Book Review: Paris with Children

The Scoop The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children is the kid-friendly guidebook you wish you had for every city. The author, who knows the city like a local, provides recommendations and advice to help you get the most out of grown-up attractions like the Louvre, find kid friendly activities like French cooking classes, and eat in restaurants that feature French food but also accomodate American-food-focused kids well.

The cover, and small size make The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children feel like a special gift from your most stylish friend, and somehow that made it hard for me to take this guide to Paris with Kids seriously. It sat on my nightstand for weeks before I finally cracked the cover. I read the introduction in detail, and then focused on the sections of the city that I know best, inspecting to make sure that the advice made sense for kids, that the author was recommending quality restaurants and attractions, and that the organization made sense. I'm a tough audience when it comes to guidebooks since each one weighs heavy in a daypack already loaded down with sippycups and wetnaps.

The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children: Play, Eat, Shop, Stay really delivered. I loved the suggestions in the introduction for bilingual summer day camps and year round festivals that would appeal to children. There's even a list of babysitting services. That's the type of information a friend in the area might have, but you'll rarely see it in a guidebook.

The neighborhood guides did a good job of giving kid-centered advice about what to do in each of the most touristed parts of Paris. Listings included a few kid focused options (for example a cooking school near the Louvre) and the major attractions. Each listing is brief, but gives you an overview of how you might attack it with kids in tow, and an overview of the snack or meal options inside (you know you'll never make it through the Louvre without a snack break or two). Restaurant recommendations run the gamut from quality local places that accomodate kids well to kid-comforts like the Hard Rock Cafe.

Can I include a quick plug? If you're already carrying your smartphone on vacation, consider adding all your favorite Paris recommendations to TripDoc (my iPhone app). Just give TripDoc the names, and it will plot them all on a map so that you can plan out your days and find your way around Paris.

Related Links
Buy: The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children: Play, Eat, Shop, Stay (affiliates link)
Children's Books and Toys for a trip to Paris
City Guide: Paris with Kids

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book so that I could check it out. I donate products valued over $40 to charity. This book, valued at $19.95, is being loaned to a series of Paris-bound friends this summer. If you buy a product through one of my Amazon links, I do receive a small commission, and that income helps me keep this site going. TripDoc is the iPhone app my husband and I co-developed.

Filed Under: book-review

1 comment | Posted on May 29, 2013 | Save to del.icio.us

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