The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children: Play, Eat, Shop, Stay

I bought two guides of this type and this was the one that came along with us on our outings. It is definitely skewed toward someone who has younger kids who are girls; however, it had plenty of info suitable for my 7-year old boy and me. She makes a point of listing convenient restrooms throughout the city and I am glad our days of needing this part of the book are long over. The best part: an extensive listing of playgrounds. My son's favorite: Luxembourg gardens; the pay-to-enter playground is well worth the fee and turned out to contain a number of English speaking children who tended to become instant friends with him. We also explored many of the others. I liked the organization according to area of the city, and the shopping listings were a fairly unique feature which would probably be particularly helpful for a longer stay with younger kids. We found the most wonderful toystore inside Au Bon Marche thanks to this book; as a department store its facade gave no hint of the extensive toy selection on one floor. I found the restaurant listings less useful; clearly my family's food tastes differ from those of the author. In particular I would not recommend eating inside the Grande Galerie de Evolution if you are visiting Jardin des Plantes. The book is printed on heavy glossy pages with beautiful color photos, which made it a bit heavy for its small size; however, I could easily slip it in my purse and peruse it over lunch. There are no maps but you can easily get one from your hotel or just use a smartphone.

I relied heavily on this book on our recent trip to Paris with our 6-year-old. It had really helpful and practical information, organized by neighorhood. The tone of the book is very down-to-earth and realistic- you can tell it was written by a mom of three kids. There were a lot of really helpful tips in the beginning of the book, for example, on babysitting services. The book is very comprehensive. It is also very small in size, so it was really easy to carry around on our expeditions in Paris. It covers both major tourist spots and more out-of-the-way places. The info on family-friendly restaurants was super helpful and there was also info about great children's stores in Paris. Most of the other books I had seemed aimed at slightly older kids; this book definitely had info for younger kids as well as older kids.

It's a cute idea with kid-friendly play areas, restaurants and hotels organized by neighborhood. It would have been very handy to have with me when we ended up in various neighborhoods we hadn't planned to be in but the major downfall of this book is the reason I didn't carry it with me- it's way too heavy! It's small (6"x4.75"x.75") but it's printed on high quality thick glossy paper which makes it way too heavy to stick into your pocket or purse. While quality paper is desirable in a coffee table book, it's a major drawback in a travel book. Four stars for content, 2 stars for usefulness due to weight.

My two girls (12&5) and I just came back from a trip to Paris. I am very glad I found this book for the trip. Unlike any other trips, it was really centered to the girls thanks to this book. We felt local trying out suggestions mentioned in the book instead of waiting in lines for mandatory (?) sightseeigs. While we did make visits to Tour Eiffel, Musee des Louvre, and Monmartre, we gave up on visiting other spots but spent luxurious time at parks and playgrounds around the spots. (They are quite different from the ones in California; not necessarily better but very different.) My girls will definitely remember this trip for a long time.Four stars because I would have appreciated more pictures.

I bought this for my first trip to Paris because we were going with our son, daughter-in-law, & 3.5 year old granddaughter. It was my absolute favorite guidebook! The breakdown by neighborhoods let us enjoy the family-friendly aspects of this incredible city & blend in more as a local than a tourist. I will use the book for future trips to Paris whether Audrey is with me or not.

This guide is organized to help parents keep kids interested, exercised, fed, and clean. The author notes bathrooms, family friendly restaurants, and parks near famous sites so that parents can create a smart plan for a day of sightseeing in Paris. Super helpful if you are travelling with toddlers or elementary school kids, but still informative, well organized and useful for those of us with tweens. Would love to see a version of this from the same author with ideas for eye-rolling teens.

I have been pouring over this book in preparation for our upcoming trip to Paris. I received it as a Mother's Day gift (okay, okay, I had to order it myself!). Written by someone who seems to share my taste level, and of course, my idea of enjoyable travel with children. Also, love how up to date it is!

Fantastic book! We purchased this book for our 2nd trip to Paris. It had lots of great information! We hit rainy weather, it was nice to pop this out of my purse and look up alternative places to see indoors! The playground locations is the biggest plus :)