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A good way to find some matching books is to search French Amazon – use this link. You can look at a sample of the text with some of them to see if they work for you. Some will be too simple, and do not have enough text, but others have a good early vocabulary and are quite engaging – for example La petite poule qui voulait voir la mer.
Very popular early French reading scheme. Goes mainly from the earliest level of CP 1 (age 6 yrs - actually A1, as it is a starter level) up to CE1 (7/8 yrs - actually A2).
Gives help with pronunciation, including liaisons, and final consonant sounds.
You have to look below the main picture to see some text examples (not shown for them all).
This guy is heavily into chickens! Written for young french children, the books are however well matched for early readers and they are engaging and funny. Probably manage from about A2/B1.
Quite a bit of basic French culture is built into these books, including some useful phrases, e.g. ‘une poule mouillée’ (wet hen) aka ‘pathetic wimp’.
Funny books, loads of colloquial stuff. Short sentences. A2 upwards. 100+ pages.
The ‘Enquêtes’ series are at B1, with a reading age 8/9 yrs (although they say 6 to 8 yrs), and are about 40 pages long. There are also some longer books for older children at a higher level. Well written and hold the reader’s interest.
A range of early books written for French children, but also for people learning French. He uses good standard colloquial French.
B1+ or thereabouts, they have meaningful stories, and are quite engaging.
13 free PDF children’s books. Originally American, but seem translated well into genuine French. About B1 level.
A number of free, short texts, for young people (8 to 12 yrs - I have checked and this is accurate - therefore B1/B2). Great site !
Genuine French, for younger children (the Adèle books – B1 or thereabouts), as well as older readers (B2 and upwards). Le baiser du mammouth looks good, and you can usually see a sample to check if it’s right for you.
Native French, written with humour and insight. Most books seem to be around B1+ (the Essie series), but also B2 (Noé). They almost all have samples you can look at.
A range of readers sorted into grades. No samples of reading, but you can listen to spoken extracts. You should probably add one to the lower levels, although the upper B2 category seems accurate.
RA 13 yrs, therefore B2, BUT usually in category for much younger children (really meant to be read along with an adult). Native French and funny stories – worth reading for the plays on words, which you will only get once you are developing your French (for example ‘lisses poires’ = ‘histoires’, ‘crapaud’ = ‘drapeaux’). You have to use the context to work out what is going on, and I still don’t get all of them. You should try to read at least one of these. 50 plus pages, but not a lot of text.
Levels
Class Structure of French Primary Schools: