French.
La Nuit des temps
Welcome to the world of French romance novels.
La Nuit Des Temps is one French romance novel that you can read to up your level from beginner to lower intermediate or intermediate.
The novel belongs to the Sci-Fi genre and was written by René Barjavel in the year 1968.
A global expedition of scientists discovers the remains of thousands of years old highly advanced human civilization.
The scientists come across a golden egg in which they find a frozen woman and man. The scientists successfully revive the woman ‘Elea’ who narrates the story of the destruction of her civilization due to eternal war as well as her male companion Païkan.
The bond between them, the love story is what you look forward to while reading it.
The plot of the novel has received mixed reactions from readers when seen from the creativity point of view.
But when your goal is to become fluent in French then imagine how many words this intriguing book can add to your French vocabulary.
Before you pick up La Nuit des temps to read, make sure you have built momentum in reading French by finishing the books mentioned above.
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Le Père Goriot
Le Père Goriot is a piece from the classic French literature that you can read in the early stages of learning French.
Written by Honoré de Balzac, Le Père Goriot begins with a detailed description of a boarding house in Paris.
The boarding house is inhabited by an old man Jean Joachim Goirot, a criminal Vautrin, and a law student Eugène de Rastignac who happens to be the influential character of the plot.
Old Goirot was indeed a rich businessman who bankrupted himself in supporting and fulfilling the wishes of his two spoiled daughters.
Rastignac gets attracted to the shimmer and glimmer of the high social status and he develops an ambition towards achieving the same as well as a craving for money and wealth.
Rastignac gets in relation with Delphine - daughter of Goirot - with support from Goirot himself as he is angry over the oppressive treatment of Delphine’s husband.
Eventually, a tragedy strikes Goirot which worsens when the daughters give him pain in exchange for his unconditional love.
The novel has a tragic plot but from the point of view of mastering French, you will find it intriguing as Le Père Goriot is the classical French literature that is easy to read.
By reading this novel, you will expose your mind to the rhythm of the French language, especially the initial pages in which the author describes the boarding house Maison Vauquer.
You will learn new words and new ways to frame sentences because of Balzac’s attention to detail.
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Astérix Series
Astérix series finds a place in the category of the best French books of all time especially when you want to learn French by reading.
If you’re not familiar with the Astérix series then you must know that it is a Franco-Belgian comic, such widely popular that it has been translated into 100 languages.
The comic is centered around the character Asterix who got exposed to a potion as an infant which made him super strong.
The stories in the comic books revolve around Astérix and his best friend Obelix, defending their village in the Roman empire from the Roman army.
Astérix goes on adventures around the world in countries such as Greece, Spain, North Africa, etc. in many comics.
The humor that you will come across while reading Astérix comics is incredible and you will learn many aspects of French that generate humor, adding to the fluency.
This comic series will expose you to the areas of language that emerge from words such as village, Roman Empire, adventures.
Astérix series was written by René Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo in the year 1959.
Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur
Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur is a collection of 9 short stories written by Maurice LeBlanc.
Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur is one of the best crime novels in French and is recommended for the beginning French readers.
Arsène Lupin, the protagonist of LeBlanc, is a clever burglar and is referred to as the Sherlock Holmes of crime.
A king of disguises, you will find Arsène Lupin as a delivery boy as well as a chauffeur that draws comparison with Sherlock Holmes.
Even Sherlock Holmes is also introduced in one of the short stories so you will find it entertaining to read the story involving a witty thief and the world’s most clever detective.
Lupin is a gentleman especially towards the less privileged and the helpless. They indeed get a piece of his generosity while his stance towards the rich reminds you of Robin Hood.
Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur finds a place in the list of famous French books that you can read to grow on various fronts of the French language.
The benefit of short stories is that you can focus more on the use of reflexive verbs and conjugated forms.
Think of all the vocabulary and short phrases of the crime genre you will learn from Arsène Lupin.
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L'Élégance du hérisson
Another easy to read French book written by Muriel Barbery is L'Élégance du hérisson.
L'Élégance du hérisson is a good French novel for beginners because the sentences on the pages of the novel are rich in philosophy, literature, and art which is why your learning will get the taste of a different area.
As a beginner the more areas you explore the better you become at French.
The novels revolve around a widowed concierge Renée Michel and a twelve-year-old girl Paloma Josse who lives in the same building as Renée.
Renée is self-taught in literature and philosophy but hides her interest to avoid condemnation by the tenants.
While Paloma decides to commit suicide before her thirteenth birthday; she starts recording her observations of the outside world in her journal.
The novel is mainly narrated by Renée and Paloma.
The story of Renée in L'Élégance du hérisson is completely in the present tense and her thoughts can help you get a grip on tenses.
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Short Stories In French For Beginners
Written by Olly Richards and Richard Simcott, ‘Short stories in French for Beginners’ is one book in French that you want to keep on your study table.
The best book to learn French is the one that gives you an experience of reading without having you realize that you are indeed learning.
‘Short stories in French for Beginners’ is designed to help you give the same experience so that you become more confident in French.
Short stories in French of Beginners is a collection of eight stories that keep you captivated and engaged.
These stories spread across genres of crime, mystery, history, and sci-fi, so you can visualize the enriched vocabulary and phrases that you come across.
You can learn a lot about structuring sentences in French from this book because of the clean dialogues and conversations in the stories. This helps you frame sentences that add meaning to the main sentence.
For beginners, several dialogues in French have been wrapped within this amazing book that you can practice verbally to improve fluency.
The book pulls your attention to the bolded phrases and words which you can check for the meaning at the end of each chapter.
To reinforce your understanding, comprehension questions have been given by the author at the end of each chapter. You will also learn more than 300 verbs, chosen by their frequency of use.
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Easy French Step-By-Step
No list of the best beginner French books will be complete if it doesn’t contain the best French textbook for beginners.
Easy French Step-by-Step is one of the French textbooks that you may want to buy a few days after you start learning French. Easy French Step-by-Step complements your learning in a big way.
‘Easy French Step-by-Step’ acts as your friendly teacher by providing you valuable information on grammar and its important rules.
The book has incredible hot content on tricky grammar topics such as regular and irregular verbs, subjunctives, reflexive verbs.
The key vocabulary and the reading comprehension sections at the end of each chapter give you lots of frequently-used words and the text that boosts your understanding.
If you do all the affluent exercises provided in the book diligently and repeat them at regular intervals then you will find yourself mastering French much faster than it usually takes.
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Vendredi ou la Vie sauvage
Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique is a novel in French written by Michel Tournier.
One of the French literature classics, this book is a retelling of the popular Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe in the style of Tournier.
This book was first published in 1967 and obviously, you can pick it up to read, but since you’re a beginner I recommend you to pick Vendredi ou la Vie sauvage which Michel Tournier wrote for young readers.
The story highlights a shipwreck that leaves Robinson Crusoe stranded on an island. He is alone, he is stranded on the island but he chooses to live.
Crusoe creates laws for the island, writes a constitution, reads the bible for 2 hours on Sunday, and inflicts punishment upon himself on breaking a law or not working hard enough.
The story takes a turn when Friday enters the scene. Crusoe thinks of himself as the supreme and thus looks down on Friday as a slave unknown to a change in the mindset coming his way.
You will come across a lot of vocabulary related to sea, island, church, and civilization. Although the story brings adventures, the tone of the book is philosophical which will challenge your mind to take the reading and comprehension skills to the next level.
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Monsieur ibrahim et les fleurs du coran
If you are already into the 2nd year of learning French then pick up Monsieur ibrahim et les fleurs du coran to read.
You won’t find the book overwhelming as the story is wrapped within 67 pages. The book is suitable for easy French reading for those who are at the upper beginner level.
You will figure out most of the new vocabulary from the context as the sentences are well written by the author Éric Emmanuel Schmitt.
Fine uses of the verb forms such as passé composé, imparfait, conditionnelle will give you a great learning experience while reading the story.
Let me tell you that the book will evoke emotions as you read through the pages. The tone of the story is sad but trust me you are going to enjoy reading the friendship between Mr Ibrahim, a grocery shop owner, and Momo, a Jewish boy.
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Enquête Capitale
Enquête Capitale also secures a spot in my list of French for beginners books as the text puts forth easy-to-read French, detailing a story of the mystery genre.
The story is of a lady Rachel who is into detective novels and spends her evenings writing blogs about a spy named Ivana. She receives a mysterious video message which sets her on an adventure around the beautiful city of Paris.
The book is good to learn about different places in Paris with their pronunciation. The plot is so intriguing that you can consider reading it first without looking up the new words in the dictionary.
You can then give it a second read with a dictionary kept beside it. Following this method will help you discover a lot of vocabulary on your own and will lead to good absorption of the French language.
Pick this book up after learning French seriously for almost 7-8 months to enjoy its benefits and the story.
Final Word
I am so glad that you read the complete list of 13 beginning French books and made it till here.
As sweet as the French language is, these easy French books for beginners encourage you to dive deeper into the language so that you can capture the true essence of French.
If any good French books, you read as a beginner, are not in this article then you can email their names to findsupport@bx-zone.com or simply drop them in the comments section.
Also, if you have some French books to sell and you live in the USA then you can sell them through the online used bookstore of bx-zone.com to earn some handsome money.
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