Will et Max - French Children’s Books

07/19/2025

Big news from our little bookstore! 📦

Our shipping supplier called this week with congratulations - we've officially hit the volume thresholds that qualify us for business rates (not startup rates!).

What does this mean for you? Free shipping on orders $50+ starting immediately (down from $75).

Six months ago, Sara and I were frantically googling shipping strategies and hoping we could make this work. Now we're getting calls congratulating us on our growth trajectory. The best part? We can pass these volume savings straight to the families who made this growth possible.

We're still the same people personally selecting every book and packing every order with care. We've just reached the scale where suppliers treat us like the real bookstore we've become.
Most families naturally hit $50+ when thoughtfully building their French home libraries anyway - now the math just works better for everyone.

Here's to YOU helping our small business take off (photo: Will and Max's kite taking off this week). 😍

Shop: www.willetmax.com

06/06/2025

We’re back from our west coast book fair adventure! ✈️📚

Plot twist: We came home to a MASSIVE shipment of new books. So now our living room looks like a French library exploded... and we couldn’t be happier! 🤩

That means we’ve got titles to unpack, and shelves to restock — just in time for summer reading adventures. Because nothing says “vacation vibes” like discovering your kid can now pronounce “papillon” better than you can. (Still working on that one, honestly.)

Whether you’re planning beach reads, camping stories, or just need an answer for those “I’m bored” summer moments, we’ve got you covered. Check out what’s new in our collections - your little readers are going to LOVE these finds!

Tell us: What’s your family’s summer reading goal? More French? More giggles? More books that survive sandbox adventures?

Comment below and we’ll help you find the perfect additions to your summer library!

05/30/2025

Cahiers de vacances? ✔️
Minecraft? ✔️
Wings of Fire graphic novels? ✔️
Board books? ✔️
Early readers? ✔️
Familiar stories, mais en français? ✔️
Picture books? ✔️
Chapter books? Including Harry Potter?? ✔️
Non-fiction books about science and dinosaurs and the planet? ✔️
Trotro et Zaza? ✔️
T’choupi? ✔️
Le p’tit loup? ✔️

10% off for families? ✔️

Come see us tomorrow at the Fulton campus, Portland Frenchies! 🇫🇷 📚

05/17/2025

Oh la la, look what’s arrived! 📚✨ When we said we were on a mission to find the most magical French books for your little readers, we weren’t kidding!

These vibrant treasures (hello, gorgeous “DICO CHÂTEAUX” with that punchy red cover!) are just a tiny peek at what’s waiting in our online bookstore right now! And can we talk about “Les WOUF!” for a second? Because any book with cartoon dogs having adventures is an automatic YES in our household!

The struggle to build Will and Max’s French library taught us one thing: finding these gems shouldn’t require an international shipping degree and a second mortgage. 🙈 That’s why we’re SO excited these books (and many more!) are now just a few clicks away from your doorstep.

Our house is currently divided - Jason can’t stop flipping through the castle dictionary while I’m completely charmed by those adventurous pups. The real winners though? Our kids, who somehow always manage to snag the new arrivals before we can even photograph them properly!

Tell us about your latest French book triumph (or shipping horror story) - we’re building this bilingual community one book at a time and we KNOW you’ve got stories!

05/17/2025

Follow along on Instagram for even more book recommendations, flip-throughs and information about pop-ups!

05/13/2025

It’s always a party avec Les Toutous!

Talk about a birthday wish gone wild. 🦁 In “UN TRÈS TRÈS GROS GÂTEAU AU CHOCOLAT,” little Micha wants a chocolate cake for his birthday - but not just ANY cake. He’s dreaming of a MASSIVE multi-layer chocolate masterpiece with sauce on top! 🎂

Swipe to see what happens when you annoy your friends with too many cake demands... and then mysteriously disappear on your birthday. The adorable illustrations by Dorothée de Monfreid make this story a visual treat.

Our favorite thing? The character guide at the end that introduces “Les Toutous” by name! No more “who’s the black dog again?” confusion during storytime - we’ve been there too many times! 🐶

This book is perfect for 3-6 year olds and ideal for anyone who’s ever been a little TOO excited about birthday cake (hi Max! 🙋‍♀️).

Now available with no international shipping headaches - flat-rate shipping or FREE on orders over $75!

Want to share your kiddo’s craziest birthday demands? We’re all ears! 👇

05/03/2025

Y'all, there is NOTHING like that moment when your child spots a familiar story in another language and their whole face lights up! 🤯

Last week Will discovered a stack of Wings of Fire books IN FRENCH in our inventory and proceeded to LOSE HIS MIND. Three books in three nights, people! He'd already devoured the English versions, so watching him zip through the French editions with that look of pure dragon-loving joy was EVERYTHING.

We just posted a whole blog about why familiar stories are the SECRET WEAPON in your language learning arsenal (and why it's perfectly normal when your kid switches between languages mid-sentence because they're too excited about what happens next!)

What's your kiddo's favorite "I know this one!" book? We're collecting recommendations faster than Will collects dragon vocabulary in multiple languages!

Check out the full post, and remember, free shipping on all orders over $75! (And yes, more French dragon adventures coming soon!)

Picture this: your little one opens a French book and suddenly exclaims, "Maman! C'est The Very Hungry Caterpillar!" Their face lights up with that magical blend of surprise and accomplishment. They already know this story. And just like that, French doesn't feel so foreign anymore. Why Familiar Sto...

04/19/2025

Newest addition to our shop? Meet Gaston. 🐶

🐶 FAMILY SURPRISE UNFOLDS: Meet Gaston, the most distinguished bulldog in a family of poodles - or is he? Surrounded by his perfectly poised poodle sisters Fi-Fi, Chou-Chou, and Ouh-Là-Là, Gaston works harder than anyone to be the most proper dog possible. But everything changes when two famili...

04/14/2025

Big news in our latest update - we'd love to hear what you think!

BREAKING NEWS: We've just added over 100 NEW French books to our shelves, and trust us - this is NOT your average book drop! 🎉

04/05/2025

🎉 GIVEAWAY TIME! 🎉

You know that feeling when you FINALLY find the perfect French book online for your little one, only to discover the shipping costs more than the book itself? Yeah, we've been there too many times to count!

🐰 That's why we're thrilled to give away one of our absolute favorites: Les Lapins Rouges by Iris de Mouy! This isn't just any book - it's an oversized story (markers for scale!) AND coloring book where kiddos get to bring these adorable red bunnies to life with their own artistic touch!

Max has already claimed the yellow crayon for his copy, and honestly, watching him color while we read has created some of our favorite bilingual moments. 💛

👉 Want this gorgeous book delivered to YOUR door for free? Here's how to enter:

1️⃣ Tag a friend who's been on the hunt for French kids books (we know you know someone!)
2️⃣ For a bonus entry, share your child's favorite book in the comments!

🌟 BONUS: Pop over to willetmax.com and join our email list - something SUPER exciting is landing in inboxes this week that our French book loving hearts can't wait to share!

We started Will et Max Books because, as parents raising bilingual kids in the US, we were tired of the endless searching, ridiculous shipping costs, and constant guessing game of which French books would actually work for our kids. No one should need an international shipping degree just to build their child's French library!

✨ Winner will be announced Saturday at noon EST! Bonne chance!

03/06/2025

📚✨ LAST DAY of our founding family presale! And a little real talk about bringing French into your home (no teaching degree required)...

After years of our own messy bilingual journey at Will et Max Books, we've learned that the best language moments happen in everyday chaos – like dinner table vocab battles and car rides with questionable accents that make our kids howl with laughter.

We just shared our favorite "real life" strategies on the blog today, including our infamous "Sacred Meal Zone" approach and why the most consistent French happens during comfort times (hint: our reading nook has magical powers!).

For those new to our story: We're two parents who got tired of astronomical shipping fees and translation guesswork while building our kids' French library. So we created the French bookstore we wished existed – thoughtfully curated collections for every age and reading level, delivered right to your door.

TODAY is the final day to order your curated collection of French kids books! The presale closes at midnight, and we won't be offering these special founding member benefits again. Whether you're just starting your French journey or looking to expand your home library, we'd love for you to be part of our first chapter. 🇫🇷

Link in bio for the full blog and to secure your collection before midnight! ⬆️

What's YOUR favorite way to bring French into everyday moments? Share below! Bisous! 💕

03/06/2025

Friends! Our countdown timer says we have just 31 hours left in our Will et Max Books founding family presale, and we're feeling ALL the emotions!

If you've been following our journey from frustrated parents to French bookstore founders, you know this countdown is a big one for us. In 31 hours, our presale officially closes when that timer hits zero — which is the last chance to join our founding family and secure your tailored French book collection.

www.willetmax.com

To celebrate (and calm our nerves), we thought we'd share what's ACTUALLY happening behind the scenes during this countdown:

✨ We've been refreshing our order page so frequently that our computer is probably plotting revenge
✨ We made a spreadsheet of all the cities our founding families live in and may have gotten emotional looking at it
✨ Jason has told the "story of why we started this" to our UPS delivery person, our neighbor, and a *very* patient grocery store cashier today

When that timer hits zero (in 31 hours, in case you missed it 😂) we'll be closed to new orders while we pull together curated selections based on each kid’s age, reading level, and interests. After these orders are all completed and shipped, we’ll open our full online bookstore - with the ability to find and order individual books (and share requests if you have them).

While we’re excited to soon offer the flexibility of à la carte orders, there's something special about sharing this first chapter with you all. If you’ve been considering a collection for your little français speakers (or aspiring ones!) but haven’t yet had the chance, there’s still time to get your presale order in — 31 hours, to be exact!

As with all our future offerings, presale orders are totally free of international shipping fees, currency conversion headaches, and app-translated book descriptions and details. Just beautiful collections of French books, matched to your child's age, and delivered right to your door.

Bisous!
Sara & Jason (and Will et Max of course!)
www.willetmax.com