Dix grenouilles

by Quentin Blake

One crow, un corbeau. Two goats, deux chevres. Three dogs, trois chiens. This lavish and fun book from internationally-renowned illustrator Quentin Blake is the perfect tool for teaching children to count in French. Young learners can work all the way up to Cent guepe—One hundred wasps!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Counting, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 1997

About the author

Sir Quentin Saxby Blake is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator he won the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 1999 to 2001, he was the inaugural British Children's Laureate. He is a patron of the Association of Illustrators.

Reviews

[Sophie Snowden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great simple book which interlinks English and french counting. Would be a good book to use in the early years and key stage one

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The high school French student in me wanted to see how familiar I was with the words. And then I thought I could use this in storytime for a Literacy moment, having the kids find the corresponding number and maybe even a picture of the animal while they try to repeat the French for the animal. Worth a try. I don't do numbers nearly enough!

2/10/16 Used for my literacy moment in my F is for... theme. We had SO many kids this week. So I had one come up and tell me the animal, then find the word for that animal on the page. Then I had another child come up and count that same animal, and then find the WORD for that number. After they did that, I told them the French and had them repeat while having them hold the number up on their fingers. Went very well.

2/14/18 Used in Literacy Moment for F. Just enough kids interested that I could stick with only the animals. They named the animal then used the fishing pole to find the first letter of the word. It helped that the words were printed on the page, because then they could look at the tricky ones (C words with K sounds) and find the matching letter. Enjoyable.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wish there was a pronunciation page.

[Mr Bramley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweetly illustrated and simple book of counting. Perfect for group participation and new Spanish learners.
The animals aren’t overly simplified, so children will still be interested, and has a fun little ending.

This book could easily be made into a simple role playing game with a large group of children.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely picture book with Quentin Blake's instantly recognizable, whimsical animal illustrations. Perfect for young readers wanting to brush up on the names of various animals or the concept of counting, in French and English. Many species are included - cats, dogs, goats, crows, sparrows, frogs, ducks, and chickens, among others.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

The version we borrowed from the library was English and Spanish.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bilingual counting book featuring animals as imagined by one of the best illustrators in children's literature.

This book is missing a pronunciation guide which I believe it would've benefited from. Also strange was the inclusion of 20 and 100 after counting from 1-10.

There's a need for good bilingual material, especially in Spanish, but this title doesn't make my recommendation list.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a whimsically illustrated counting book, and fun enough. The best part, though, is at the end, when it jumps from 10 frogs to 20 sparrows (one of my 2nd grade students today said, "Hey! You can't jump from ten to twenty!") and then, suddenly, to 100 wasps!

This is better for much younger children, ages 3-6.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an amusing book for teaching young students to count. It also includes the extra feature of numbers and animal names in French, and of course the easy-to-recognize illustrations of Quentin Blake.

[Daniel Rodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely counting book. Goes up to ten using a different animal each time in english and french.
Thus this book could be a great resource to use with young children to support maths and language learning.

[Jvermeersch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was actually disappointed by this one. No text, and the illustrations felt rather ugly and lost on the dull white pages. I like Quentin Blake's style in the books by Roald Dahl etc., but it did not work on its own for me.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turned out to be a little simple for my 2 and 5 year old audience, but the illustrations are beautiful.

[Julaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the illustrations and the simple presentations.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely :) it's a tribute to Quentin Blake's wonderful style that even a one-year old can interpret his expressive drawings as the thing they represent.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Quentin Blake's illustrations

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bilingual
Counting
Ugh

[Isobel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to introduce children to count to ten. It is also good for children to learn another language as the book is written in french and English.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is a great way to teach simple French up to 10 and animals