It’s summer vacation. Hard to believe it’s that time already. Along with it comes a few chores that I haven’t made my children do during the school year because we have been so busy. For the first few days I know it will be a novelty and they won’t mind doing them, but by next week I’m sure they’ll be calling a strike!

"Strike at Charles Farm /Grève à la ferme de Charles" is the story of Farmer Charles and his animals. Charles faces a very large problem, the animals on his farm have gone on strike! They want to work less and have more. Discover how Charles resolves the problem!

"Strike at Charles Farm / Grève à la ferme de Charles" is a bilingual story that features both French and English text on the same page. My daughter is in French Immersion and I don’t speak French at all. We both love that she is able to read out loud to me, without being interrupted by me asking "What does that mean?”. I am able to follow along and even learn along with her.

Since I am unable to read French I asked bilingual teacher friend to go over the French portion with me, and was excited to hear that they are great translations. She suggested that this book has more advanced french words than "Are You Eating My Lunch? Manges-Tu Mon Lunch?” and is more suited to children in grades 2+.

"Strike at Charles Farm / Grève à la ferme de Charles" is a great story to share with your child. It teaches respect, hard work and responsibility. The kids and I chatted about what would happen if everyone in our house stopped doing our chores, just like the animals stopped doing theirs. What if Daddy stopped going to work? What if Mommy stopped doing the laundry? What if they stopped making their beds? We talked about how each of us doing our part in the family makes things run smoothly. When we do these things without complaining or being asked, it shows that we love and respect each other. It shows how each of us has an important job to do, even though it may not seem very fun or important.

I personally love how Charles deals with the strike. He doesn’t stomp his feet and get mad. He quietly listens to each animal’s wants and needs, then gives them a choice. I love how this teaches our children that they don’t have to respond to an unpleasant situation with anger, but a quiet and thoughtful response is sometimes all that is needed.

The story has another lesson for us…the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. When the animals were presented with a solution to their strike, they discovered they didn’t mind their life on the farm. The kids and I also chatted about how sometimes we feel that things aren’t fair or hard, but when we really

The illustrations are fun and colourful. Our collective favourite image is the one of the rooster and the hens. The amount of text on each page is excellent. Just enough not to intimidate readers. We did find some of the text difficult to read where it overlapped on some of the illustrations, but it was still very readable.

"Strike at Charles Farm / Grève à la ferme de Charles" is a fun story for young readers. It’s a great way to share learning languages with your little one. The author, Nicole Audet is a family doctor and bestselling author in Quebec. She has received several national and international literary awards.

*Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of "Strike at Charles Farm / Grève à la ferme de Charles" in exchange for my review. All opinions are 100% my own. ( )

Follow extremely colorful farm animals who refusing to work for farmer Charles. Written in both French and English, this would be a wonderful edition for early learners of each language to have. A teacher could easily create a vocabulary list from the book to include in lessons plans. ( )

Age range: up to 5 years old

Are you eating my lunch? Illustrated by Kathy Kerber. Xavier can't find his lunch while visiting the zoo. He asks for his lunch at each animal, and there he learns what the animals eat. Where Xavier's lunch could be?

Strike at Charles' farm. Illustrated by Mylène Villeneuve. Poor Charles... The animals on his farm don't want to work anymore. They have a lot of demands for him. How will Charles solve this problem?

Both stories are written in English and French, with cute characters and colorful illustrations. A funny way of approach a new language.

I received copies of this books from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Check out more children's book reviews in my Reviews in Chalk Blog! ( )

When Charles' animals on his farm refuse to cooperate, they tell the farmer what they want. The horse wants to pull a lighter cart, the rooster wants to have more hens under his control. The list goes on and on. The farmer listens to each of the animals then simply tells them they can go live in the zoo and that way they can have what they want. The animals suddenly decide they like their freedom and want to stay and do their jobs. The farmer throws the a party out of gratitude. A great way to teach children that everyone must do their part for things to move smoothly.
I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own. ( )