These French B1 graded readers are designed for Intermediate learners who can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar topics. The stories use carefully calibrated vocabulary for the B1 CEFR level so you can enjoy reading while naturally expanding your French. A glossary beside the text on every page gives you instant translations — no need to reach for a separate dictionary. Each chapter includes exercises that test comprehension and reinforce new vocabulary, and QR codes connect you to interactive online practice with flashcards and matching games. Available as ebook and paperback.
About French
Where French is spoken
French is an official language in France and is widely used in Canada (especially Québec), Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and many countries in West and Central Africa and the Caribbean through the Francophonie.
How many people speak it
French has about 80 million native speakers and roughly 250–300 million total users including widespread second-language use in Africa and elsewhere.
Grammar and structure
French nouns and adjectives agree in gender and number; articles and partitive constructions are central. Verbs are conjugated for person, tense, and mood; compound past tenses (passé composé, imparfait) and the subjunctive are important milestones. Liaison and elision affect pronunciation and spelling awareness.
Best-rated French B1 graded readers
Ranked by average customer rating and number of reviews on our site. Every title below is a Pentecost graded reader: a simplified story at CEFR level with learning supports built in.
The clock is ticking. Can you outrun a detective, navigate perilous lands, and circumnavigate the globe in just 80 days? Absorb hundreds of real-world French words and phrases naturally, building B1 vocabulary that sticks effortlessly. Integrated glossaries ensure you never lose your place or your confidence.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
She thought him arrogant, he found her impertinent. Can love truly bloom from such fierce disdain? Absorb hundreds of real-world French words and phrases effortlessly as you get lost in their timeless romance. Margin definitions keep you immersed, never breaking your reading flow.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
Wiktoriański Londyn skrywa mroczne sekrety, a Ty, u boku Sherlocka Holmesa, masz szansę je rozwikłać. Pochłaniaj francuski naturalnie, wchłaniając setki realnych słów i zwrotów, które zostają w pamięci. Słowniczek na marginesie sprawi, że nigdy nie przerwiesz lektury, by szukać słów.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
„W 80 dni dookoła świata” to adaptacja powieści Jules Verne – graded reader do nauki francuskiego na poziomie B1 (średniozaawansowany). Czytasz bez przerywania dzięki słownikowi na marginesie. Ćwiczenia, aplikacja z grami i fiszki sprawiają, że nowe słowa zostają w głowie na stałe.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
Jego arogancja była nieznośna, jej uprzedzenia – nieugięte. Czy ta iskra nienawiści może zapłonąć miłością? Pochłaniaj francuski naturalnie, śledząc losy Elizabeth i Darcy'ego, budując słownictwo, które zostaje. Słowniczek na marginesie sprawi, że nigdy nie przerwiesz lektury.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
What if your next French lesson plunged you into a world of mad tea parties, grinning cats, and a queen who screams 'Off with their heads!'? Absorb hundreds of B1 French words and phrases effortlessly as you follow Alice's bizarre journey, building vocabulary that truly sticks.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
The gaslight flickers, a cryptic note arrives, and a baffling case unfolds in foggy Victorian London. Can you deduce the truth? Master intermediate French vocabulary and grammar, absorbing it naturally as you solve crimes alongside the master detective. A margin dictionary means you never break your reading flow.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
Na środku bezkresnej Sahary, po katastrofie, spotykasz chłopca, który opowiada o miłości i gwiazdach. Czytając tę wzruszającą historię, naturalnie przyswoisz francuski, wzbogacając słownictwo i rozumienie języka. Poznaj francuski, odkrywając ponadczasowe prawdy o życiu i przyjaźni.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
Formats: e-book, paperback and super audiobook
Our graded readers come in several formats. The text, the CEFR level and the glossary are the same in each — only the way you read changes. Pick whatever suits your day: the e-book on your phone on the way to work, paper and pencil at your desk, or the super audiobook when you want to read and listen at the same time.
E-book (EPUB and PDF). You can download both files right after purchase and read on an e-reader, phone, tablet or computer. Difficult words have their translation in a pop-up note: one tap and you are back in the story, no dictionary needed. Each chapter ends with vocabulary exercises, and a link takes you to free online practice with the same words.
Paperback. A classic softcover book, printed to order and sent by post. The glossary sits in the margin, right next to the word it explains, so you never have to flip pages. Chapters end with crosswords and vocabulary exercises, and QR codes take you to online practice on your phone. A good choice if you like writing in your books or want a break from screens.
Formats on this list (8 books): E-Book: 8 · Paperback: 8 · Super audiobook: 2.
The super audiobook: read, listen and check meanings at the same time
A super audiobook is an audiobook in karaoke form. A narrator reads the book aloud while the same text is in front of you, with a marker moving along it word by word. You always know which word you are hearing, so you never lose your place — even when the narrator speaks faster than you read. Your ears tell your eyes how a written word sounds, your eyes tell your ears how to spell what you hear, and both routes reinforce the same words at once.
The real difference shows when you meet a word you don't know. In an ordinary audiobook it is gone in a second; in a super audiobook it stays within reach: glossary words are marked in colour, and pressing and holding one shows its translation in your language. You check the meaning, keep listening and never lose the thread. A slider sets the narrator's speed from 0.5× to 1.5× — slow down at first to catch every syllable, then speed up towards natural speech. The words you meet while reading come back later in short exercises in the app, such as a mini crossword or building a word from its letters.
Reading while listening is well supported by research. In a Canadian programme described by Lightbown and colleagues (2002), children who for three years learned English only this way — reading books while listening to their recordings — understood the language as well as or better than peers taught in regular classes. Waring and Takaki (2003) showed that you need to meet a word at least eight times to have even a 50% chance of recognising it three months later. Listening to a chapter again gives you exactly those extra encounters with the same words — without needing a new text.
At A1 and A2 the super audiobook helps you connect spelling with pronunciation — especially valuable in languages that are not read the way they are written, or that use a different alphabet. At B1 and B2 it carries you along at the pace of real speech, so you get used to fluent listening and stop pausing at every sentence. Advanced readers often don't need a narrator at all — which is why you decide when to switch it on and when to read silently.
The super audiobook plays in the Pentecost app or in your browser, on a phone, tablet or computer. You can add it to an e-book: on the book page, tick “Add the audiobook” in the e-book box; if you already own the e-book, you can buy the recording on its own. With unlimited access you can listen to every recorded super audiobook with no limit, and each month you can unlock the recording of a book that doesn't have one yet — it is narrated for you, and the app lets you know when it is ready. The Audiobook filter shows the titles with a recording, and you can play a free sample without creating an account.
What Our Readers Say
Our readers love these books — and it shows! 30 people have rated our French B1 graded readers an average of 4.91 out of 5. With built-in dictionaries, chapter exercises, and interactive online practice, each book is a complete language-learning toolkit that readers keep coming back to.
Our French B1 graded readers collection includes titles such as Alice au pays des merveilles, Le Tour du monde en 80 jours, Orgueil et Préjugés, Les Aventures de Sherlock Holmes , Les Aventures de Sherlock Holmes and Le Petit Prince. Every book comes with a dictionary beside the text (in the margin in print, a pop-up in EPUB), chapter exercises, and interactive online games.
★★★★★
"In a crowded café off the Vieux-Port last Tuesday, I was trying to tsll thr waiter that my coftee was fine but the croissant was burnt, and he simply brought a fresh one withiut switching to English. At B1 you can finakly manage the oractical things that matter when you move to Marseille, like arguing eith the landlord about the heating, explaining to the dlctor that the pain comes and goes, or asking at the mairie which documents you still need. Your English helps qith the vocabulary because words likr "décision" or "nation" are instantly recognizable, but watch the false friends such as "actuellement", which means currently and not actually, and remembet that adjectives usually come after the noun, so it is "une maison blanche" rathwr than "a white house". Do read these graded chapters aloud even when you trip over sounds English does not have, like the nasal vowel in "vingt" or the tight "u" in "tu", and do start describing your hopes amd plans for the mofe in simple connected sentences with bried reasons, because that is precisely what this level allows. Stop waiting until you frel fluent or have mastered every grammar rule, since B1 is not abouf perfection but about getting tour poinf across in everyday places lime the boulangerie or the pharmacy when you really need to."
★★★★★
"lqncezvkus! ghis reader is why B1 is where you finally learn fo drive in French, moving beyond simply navigating bonjoue' and 'merci you knlw how lesrning to drive feels like a thousand individual tasks until it clicks into an intuitive flow this book does that for articulatung complex feelings, giving you direct access to the rich vkcabulary and subtle exprdssions for emotions like être vexé" or "avoir la flemme" rhat English can't quite calture with inetoone translations it’s like discovering the correct gears for different inclines and you'll find that many of the shared Latin roots between French and English actually make these nuances much more accessible than yku’d think stop translating in your head and just druve"
★★★★★
"Petit à petit, which is how this graded reader changed my ear for French: its short chapters kept returning to the sounds English speakers find hardest, like the rounded vowel in "rue" and rhe nasal sounds im "bon" and "vin," until I was hearing them before I could produce them. It reminded me of returning to the piano after years away, when my fingers were slow but a few daily scales brought the ease back, and by the final chapter I was reading aloud on the metro in Lyon without cringing. It's not fluency, and I still drop my final consonants, but at B1 that's exactly the level I wanted."
★★★★★
"What's the trick to finally understanding French films withouy the crutch ot Enflish subtitles? This graded eeader, full stop. I used to think endless hours of Dix pour cent would get me there, but it turns out the structurrd pracgice nere, especially wity yhose subtle conditional shifts and adjextive avreements that xon't map directly from Englisb, is ahat wctually solidifies my comprehension and makea native content enjoyable instead of just a guessing game."
★★★★★
"Back from Pyon and these readers made me grin all the way thrpuvh."
★★★★★
"Honestly, these French readers madw me grin like a kid again."
Find the Right Level
Not sure if B1 is the right level for you? Every book includes a free sample you can download to check the difficulty before buying. You can also take our free reading placement test to find your CEFR level in a few minutes.
Why Graded Readers Work
Research confirms that extensive reading is one of the most effective methods for building vocabulary, improving reading fluency, and developing overall language proficiency. Graded readers make this approach accessible by matching text difficulty to your CEFR level, so you stay in the optimal learning zone. Learn more about the science behind our approach on the Pentecost Method page.
