Four Words For France
Bordering seven countries, France is the most visited country in the world. Every year, it has more tourists than it has citizens.
If you're traveling to France with kids, here are four words to get you started!
Hello, Thanks, Goodbye, and Please.
Bonjour, Merci, Au revoir, and S’il vous plaît.
When entering a store in France, it is imperative to say hello to the shopkeeper.
Bonjour: pronounced: /BOHn jewour/ and it means hello (or literally, "good day").
Say "bonjour" to the shopkeeper as soon as you walk into the store and everything will lighten up. If you know no other words in French, then after you say "bonjour," you can give them the "I-don't-know-another-word" smile. Most French shopkeepers take pride in serving their clients and they will be glad to help you.
Merci: pronounced: /MARE see/ and it means thanks or thank you.
French are not lavish with their thank you's. You don't need to say thank you for every item the waiter brings. Say it once and mean it, and it will go a long way.
S'il vous plaît: pronounced: /See VOO Play/, and it means please (or literally, "if it is pleasing to you").
Of the four most important words in French, I think this one is the most useful because the phrase can introduce any need or want.
So, if you want something you might say, "S'il vous plait" (See Voo Play) and then point or say slowly in English the thing you want. "See Voo Play… the Metro?" "See Voo Play… the Toilets?" "See Voo Play… another fork."
Au revoir: pronounced: /Oh rah vwaar/ and it means goodbye (or literally, "until the re-see, until we see each other again").
"Au revoir" is important because it is a polite way to close the conversation. When leaving a store (or café) in France, it is polite to say goodbye to the shopkeeper or owner, or waiter.
Having just four words in your vocabulary might seem ineffective, but it guarantees a good time for all.
If traveling with kids, let the children say these words for you, and well, pouff, you'll have the key to France and you'll have to say nothing more!
Bon Voyage!
Some of the things I liked best about this book was how it kind of had a layer of suspense about the password. It kept switching from the past in France to the present back in America. Another thing about this book was that there were lots of little phrases or words that Ellie really kind of stressed and emphasized so it made you wonder if that was going to be the password or not.-- L.M., age 12
Young Ellie had just lost her mother to cancer and had to move back from Paris to the United States when she decided to finish the books that her mother could not finish, but the computer is not letting her in. As you go back and forth during present day and living in Paris, you learn how Ellie coped with learning how her mother has cancer and all the bad things that come with it. It's only during the present time when Ellie wants to finish the books that her mother started in Paris but doesn't understand why the password was changed just right before her mother died.
It takes a friend in the present day for Ellie to remember what her mother said to her on her last on earth that will unlock the computer and the possibilities that come with honoring her mother's legacy!
I have to say that this was a book that explains death in a way that kids will understand and feel for what Ellie is dealing with without totally getting kids confused on the whole process of losing someone with cancer. Plus, the whole journey of Ellie trying to find the password to unlock the computer just made this book even more bittersweet for what she wants to do in order to honor her mother in the best way possible! I'm not gonna lie, this book will make you cry during certain points of the story but that ending will truly make up for it!
Thank You to Paul Aertker for this heart-warming tale that will make you cry while having a smile on your face!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from the Author! I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley!
Thank You and have a Great New Year!!
Holly Flora
Texan Holly Reads / Goodreads / Twitter / Instagram / Pinterest
" I must share with you that I read "Posthumous" over the weekend and it was wonderful. The reader can feel the emotions while reading, and I thought perhaps you wrote from experience...then I read "A Note..." about your friend. The book resonates warmth, emotion and understanding. Thank you again."
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful, moving, solid page-turner that is witty and memorable.
July 11, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
A colorful, solid, deeply-moving middle-grade book that, with great sensitivity, deals with death. Posthumous is not a sad story about a girl losing her mother to cancer. It’s a story about a girl finding a purpose and finding herself through a set of meticulously laid out clues only a mother could leave before dying. Set in Paris and an American town that could be anywhere, Posthumous weaves a plot bristling with energy, humor, and heart.
Like Aertker’s Crime Travelers series, Posthumous is a page-turner. You might ask, how is a story about a girl living in Paris with her dad and terminally ill mom who writes children’s books a page turner? What propelled me from the first page to the last in a single day were Aertker’s carefully woven themes: loss, new beginnings, friendships forged, shifting parental dynamics and the deep desire of an adolescent girl trying with all her might to unlock (literally) her mother’s story.
What’s amazing about this book is, even though we learn on page two that Ellie’s mom dies, we have to keep reading to uncover the layers of significance this has for Ellie, and ultimately ourselves, as we become inextricably tied to this young protagonist’s quest for meaning and a way forward after losing her mom. This story had me getting off the city bus mid-chapter, walking up the sidewalk, book out, reading, and yes, crying. I was hooked on this story.
In Posthumous, there is a mystery to solve, a departed mother’s final manuscript locked in a password-protected computer and the password to find in a heap of clues. Add a cast of vivid, international characters, Paris’s vibrant heartbeat and a collection of American middle schoolers trying to figure out “the new American girl from Paris” and you’re in for an enjoyable read. Cap it off with an ending you would never predict and you have a winning book that leaves you thinking about these finely crafted characters, the meaning of motherhood and its impact on our children, and what true friendships really mean. KC NYC TEACHER Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2Oq1cuj
The Bookies Bookstore rated it 5 stars: it was amazing
Paul takes a real turn in his writing here and I think it may be an important moment in his career. I can give one passage as a perfect example. His detailing the death of the mother, how it went from 'everything is okay and it's a backache' to 'nothing is okay and your world is over/changed' was perfect. Plus, in an endless stream of stories aimed at this age group that focus on YOU FOUND A SECRET MAP IN THE ATTIC or something fantastical as that, the deconstruction of the genre to something as simple as 'your mom's computer's password isn't what it should be and you can't ask her what it is' is a brilliant and bold move. Paul was already a great writer, but we're all anxious to see where this new direction takes him in general.
Message: Hi Paul! I was super excited to see your book here. You once did a Skype with my 5th Grade class, back when I was still teaching. This story is so touching. It should get picked in Hollywood for sure! Anyway, no matter how the auditions go, I wish you the best of luck and look forward to reading more of your works. - Sharon Betzold
Message: Hello Paul, I just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed auditioning for this book. As I was recording the audition script, I really liked switching from different characters as I love doing different accents. P.S. My brother really enjoyed reading the Crime Travelers series as he was *literally* glued to it until the very end! Thank you
In this middle-grade novel, a young girl embarks on a mission with new friends to save and share her late mother’s unpublished manuscripts.
Twelve-year-old Ellie Kerr has just moved back to the United States after living in Paris for four years, and she has a mission. Her mom, who recently succumbed to ovarian cancer, left behind an unpublished series of stories about “kids who travel and save the world,” along with a pile of publishers’ rejection letters. Ellie is determined to get them published, but she can’t access the manuscripts from Mom’s computer. Oddly, her mother secretly changed the password before she died, and the security protocol protecting it will destroy all of the computer’s data after too many consecutive wrong guesses. Even dad’s intelligence agency-trained, computer-whiz assistant can’t hack the system. Ellie, with the help of her new friends from school, aims to find the answer to the mystery. It turns out to be proof of her mother’s deep love and respect for her—and a reminder that inclusiveness and kindness can always defeat fear. Aertker (Priceless, 2016, etc.) threads this message fairly evenly throughout the narrative...
The book’s first half, in which Ellie relives her time in Paris, will have a powerful impact on readers. As Ellie’s happiness at home and at her multicultural school fades with her mother’s illness, Aertker doesn’t sugarcoat Ellie’s perspective. The physical and emotional toll on Mom, and Ellie’s emotional ups and downs as she experiences shock, denial, hope, anger, and grief, have a poignant authenticity. The author also offers other sympathetic characters, including Munda, a cook and aspiring medical student from the West Indies, and Ellie’s father’s driver, Antoine, a cello-playing jazz musician.
A frank, moving observation of a young daughter remembering her mother with purpose and strength.
-Kirkus Reviews
Beautiful and emotional, Posthumous is about Ellie, a twelve-year-old girl trying to deal with her mother’s death.
Life in Paris is pretty great for Ellie and her parents. Ellie’s father, Calvert, works for the man who would have been the king of France. Ellie’s mother, Etta, writes travel stories for children, though she has never been published. Then one day Etta complains of bad back pain, and life changes very quickly.
In the first half of the story Ellie describes the process of her mother dying, how Etta tried to stay positive, and of the friends and neighbors who rallied around her family. Tears are guaranteed as the story tracks the family’s enormous grief.
After Etta passes, Ellie and her father move back to the United States. Ellie wants to get her mother’s manuscripts published. She enlists the help of new friends in this endeavor, as well as in making a new home.
The novel is both sad and lovely. Ellie’s reactions to the loss of her mother are authentic, as are her expressed feelings of powerlessness. Her bravery and tenacity when it comes to Etta’s manuscripts serve as a powerful tribute to a daughter’s love. Children who have lost a parent will relate to Ellie and find comfort in sharing her story, but empathy is ensured for all.
Posthumous is about love and hope and finding joy, even through incredible loss. It is a deeply moving story that belongs on any juvenile bookshelf.
Reviewed by Catherine Thureson
-Foreword Reviews