Nelly’s Box - La boîte de Nelly: A bilingual children's book in French and English (France is mentioned as a heritage country) (French Bilingual Books - Fostering Creativity in Kids)

by Elisavet Arkolaki, Eve Farb (Illustrator), Chloé Beaudouin (Editor)

A high-quality bilingual children's story in French and English, ideal for bilingual families and kids who learn French or English as a second language. The book was translated by Jean-Pierre Geets, a native French speaker and professional translator from Belgium with vast experience; he has taught journalism and communication at university level and has translated and edited numerous books in French. It was proofread by Chloe Beaudouin, an experienced translator who specializes in children’s literature. “Nelly's Box” has 40 pages, just above the industry standard of 32 pages, and 20-page spreads as an eBook on the Kindle app. Complimentary activities and lesson plans can be downloaded on the author's website.


Nelly is very excited about going back to school! She’s bilingual and during this school year, she’s going to learn how to read and write in her home language as well. Ms. Josie Journey, the French language teacher, welcomes the children with a fun activity. Their first lesson in French is all about practicing saying what they love!


After reading this book, children
✓Be prompted to fill in their own box with all that they love
✓Be encouraged to be creative and use their imagination
✓Be motivated to learn another language


Albert Einstein has been quoted to have said that creativity is intelligence having fun , and that imagination is more important than knowledge . Creativity is the highest form of intelligence because it goes beyond knowledge recall and extends into knowledge creation. Did you know those creative young children who use their imagination are more effective, resourceful, resilient, and confident than their peers? Creative children are also better equipped to overcome obstacles and navigate changes in life.


This book makes the perfect gift for creative little boys and girls, teachers, librarians, and parents who raise bilingual and multilingual kids. Perfect for all children ages 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and up, depending on their fluency level in the target language. Most suitable for grade 1, grade, 2, grade 3, and parents and French language teachers who appreciate a well-written and beautifully illustrated bilingual book. The use of large fonts and the choice of a white background for the text make it ideal for early readers.


“Nelly’s Box” is also available in several other bilingual editions. If you're reading this on amazon.de/.co.uk/.ca/.au/.it, etc, visit the .com link and/or Goodreads for more reviews.

Kindle Edition

Published August 4, 2022

About the author

Hi,

I’m Elisavet Arkolaki, it’s great connecting with you!

I’m a multilingual mom raising two beautiful, multilingual, and ethnically mixed children, and I’m a children’s book author, mainly writing and publishing bilingual books. I have lived in six countries and my home right now is in Norway.

Both my husband and I are passionate about traveling; inspired by global learning, we’re raising our own children in between countries, cultures, and languages. I write to build cultural understanding and sensitivity in young children while they are still eager to learn, and also help and support them in their bilingual journey. The bilingual books I've published are ideal for early readers: white background, large and easy-to-read fonts, the image on one page and the text on the other, etc. They're available in 50+ languages with progressively longer stories from one book to the other.

I have an academic background in foreign language teaching, translation, and marketing. I graduated from the University of Liverpool with a degree in Global Marketing (MSc), the University of Athens (EKΠΑ) with a degree in French Philology/Language and Literature (BA), and I was awarded a certificate of proficiency in English from the University of Cambridge. I speak four languages now at different levels of fluency.

I’m proud to volunteer as a PEaCH Ambassador. PEaCH is an Erasmus+ (EU) funded project that supports European families raising bilingual and multilingual children. PEaCH does this in the form of a handbook for parents, a handbook for educators, informative videos and an online collection of ready-to-use materials in the 24 official EU languages. On their YouTube channel you will find videos with narrations of my books in many languages.

To find fun and educational activities related to my books, subscribe to my newsletter (www.maltamum.com)

or join my private FB group "Elisavet Arkolaki’s Behind the Book Club" and head over to the "Files" section. You can also read on my blog, in full and for free, the guidebook "How to Raise Confident Multicultural Children".

You can get in touch by sending me an email at liza @ maltamum.com

Thank you.

*************************************************

Non-fiction books

How to Raise Confident Multicultural Children

A short love story for adults in a photo book format

Together They Blossomed

(It’s also available in bilingual editions in EN-FR, EN-ES, EN-IT and EN-GR).

Children’s books in English

Where am I from? (Faraxa Publishing, Malta, EU)

Sunny’s Magical Headband

Happiness Street

Cousins Forever

Nelly’s Box

Summer with Grandpa


Bilingual children’s books

Cousins Forever (50+ languages)

Happiness Street (45+ languages)

Nelly’s Box (30+ languages)

Summer with Grandpa (30+ languages)

Available languages:

• Afrikaans • Albanian • Arabic • Armenian • Basque • Bosnian • Bulgarian • Catalan • Chinese (Traditional & Simplified) • Croatian • Czech • Danish • Dutch • English • Estonian • Filipino / Tagalog • Finnish • French • Galician • Georgian • German • Greek • Hindi • Hebrew • Hungarian • Icelandic • Indonesian • Irish • Italian • Japanese • Korean • Latvian • Lithuanian • Macedonian • Malaysian • Maltese • Norwegian • Polish • Portuguese of Portugal • Brazilian Portuguese • Romanian • Russian • Serbian • Slovak • Slovene • Spanish • Swedish • Thai • Turkish • Ukrainian • Vietnamese • Welsh

Reviews

[S.A. Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book

Nelly is learning Spanish at her school. Before teaching the language, their teacher wants them to fill a box with the things that they love the most. That is when Nelly has a problem. The box is too small and the number of things that Nelly likes are too many. How does Nelly solve the problem? 

It was a lovely read for children to show the meaning of loving and living life as much as possible. Beautiful illustrations and lovely story. Enjoyable for kids and adults alike.

[Μαρία Τσιβίκα · Rating 5 out of 5]

Άλλο ένα ξεχωριστό βιβλίο από την Ελισάβετ Αργολάκη. Σε αυτό το βιβλίο θα συναντήσουμε παιδιά από διάφορες χώρες να συνυπάρχουν στην ίδια τάξη, ένα γεγονός που είναι πλέον συχνό στην εποχή μας. Πολύ σπουδαίο το θέμα της πολυπολιτισμικότητας με το οποίο καταπιάνεται η συγγραφέας, αλλά ακόμα πιο σπουδαίο είναι αυτό της ΑΓΑΠΗΣ. Τι πιο όμορφο από την αγάπη.. Τι πιο όμορφο όταν αυτή υπάρχει παντού γύρω μας (και φυσικά όχι μόνο στα υλικά αγαθά). Αυτή η ιστορία της μικρής Νέλλυς είναι τόσο γλυκιά! Πανέξυπνος ο τρόπος που δένει η ιστορία, αρχή, μέση και τέλος! Είμαι σίγουρη πως κάθε παιδί θα βρει χίλια δυο καλούδια που αγαπά για να γεμίσει το δικό του κουτί. Αγαπημένη «σκηνή» όταν η δασκάλα γράφει την λέξη Αγάπη στον πίνακα! Αγαπημένη φράση «Nelly’s heart is so big and the box is so small». Πανέμορφη και η εικονογράφηση του βιβλίου. Το βιβλίο αυτό το διαβάσαμε στην αγγλική έκδοση και εννοείτε πως περιμένουμε να εκδοθούν τα δίγλωσσα, εξάλλου μας έχει συνηθίσει η συγγραφέας και πλέον είναι must στη βιβλιοθήκη μας οι έντυπες εκδόσεις σε ελληνικά – αγγλικά και ελληνικά – γαλλικά! Αξίζει με χίλια, ψάξτε το, όχι μόνο αυτό αλλά και όλα τα βιβλία της Ελισάβετ.

[H M H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the theme of this book: we all love different things and that makes us all special and unique. Written with bilingual children in mind, Nelly’s Box is a well-written and attractively written picture book story about a little girl called Nelly beginning a new school and learning new words. The class teacher has a special activity for the children that will not only increase their vocabulary but help them think and learn about themselves and each other too. At the end of the book readers are invited to do this special activity too. What do you love? With a grown-up's help, make a box filled with love just like Nelly.

[R.E. August · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely back-to-school book that focuses on learning/ speaking more than one language

Nelly is excited for her first day in school where she’ll meet her new Spanish language teacher and other children who speak different languages.
The teacher’s first assignment is to have the children take home a box that they will fill with things they love. And then they’ll learn how to say the things they love in Spanish.
A good book for children who are already multi-lingual or for encouraging children to learn a new language. I love the beautiful, illustrations against a white background.

[Alexa Jaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful! 💕

We love books by Elisavet Arkolaki!

This one is particularly lovely because it covers a topic close to our heart, bilingual learning.

This is such a creative story and lesson for children to engage in. It shows inspiration and joy in learning our heritage languages.

We definitely recommend this book to anyone young or old. The pictures are delightful.

I especially think this is a great book for carers and parents to share with children to help excite the possibilities in their mind about all their languages.

What are you waiting for?

💕 Happy Reading! 💕

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

KU Free Trial | Oddly, the first two books in this series were translated into a weirdly formal Welsh, while this one is not. Definitely better in that regard. Still fairly gogledd, but not as intensely, it's more approachable for Southern Welsh kids. Couple of weird translation choices (a child loves "water bottles" in English but "hot water bottles" in Welsh. These are not the same thing), but overall pretty good. I definitely think books 1 and 3 feel more part of a planned whole, while book 2 feels a bit separate.

[Jacquii John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful little book about a bilingual little girl called Nelly who is excited to be starting Spanish lessons to learn to read and write is Spanish. The book highlights diversity with many children in the class speaking many other languages. The book also teaches gratitude and love through the story of the boxes and encourages the reader to create a box of their own. The illustrations are lovely and help to create this gem of a book.

[Candice Klopfenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story and message

Kelly's Box is a delightful story with a powerful message for children and adults alike. I love how the author invites the reader to think about what they love, and to share their treasures and thoughts with others. What a heartwarming idea. The text is complimented by engaging illustrations. Also love the author's commitment to offer the book in multiple languages. Many children and families will benefit from this story.

[MARIA KALANTZI · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can a small box hold all the things that a big heart loves? And what about all those wonderful things that are not tangible? Nelly, the little girl in the story, finds a magical way to fill her own box of love. A stunning book, with lovingly chosen thoughts, feelings and words, as well as attractive illustrations which teach children that we can all love different things in life and that is what makes us unique.

[Stamatia BD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing work, multi-literacies are promoted through this book and especially family literacy! But also optical, critical and emotional. Through the e-book version and the ability to do activities altogether, not only is digital literacy developed but also creativity and self-acting are taking place. Thank you for this great book, as a teacher and as a reader!

[Iliana Christopoulou · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author Elisavet Arkolaki once again created a book about kids' feelings so successfully! First day at school mixed with everything a child loves equals to a heart warming feeling that makes the reader smile. I bet everyone will wonder what he would put into his own box! Also it comes in a big variety of bilingual versions which will surely suit everyone

[Vedika Agrawal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Share things you love
This is a sweet book encouraging children to share the things they love with others. Nelly goes to a Spanish class where teacher gave a task to all children to fill the box with things they love and they all learnt a lesson. Story is well written and illustrations are beautiful. Good work by the author

[Stacy Rapoport · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not good, pretty sure this is AI.

This book is poorly written for a kid’s book with tiny font size that a child could not read and an adult barely would be able to. The art is inconsistent, with AI artifacts, and images that do not relate to what is going on in what I can only loosely call a “story”.

[Antonia Papaioannou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful book with a fascinating illustration.
Lovely theme and great characters overwhelming the pages.
Well written story about our habbits, the differences and the things we love.
I liked every single page.
I strongly recommend it!

[Itzia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story to help us reflect on our loves and the abundance of wonderful people, things and experiences there are in this world to enjoy. It is beautifully illustrated and full of diverse characters. We might all love different things but we ALL love.

[Thijmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I translated the NL-ENG version of this book. Regardless, I think this is a marvellous book for bilingual children (even the ones that aren't Dutch) and I could not recommend it enough.

[Jessica Dawn Birks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous

This book has Beautiful illustrations that take you on a journey across multilingual story that encourages play, kindness and sharing with some lovely activities at the end!

[John Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important Teaching Tool

Nelly’s Box is a fun simple story that provides much more than just a quick read. As someone who has studied Arabic, this book is an important tool to introduce my kids to Arabic.

[Angelique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

When I think Elisavet Arkolaki has written my favourite book,she writes another magical one! Simply wonderful and inspiring! She's definitely an author of the up and coming generation!

[Filio Lazana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story supported by fantastic illustration.
What I loved most about this book is that it not only encourages kids to create a box of their own, but also to share the things they love with others.
I could not recommend it enough.

[Lynnea Palomino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book

I am learning Norwegian and although I know that I don't yet know how to pronounce all the words, I really enjoyed the story, and expanded my vocabulary. Thank you.

[Matina Psoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a lovely little story!! The idea of a kid collecting what she loves in a box is really nice, and the bilingual text made it fun and easy for my niece (billingual) to follow along. Ιt's also great for classroom use.

[Elena Kazan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book with an interesting activity idea and beautiful illustrations!

[Христина Радченко · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book teaches not just language but love. And gives you a cool life hack how to brake the rule not really braking it)

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute story and easy to understand French too 😊

[Emily Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning

The illustrations felt soft and inviting. This was a very cute book and a great way to integrate another language into your children’s library of book!

[Chelsea Kong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

A fun way to learn Spanish in talking about the things you love. Nelly loves many things. Her friends share what they love too. It's a nice children's book.

[Carin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super sweet book with a great ending

I loved the message in this book. Always keep your box filled even if you rotate things in and out. What a great message!

[Μιχαήλ Σιδηρόπουλος · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very sweet story with beautiful illustrations.
Little Nelly's integration into school with other bilingual children and their warm welcome by the teacher through a fun game.

[Hanife · Rating 5 out of 5]

çok tatlı bir kitap.