French Revolution for kids?

Paris Walks has a walk focused on the French Revolution. Not sure how kid-friendly it would be but you could contact them and ask them. http://www.paris-walks.com/summer-walks_m.html

The Conciergerie by Sainte Chappelle is where many of the prisoners were kept before going to the guillotine, there is a mock-up of the room where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned.

I found an interesting website that tells where you can see bits and pieces of the bastille prison that was stormed and destroyed during the revolution. http://mentalfloss.com/article/57792/11-remnants-bastille-you-can-still-see-today. Maybe you could design your own walking tour around one or two of these.

Our granddaughter with a wonderful, dry sense of humor really enjoyed the British series Horrible Histories. They have one book called Horrible Histories France that has several humorous but enlightening chapters on the French Revolution. It is available in a paperback and Kindle version. Since this is a light, humorous version it would be good to back it up with something more comprehensive if the two of you want to discuss it more in detail. Maybe her school library will have other books for her to check out.

I was just going to mention the Horrible Histories series! I believe they're British, but that's great if they're available in the States now.

Franco-American Iris Amis a.k.a. Grossman or Spencer, is a French government certified guide, who specializes in tours with children.

She can be seen on Globe Trekker, a travel show on PBS, leading the host along Marie Antoinette's last ride to be executed. She describes it vividly. You might be able to find the Paris show on line. It was in two parts.

Anyway Iris can be contacted at [email protected]. She created the Paris Walks Chocolate Tour and sometimes still leads tours for Paris Walks.

I've always loved the Conciergerie, went there a month ago and was very disappointed. They've changed everything. They no longer have the room where Marie Antoinette was kept, the cells where others were kept were empty (unlike before), the route was chaotic & confusing, signage/brochure and info in English was pathetic. It's still worthwhile if you know the history, but not as good as it was. If a visitor doesn't know the history, I think it would be a boring waste of time.

Susan, I liked the Conciergerie a lot too. Sorry to hear about the recent changes. Wonder why they would change it.

Thanks so much for the great suggestions! I've downloaded the Kindle version of Horrible Histories, and found another great kids book that I reserved at my local library. Will check out all the walking tours. I just can't wait for our trip!

Nancy, you and me both. Probably someone new in charge thought after so many years of it being the way it was that it was time to change it up.

Vaux le Vicomte has a really cool tableau that walks you through the disaster that befell its owner when he showed off his wealth to Louis XIV. It is in French but there are good English descriptors between each scene. Certainly the excesses of Louis XIV and the stumbling monarchy after that set the context for revolution. The recent series on Louis XIV on TV would be worth visiting beforehand as well
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/vaux-le-vicomte-our-last-chateau/

The Royal Diaries series has a Marie Antoinette volume that she might enjoy. My daughter and I read a number of those books when she was about your daughter's age, and the Marie A book was one of the most interesting.

She might, if you have time, want to check out the Picpus Cemetery where the victims of the terror were buried including the murdered Carmelite nuns that sort of brought the end of the terror. Lafayette is also buried there. The cemetery even today is restricted to families of those who lost people to the guillotines. Lafayette's inlaws were executed and buried here.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/01/24/lafayette-we-are-here/

You might check with ...

http://www.greeters.paris/?lang=en

To see if they would have anyone suitable or at least send you in the right direction,
For a guide.

I am thinking of a novel by Anatole France called The Gods Are Athirst that focuses on revolutionary life and the Terror. It is full of human interest and details. Not a children's book per se but an eleven-year-old would certainly understand it.

I don't know if your daughter would go for it or not. I'm not against the idea of tween lit but we shouldn't always compartmentalize.

I do think the Terror, and the post-revolutionary period, is in many ways more interesting than the events leading up to the revolution. You might also consider A Tale of Two Cities.

When you go to Versailles, make time to visit Marie Antoinette's potemkin farm, Le Hameau. It fun and sort of drives home the class differences that led to revolution in a different way.