Best children french books according to redditors

You can try to get Muzzy from your local library and burn a copy. I suggest using it before 2 years old because it is kind of boring for adults. After that they realize it is old and cheezy and don't want to watch it anymore. They learn some phrases if you stick to it though.

Trotro is a great cartoon that is mostly on YouTube. It is all very simply speech, so once they know some vocab they will be able to recognize stuff.

You could pick this up: https://www.amazon.com/Babys-First-Words-French-Erika/dp/1400023653/ref=tmm_abk_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1504360553&sr=8-1

I have it and think it is generally pretty good.

Remember, prior to about six months old, the best thing you can do is expose your kid to as much French as you can tolerate. They are listening for sounds - they won't know vocab yet. So read French children's books to your kid while they are awake. Talk to them. Interact as much as they are able.

From about 6-12 months, continue to talk to them. Point at stuff and tell them the name. Use picture books. Teach them all the animals/colors/whatever they are in to.

From 12 months on, focus on verbs a lot more. Ask them to dance, run, jump, etc in French as they are able. It is SCARY how fast they learn.

My kid learned words in ONE day with ONE attempt at 18-20 months. So every day I have to think "Okay. What am I teaching him today? I'll review a couple of random things then try and teach him x, y, z words."

Nothing will make them fluent but human interaction. There are studies I have read to support this. So don't expect them to plop in front of the TV and be fluent. What DOES work is you watching it first, learning the vocab used, teaching them the vocab naturally through interaction, then having them watch it. They will recognize the words and get excited.

Also look into Saturday morning programs and whatnot once they are a bit older. Alliance francaise has some in the more populated areas. Having a native speaker interact with them will pay off huge dividends. At around 3 years old, if you are the ONLY person who ever speaks French, they may start to reject it since they will say "I know that Mom/Dad understands English too, why do I need French?" Of course, that isn't a conscious thought, but I have seen it happen to other families trying the same thing. So even having someone else spend an hour a week with them in French will make their little brains say "Okay, don't forget this, I do actually need it."

Good luck.

Resources

Duolingo would be my first choice for learning grammar/ a basic introduction.

Memrize is great for building up a solid vocab (I've heard something along the lines of 80% of conversation in a language is based on knowledge of as little as 2000 words)

Notable mentions for Grammar and Vocab Cheat sheets

Foreign Service Institute's course intended for embassy workers

A mix of Music

M - Ocean

Stromae - Papaoutai

Les Cowboys Fringants - Les Étoiles Filantes

Yelle - Que Veux-tu (Madeon Remix)

French Films

[Intouchables - really highly rated on IMDB] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1675434/)

[La Haine - Gritty french drama] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113247/?ref_=nv_sr_1)

Books

Le Petit Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery a must read book in English or French (Originally french)

I re-read the harry potter books in french - basic vocabularly and a nice enough story that I already knew

I recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/French-Short-Stories-Beginners-Captivating-ebook/dp/B07DSZCPYW

I'm mid A1 level, and I can follow along with most of these stories with a few small translations. The audiobook version is great too because you get a PDF with it to follow along with the story!

Are they the same company that published these?

This is a really good book of short stories - https://www.amazon.com/French-Short-Stories-Beginners-Captivating-ebook/dp/B07DSZCPYW

here they are for a few dollars a piece:
http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-French-Nouveau-Premiere-Partie/dp/0618032150/ref=sr_1_36?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330657931&sr=1-36

Could it be something like this?

EDIT: I have The Firefly Five Language Visual Dictionary at home and it really contains EVERYTHING, just there is no japanese in it so it probably isn't the book you're describing.

no problem. in terms of textbook I got a used book called "French in 10 minutes a day" which is an introductory workbook. I like it but it came with a CD I'm missing so meh.

Amazon has lot of French children's books:

Le Petit Prince (of course!)

Madeleine

Les Oeufs Verts au Jambon

Poisson Un Poisson Deux Poisson Rouge Poisson Bleu

Le Chat Au Chapeau (in English and French)

Horton Entend un Zou!

Je t'aimerai toujours

Le Petit Nicolas

Bonsoir Lune

La Chenille Qui Fait Des Trous

Max Et Le Maximonstres

L'Arbre Genereux

And Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers

.

In my French class we use a textbook called Débuts which has an accompanying movie (Le Chemin du retour) that was designed to show you the text material in action.

https://www.amazon.com/Débuts-Introduction-H-Jay-Siskin/dp/007338643X

Yes of course:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0174444206?pc_redir=1405114763&robot_redir=1

I used it in my A levels (mumbles years ago) and use it now as a French teacher with students of all ages.

I've used Discovering French Today in both highschools I've been to and it's great. The lessons are taught straight out of the book and I go to a very "competitive" school. I don't have to take notes because it's all right there, and there are plenty of activities.

Well there is always something super outlandish like an ear wax candle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016V6TAZC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_355lDbSAZTZT1

Tell her you thought she always would enjoy coin collecting and get a coin book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N4M5PHZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_K85lDb1T2HRSQ

Get a book in a language she doesn't know (this one if she doesn't know French) and say you thought she might enjoy the challenge of learning a new language
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1790975182/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_X-5lDb6EFPRHE

A romance novel if she isn't into them

Beauty and the Billionaire: A Dirty Fairy Tale https://www.amazon.com/dp/1795300485/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_fa6lDb2PFBWA2

Tell her you thought she'd be hot with purple hair and get her a wig
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XY980TC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1c6lDb9B1C861

Edit: consider getting a prank box to wrap your gift in (like the ear wax one)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0757ZY95C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Uk6lDbAD3N0R3

I want to be as multi-lingual as my grandma, who was fluent (read, write, speak) in 7 languages, and could speak another two on top of that!

Right now I am working on learning French, since my family on both sides is primarily French. After French, I hope to learn Italian, Spanish (Spain Spanish, and Mexican-Spanish), Russian, Celtic, Hebrew, and Cheyenne or Atakapa. Unfortunately, I highly doubt I will be able to do all those languages, especially since some are dead/nearly dead. So my top priorities at the moment are French and Italian, followed by Spanish.

Here is a lovely children's book in French, which can be found on my books wishlist.

This song is in French, and is fun to listen to.

Here is a funny!

Bonus: I use a combo of duolingo and mindsnacks, and I find they are very, very helpful together!