5 French Books For Beginners You Need To Read

french books for beginners

If you’re learning French and are searching for a way to speed up your progress and enlarge your vocabulary, one of the best – and most commonly neglected – techniques is reading.

Because French and English share so much vocabulary, it’s easy to start reading French, even as a beginner.

You are reading: Best french books for beginners

Not only will you greatly improve your French by reading, but you will also enjoy your learning time!

However, it is important to be able to read in a foreign language, and this is where many language learners go wrong.

If you know how to read well and develop the habit of doing it often, your French will improve tremendously.

In this post, I’ll talk about these ideas and give you some suggestions to start reading French as a beginner.

you will discover:

  • my top french book recommendations for beginners
  • how you should approach reading french

I made sure to include 5 great books that you can read even if you’re just a beginner, as well as a couple of additional recommendations for more advanced students.

If you are a beginner in French, my main recommendation is french uncovered, which teaches you through storylearning®. This is a French course and a book all in one!

and best of all, the story is especially for beginners, you can enjoy reading it without feeling overwhelmed. click here to learn more and try the method for free.

5 fantastic French books for beginners

Check out the infographic below for a quick overview of my French book recommendations. and keep looking for more book ideas.

6 French books for beginners infographic

Here are my suggestions for five books to read at different levels, plus a couple of bonuses!

For complete beginners, it is possible to find graded readers tailored specifically to each level. I recommend them for students who want to start reading before they have the language level to read “real” French.

however, once you have a few weeks or months of French behind you, you should be able to move on to more fun and interesting books, like the ones I mention here.

Press play the video below to discover my book recommendations, plus a few more. or keep scrolling to read more about each book.

1. “short stories in french for beginners by olly richards and richard simcott

French Short Stories For Beginners Olly Richards

Level: Beginner

Stories are the perfect way to read French as a beginner.

That’s why I’ve written a French story book for you!

These short stories are engaging and engaging while providing a variety of vocabulary and grammar that will challenge your French.

With gripping plot lines, plus a glossary and quiz after each story, these books are perfect if you want to spend a couple of hours learning French in a fun and relaxed way.

2. “the little prince” by antoine de saint-exupéry

level: upper beginner

Image Credit: slgckgc (Flickr)

A great place to start reading French is this beloved children’s classic first published in 1943.

Although written for children, the story is deceptively deep and contemplative, and offers much to the adult reader as well.

writing can be a challenge for beginners in French, as some of the vocabulary could be considered more “advanced”. but since the story is quite short and simple, you’ll still find it accessible if you’re at a beginner level or above.

3. “l’orphelin de perdide” by stefan wul

Level: Upper Beginner/Lower Intermediate

Perhaps the lesser known book on my list, but it’s a good option for someone who wants to try a short and easy complete novel.

This is a science fiction story for younger teens that tells the story of a little boy stranded on a hostile planet.

The style is authentic yet easy to understand, making it accessible if your French is progressing to an intermediate level and you want a challenge.

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4. “the night of the temps” by rene barjavel

Level: Upper Beginner/Lower Intermediate

a novel that tells of a momentous discovery under the Antarctic ice and a love story older than humanity itself.

This book is written in a style suitable for intermediate level students. but as the plot unfolds, it still has the power to stir strong emotions, even in those reading in their second language.

This is a complete first French novel recommended for upper beginner and lower intermediate level students and an ideal choice for extensive reading practice.

5. “Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: tour du mode sous-marin” by Jules Verne

Level: Upper Beginner/Lower Intermediate

Known in English as “twenty thousand leagues under the sea”, this is my recommendation for anyone interested in trying one of Jules Verne’s classic novels in the original French.

This book is a perfect example of how to, and how not to, read extensively.

is full of late 19th century nautical terms that would be mostly useless in modern day life. so if you’re trying to read this novel, you should skip these archaic terms and just enjoy the thrill of adventure.

The slightly old-fashioned French style makes it more difficult than more modern novels, but it’s still an enjoyable and worthwhile read.

additional books for intermediate and advanced students

6. “l’Etranger” by albert camus

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level: intermediate

This is a recommended option if you already have a decent level of French and are looking for something more modern to read.

While the writing style is simple enough to make the novel easy to understand, the themes it deals with are deep and thought-provoking, encouraging you to engage with the text.

If you’re looking for an accessible introduction to modern French literature, this might be the place to start.

7. “l’amant” by marguerite duras

level: upper intermediate/advanced

Perhaps best known to the Anglophone world as the 1992 English-language film, “The Lover,” this is the story of an illicit relationship between a French girl born in colonial Vietnam and a local Chinese-Vietnamese businessman.

The novel tells the author’s autobiographical true story and conveys some flavor of life in French Vietnam while exploring the attitudes of the day.

The affair would have been considered doubly scandalous at the time due to both the girl’s young age and the fact that it involved a white French girl and a local Asian man.

This book is challenging to read, so I don’t recommend it for you if your level is below upper-intermediate.

but if your French is already solid and you want a good book to help you practice more, you can’t go wrong with this one!

the balance most French learners get wrong: intensive vs. extensive reading

Intensive ReadingFrench books intensive reading

in the classrooms we usually read intensely

If you studied a language in school, you’ll probably remember sitting in class translating texts or answering reading comprehension questions about short passages you had to read.

This type of activity is one of the favorites of language teachers in schools because it is an independent activity with a well-defined outcome.

makes the teacher’s job easier.

You finish the exercise when you have translated the text or answered all the questions. your performance is judged by your score.

but does it really help you learn a language? it could, but the evidence on whether it’s an efficient approach is unclear at best.

This type of reading is known as intensive reading and is useful for:

  • introduce specific grammar points
  • practice specific grammatical structures
  • assess students in exams.

What it’s not so good at is developing your general language ability and helping you learn new vocabulary.

intensive reading is essential for complete beginners when you don’t understand anything at all.

But as you start to get to grips with the language you should be aiming to spend more of your time doing extensive reading.French StoryLearning

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extensive reading

books in french

Image credit: RachelH – “French Books” from Flickr

If you want your language skills to improve from your reading, you need to go about it in a different way: you need to read extensively.

with extensive reading, the goal is not to focus on a short text in great detail, but to read much longer texts.

The benefits of extensive reading are clear: When you read this way, you are exposed to more of the language.

we will get to know many more structures and expressions and we will come into contact with many new words.

Of course, you won’t understand everything you read, and you shouldn’t expect to.

the goal is not complete understanding; is to expose yourself to as much authentic French as possible.

remember, we assimilate new vocabulary when we encounter new words in a variety of contexts.

You can’t learn a new word just by seeing it once in a single text. you need to see it over and over again in context for it to start sticking with your long-term memory.

When you start reading a lot, you may find it difficult at first, but you will soon realize that it is much more useful and enjoyable than focusing intensely on a short text.

another advantage of this type of reading is that you can choose to read material that interests you.

If you don’t like reading something, find something else.

Extensive reading is reading for pleasure, and it’s also a great way to add novelty to your learning!

Do you want to know more about intensive vs. extensive reading? if so, check out this video I recorded on the subject. if not, scroll down and I’ll share my top tips on how to do extensive reading the right way.

how to do extensive reading in French: 7 tips to get you started

When it comes to language learning, many of us are so used to intensive reading that the idea of ​​extensive reading in a foreign language can seem quite alien. so these are my best tips to get you started.

1. don’t look up every word you don’t know

For many, this is the hardest part. when you read a lot, you shouldn’t be going through your dictionary and writing down every word you don’t know.

You have to train yourself to guess the meaning of the words, and if you can’t guess, keep going.

Think about this: when you read a book in your own language, do you always understand every word? I know not.

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so don’t set a higher standard for yourself when reading French.

focus on understanding the story or idea of ​​the text, not understanding every word.

2. look for important words, but in moderation

You can use your French dictionary or translator, but do so sparingly.

I would suggest that you only look for words that seem to come up frequently or are essential to your understanding of the text.

If a word appears multiple times on each page, you should consider searching for it. otherwise, search only for words that are essential to your overall understanding of the text.

The biggest challenge for many beginners in extensive reading is overcoming the need to look up every word they don’t know.

try to use your French dictionary or translator as little as possible and focus on understanding and enjoying the text naturally.

3. read for general understanding

try to understand the general meaning of what you are reading: the “gist”.

If you don’t understand a word or a sentence, it doesn’t matter, as long as you understand the general idea.

don’t get too bogged down in the details.

shakespeare and company paris

Shakespeare and Co. is one of the most iconic bookshops in Paris.

4. Choose French Reading Material That’s In Your “Zone Of Genius”

It’s hard to stress this point enough. you need to read things that are at the right level for you if you want to benefit from it.

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don’t be too ambitious: if you don’t understand anything you’re reading, it won’t be pleasant and you won’t learn from it.

Reading victor hugo’s novels may seem like a great idea at first, but if you’ve only been learning French for a few weeks, you’ll find yourself lost and unmotivated before the end of the first page.

Instead, you need to find material that is in what I call your “coolness zone”.

This is reading material that is slightly above your current level. it’s challenging enough that you really have to concentrate as you read, but it’s not so hard that you don’t understand anything.

5. pay attention to the French historical past tense

Note that written French uses the historical past tense, a verb tense that is almost never used in spoken French!

If you haven’t studied this verb tense, you should at least be aware of its existence so you can recognize it as you read.

in written French, you often find it where spoken French uses the perfect tense.

6. read French as often as possible

The real benefit of extensive reading comes from doing it often.

If you only do it once or twice a month, you won’t see much of a difference, but if you can get into the habit of reading French for half an hour every day, after a couple of months, your progress will be enormous.

7. Enjoy reading in French!

Long reading should be a pleasure. so choose the material you want to read!

This is vital because if you don’t like doing it, it will be difficult to develop a regular habit and you will lose motivation.

learn French by reading with my story-based courses

Reading books is a fantastic way to improve your French.

in fact, it’s my favorite way to learn languages!

That’s why I’ve created a series of story-based French courses to help you speak French fluently while enjoying reading fun and entertaining stories.

French discovered

French Uncovered is my story-based program for beginners. is my top recommendation for anyone who wants to learn French from scratch.

the course is based on a story, l’homme au chapeau, and the story is the engine of the course.

l’homme au chapeau has 20 chapters and is written in simple French, so you can immerse yourself in French at your level, right from the start… even as a beginner!

Stories are supposed to be fun. And the story at the center of french uncovered is no exception!

Three friends find a mysterious note left in a dusty library book. and set off to travel through france, following the clues left behind by the mysterious “man in the hat”.

The story is full of suspense. and by following the method I teach in the course, you’ll be amazed at how you can read and enjoy the story, even if you can’t imagine understanding anything in French right now!

You’ll be impressed by how learning through history keeps you motivated…especially if you’ve had trouble staying motivated with languages ​​in the past.

French uncovered is as complete as any other French program. But it won’t feel like studying at all, because l’homme au chapeau introduces French grammar and vocabulary naturally, as part of the story. exactly what reading French should be like!

Read French books that interest you and enjoy them!

Developing your French reading skills will give you access to one of the world’s great literary traditions.

At first, you won’t be ready to tackle the classics, but there are plenty of other options that can help you improve your French! From courses that teach through history to books for advanced learners, there’s plenty to choose from.

And if you develop a regular reading habit, your French will improve rapidly.

remember that the key is to read a lot, read what interests you, and enjoy it!

Do this regularly and your French will improve tremendously over time.

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