Harry Learns French (Language Learner Series) (English and French Edition) - Hardcover

Grade 1-4-In this picture-book dictionary, Harry goes to France for a week. Each of the 11 spreads revolves around a theme, such as the house, food, a farm, or a town, and introduces 10-20 French words. Each one also includes "Harry's phrasebook," a lift-the-flap vocabulary list with pronunciations. The book is colorfully illustrated with cartoon characters and comes with a CD-ROM containing vocabulary and four simple games. Harry and readers may learn a little French, but overall the book isn't very helpful. Only 150 words and phrases are included, with some odd choices and omissions (the toy store is mostly souvenirs, such as key chains and pins; the beach ignores terms for ocean, wave, sand, and fish; and there is nothing on body parts, weather, seasons, or school). Words in the "phrasebooks" appear in random order, and there is no general index. Many pronunciations are incorrect (the French j is "zh," not "sh," while "un" is definitely not "urn"). The CD contains additional terms not found in the book (with no translations), and some are spoken too quickly to clearly understand or mimic them. Irene Yates's My First French Picture Dictionary (Barron's, 2001) is equally colorful but has a more useful assortment of words (200+), as well as an index. Angela Wilkes's My First French Word Book (DK, 1993; o.p.) has 1000 terms and is the most attractive of the junior French dictionaries, but unfortunately lacks pronunciations.
Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
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�The book is colorfully illustrated with cartoon characters and comes with a CD-ROM��
—School Library Journal, January 2004