Monsieur Roscoe in the City

by Jim Field

It's Fry's birthday and Monsieur Roscoe heads out to prepare for a celebration. But Fry ends up having an adventure of her own! Learn lots of French words as you accompany the friends on their journey through the city. The large pages of these colorful bilingual books are packed with fun things to discuss, as little language learners accompany the endearing Roscoe on his adventures.

32 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2023

About the author

Jim Field is an illustrator, character designer and animation director.

From music videos and title sequences to illustration and picture books, Jim has worked on a variety of projects.

Jim has won multiple awards for the children's books he has illustrated; including the Lollies, The Roald Dahl Funny Prize, The Evening Standards Oscars Prize and The Sainsbury's Award.

He was the 5th bestselling children's book illustrator of 2018.

Jim has illustrated children's books with Kes Gray, Rachel Bright, Julian Gough, Michelle Robinson, Michael Broad, Jeanne Willis, Steve Cole, comedian David Baddiel and Sir Michael Morpurgo.

Jim now lives in Paris with his wife, daughter and a small grumpy cat.

Reviews

[Tim Roast · Rating 4 out of 5]

This and other Monsieur Roscoe books are a good learning tool for children learning French. The only thing is they don't help with the pronunciation of words, e.g. monsieur is pronounced differently to what an English child might expect it to be. So if they added access to an e-version with your purchase where you could hover over the phrases and listen to them that would be great. Otherwise a good book with French terms given in speech bubbles or as labels next to the English translation, all in bite-size parts making it easier to digest.

The story sees Fry the goldfish's birthday so Monsieur Roscoe takes him out to the shops only to lose him as he floats away thanks to the birthday balloons tied to his fish tank. It leads to a birthday "that even a GOLDFISH will never forget!"

This is followed by a search and find game at the end to go back to certain pages in the story and find things, e.g. 6 yellow ducklings / 6 canetons jaune.

A good book making learning fun.😀

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun way to introduce or review some Spanish, while reading a cute story.
Some pages designs remind me, a bit, of a Richard Scarry book.
It would be neat for this to have a digital version that could help with pronunciation.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A colorful adventure starring a dog and a fish in a bowl attached to balloons, flying over a city. An inventive and fun way to learn (or practice/check) your Spanish vocabulary. Would love to see more books like this one!

Themes: Spanish learning for littles (and really, all ages, it's that fun); urban environments; animals
Ages: preK-all ages
Pub year: 2023

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun way to introduce or review some French, while reading a cute story.
Some pages designs remind me, a bit, of a Richard Scarry book.
It would be neat for this to have a digital version that could help with pronunciation.