Kids Books? [German and French]

Language Corner
1
I am looking for some books to read in German and French to improve my languages. I tried young teenager type books, such as Roald Dahl, but I spend most of my time looking up every other word and it drives me crazy, I need something easier.

What do young kids read here when they are learning to read? When I was at school we had series of books that started super easy got harder (can't remember what they were called, think there were pirates involved). I am thinking of something like Puddle Lane that had the colour coded books by level rather than just one off kids books.

Or easy books made for adult language learners if there is such a thing?

Suggestions gratefully received.

2
When I was learning another language, I read a lot of comic books such as Donald Duck, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, etc. I also read tabloid newspapers and watched TV, especially subtitled programs.

3
You aren't trying hard enough. I am a procrastinator, too, but not for lack of ideas .

Picture books - from your local library. They are easy, with the odd word that needs looking up.

...Or Cartoons

For German: Sendung mit der Maus - pretty cool; Die Biene Maja - don't know much about it, etc.

For French - I am not well-versed in French to see if this is Standard French or Quebecoise :

Caillou @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u27Ddoc-uQM

4
Try this link: http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/childrenpages/German1.html

Illustrative children's books.

5
Both I and my middle-school kids are enjoying the Dino Lernt Deutsch series by Andre Klein. (Cafe In Berlin, Ferien in Frankfurt etc).

They're written for adult speakers of English, the narrative is entirely in German, and the end-notes to each chapter include English translations of words and phrases from the chapter, in the order in which you encounter them.

The stories are amusing enough and short and it's possible to feel you really are reading in German (because they're well-tailored to building vocab gradually, and you're not continuously interrupted to look things up).

I'd love to know what the German term for this kind of book is so I could search more out - I'm sure it must have a technical name in English too (German parallel text reader?) - if there are any language teachers out there, your help on this would be much appreciated.

As for French, I'm reaching back to the dark depths of my High school days, but Michel Tournier's _Vendredi ou la vie savage_ was about the right standard for a simple but not too childish read.

6
I'm also told this process is easiest on an e-reader or tablet (loaded with a translation program), where a simple tap gives you the word translation of a standard book (of whatever type). Haven't tried yet though.

7
The Ratus poche series of books are quite good for learning French. They're colour coded depending on level and have some questions and vocabulary exercises etc at the end.

http://www.editions-hatier.fr/collection/ratus-poche

http://ratus.com

8
They look AWESOME! Thanks.

9
[QUOTE=Island Monkey;2452924]

What do young kids read here when they are learning to read? When I was at school we had series of books that started super easy got harder (can't remember what they were called, think there were pirates involved). I am thinking of something like Puddle Lane that had the colour coded books by level rather than just one off kids books.

QUOTE]

That is really for children but Leselöwen are what we used when I was a child. They seem to be still running http://www.leseloewen.de/buecher/ but I would try to find them at the library.

People are different. I always hated simplified books. I much prefer a "real" Story. Doesn't matter if I don't understand every word. I don't have to. I just continue. Mostly I will understand the word after a while. If not I look it up. Maybe read crime novels. I read Grisham in French because I knew the story already. That helped