Bilingual children’s books

The Adventures of Elodie / Les Aventures d’Elodie by Sophie Le Brozec

The Adventures of Elodie logo

So, I wrote a bilingual children’s book. Based on our eldest daughter, Léna, and on our then home town, London. Suitable for monolingual and bilingual children of all ages (French mother tongue or English mother tongue), but especially liked by 7-9 year olds.

Book one in the series is called Elodie and the Pirates / Elodie et les Pirates and is available from our Elodie Publication website (e-book only) or from Amazon (paperback or Kindle).

Elodie and the Pirates front cover

Front cover of Elodie and the Pirates / Elodie et les Pirates

  • They are aimed at non-bilingual children: to show them that learning languages can be fun and to get them used to the different sounds and style of French from a young age.
    In the UK all children over 7 now learn a second language, and in many schools it is French. If your child is going to learn French for the next few years, the best thing you can do is to get them interested in the language.
    The key problem to learning languages is boredom – let’s face it, reciting lists of irregular verbs isn’t going to get anyone excited. But a gripping story that they can read/listen to in English and French might just do the trick!
  • They are also aimed at bilingual children: so they can learn how to read and write in their weaker language, and to understand that being bilingual is normal.
Elodie and the Pirates back cover

Back cover of Elodie and the Pirates / Elodie et les Pirates

  • You don’t need to dust off your school French to enjoy the story with your kids as each book comes with a free audio book, which enables you to listen to the story in English or French or both languages.
  • Help your child progress beyond the story by working through the different exercises, depending on the age and level of your child, that can be found in the parents’ and teachers’ guide at the back of each book.
Sample page of Elodie and the Pirates

Sample page of Elodie and the Pirates / Elodie et les Pirates

  • As a bilingual mum to 2 bilingual children, and having learnt and taught various languages for 20 years, I feel that I am well-placed to bring out a book to help kids learn/improve French. (I have a degree in French & Spanish, and have also studied German, Latin, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese. I used to teach English and French as foreign languages to all ages, from babies to pensioners, including to people who really didn’t want to learn the language!)
  • The messages behind the stories are:
    Parents: let children go outdoors to play, like we did when we were kids
    Children: put down the electronic devices and play outdoors with your friends, using your imagination and your environment
    Girls: you can be/do the same as boys, whether it’s climbing trees or fighting pirates
  • Whilst the books are aimed at 6-11 year olds, they can be enjoyed by children of all ages (2 year old Clémence and my 12 year old nephew both love Elodie and the Pirates / Elodie et les Pirates).
  • About the stories in general: Each book is about Elodie, who is half English/half French and lives in London with her French Dad and English Mum. She loves climbing trees, making dens and playing outside with her two English friends, Harry and Lily. Every day after school the three of them go to their local park, to their favourite tree, and have adventures where they travel through time and space. They meet pirates, dinosaurs, soldiers, kings, queens and more, before the beep-beep-beep of the alarm on Elodie’s watch lets them know that it’s time to go home.
Elodie, Harry and Lily in "their" tree

Elodie, Harry and Lily in “their” tree

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