By Domenica Di Piazza, Editorial Director, TFCB

[the Eiffel Tower, above, by Alison Behnke]

I’m on vacation in Paris, France, this week! Think of me walking along the Seine; eating croissants for breakfast, cheeses for lunch, and the specialite du jour for dinner; speaking French; taking the TGV fast train to Marseille to visit a long-lost friend for the day; and, of course, shopping.

TFCB and Lerner Publications have some great books about France and Things French, including our Visual Geography title France in Pictures (cover, left) by Alison Behnke. (Yep, she’s a great writer and a gifted photographer, too.)

In the Lerner Publications imprint, we offer an easy introduction to French cuisine with our Easy Menu title Cooking the French Way by Lynne Marie Waldee.

In our Seven Wonders series is an informative and visually appealing book by Ann Kerns (Seven Wonders of Architecture) about architectural wonders, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

For some background history, historian James R. Arnold offers a comprehensive review of the turmoil of the revolutionary years in 18th-century France in The Aftermath of the French Revolution (top left). Award-winning children’s author Elaine Landau explores the life of a French emperor/dictator in our A&E/Lerner Biography Napoleon Bonaparte (top right).

Readers can go even further back in French history—and into France’s conflict with England—through Janice Hamilton’s The Norman Conquest of England in TFCB’s Pivotal Moments in History series. Lawrence Zwier and coauthor Mark Cunningham examine the more recent experience of French involvement in Vietnam in The Aftermath of the French Defeat in Vietnam, part of TFCB’s Aftermath of History series. All of these titles offer a good foundation for understanding some of the basics of French history and culture.

Don’t forget to check in next week for more from TFCB. A bientot!