My husband & I will soon be travelling to France, including Paris. I would like to take back to my 7-year-old son some items that are normally used by 7-year-old French boys, for school or elsewhere. Are there kinds of pens/pencils, backpacks, or notebooks, or other items, that are popular right now? I've gotten him an English-language copy of an Asterix book already. Thanks.

What about an English Language translation of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery. I must have been the age of your little boy when I read it for the first time. I read it again at the weekend for the god-only-knows-how-many'th time. It has been and always will remain a very special book for me and is a wonderful parable about human love and loss to boot. The illustrations are remarkable as was the auther himself who lived an amazing life and did more than most before being shot down over the Med nr. Marseilles in 1944. As a gift it will be both evocotive of France and also a great bedrock for a tolerant and loving outlook.<BR>

Hi<BR><BR>What about a French version of a game available at home ?<BR><BR>Trivial pursuit probably too difficult, but he could learn about Paris with a French monopoly set ?<BR><BR>Peter<BR>

I brought my son a marionette from France when he was five that he really cherished.

OK, this is crazy, but my nieces (ages 3 and 7) loved the stupid, plastic sticky guys sold by the street vendors outside the Louvre and Galleries Lafayette. You throw them onto the wall and they climb down. about 2 francs each and they loved them.

The Marmottan (and maybe d'Orsay) have kid friendly things. One was a Monet sticker book that you stick the "correct" painting into the scene. The story of it was on the page. There are lots of backpacks and school stuff around too.

Thanks for the replies - I already have The Little Prince at home, I'll have to have him read it.<BR><BR>Any suggestions of items used by French children?

You can buy school notebooks, called "cahiers des devoirs" in an ordinary stationery store. They are quite different from the ones in which American children write, as they are very finely ruled and also have vertical lines (to help control horizontal letter spacing). The fine lines may look intimidating, but seven-year-olds do use these.<BR>You might also look for a set of Caran d’Ache colored pencils or modeling clays. These are actually Swiss, but widely available in France. An ordinary stationery store will sell the pencils, which come in nice tins of various sizes. You used to be able to get them in the U.S. too, actually, but I haven’t seen them here in ages.