Self published in France in May 2013.
One of my Books In French and one of my 2019 Mount TBR Challenge reads
How I got this book:
Borrowed from my partner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
• 12 histoires variées, pleines d’émotions ou d’humour, pour faire découvrir aux jeunes lecteurs (8-12 ans) le plaisir de lire.
Au sommaire :
• Émile et le microbe
• Le bracelet d'Anna
• Mes trois araignées
• Grenouille en prison
• Amour et chewing-gum
• L'anniversaire d'Alex
• Un chat toujours à l'heure
• Le mystère de la poubelle du 16 bis
• Adriane
• Qui a effacé mes exercices d'anglais ?
• Conversation avec un escargot
• Mon « six cents pattes »
I'd let my French practice slide after having been so disillusioned with A la folie ... pas du tout so I knew it would take a very different book to get me back into second-language reading again. My OH had purchased Histoires à lire le soir for himself early last year and this fun short story collection turned out to be just the tonic I needed. The twelve tales are each between about four to eight pages long and are actually intended for child readers aged from eight to twelve. That's native French speaking children though. I would confidently say that this book is also perfect for non-native speakers on the wrong side of forty! I love Thil's sense of humour and, although the stories all feature children, I didn't actually find them childish. From a language learning perspective, there was a good mix of ideas and tenses, common and more unusual words, descriptions and direct speech. I think my favourite stories were Un chat toujours à l'heure - where perpetually late breakfasts lead a cat to take matters into its own paws and write its owner a series of complaining notes - and Le mystère de la poubelle du 16 bis which I won't explain as I don't want to drop any spoilers. All twelve tales are very entertaining though and I am looking forward to embarking upon Thil's second volume of short stories soon.
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Books by Marc Thil / Short stories / Books from France