The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [41]
Wear high heels. This may not sound so dangerous, but without practice you can fall or twist an ankle. For your first time in heels, borrow someone else’s, and make sure to start on a hard surface like wood. Once you’re feeling steady on your feet, give carpeting a try. If you can wear heels on a thick carpet, you can do anything. Eventually, if it’s a skill you want to learn, you’ll be able to run, jump, and do karate in three-inch heels.
Stand up for yourself—or someone else. It’s scary to feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t agree, but when something’s wrong, a daring girl speaks up, for herself or someone who needs an ally. Summon your courage and raise your voice—real bravery is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.
Try sushi or another exotic food. California rolls do not count. For the true daring girl try some natto (fermented soy beans) or escargot (snails).
Dye your hair purple. Sometimes the scariest thing is just being a little bit different, even for a day. There are many hair dyes that wash out after a few weeks—so you can experience what it would be like to have a lime-green ponytail without having to wait for all your hair to grow out to change it again.
French Terms of Endearment, Expressions, and Other Items of Note
FRENCH TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
* * *
Mon petit chou
“My little cabbage.” Can be used romantically to mean
“my darling,” or said to a younger person (“my little one.”)
Bonjour mon petit chou, t’as passé une bonne journée?
“Hello my little cabbage, did you have a good day?”
Ma puce
“My flea”
Bonne nuit, ma puce!
“Goodnight, my flea!”
FUN WORDS TO SAY
* * *
Pamplemousse
(Pom-pel-moose) grapefruit
Aubergine
(Oh-bear-jean) eggplant
Chantilly
(Shan-tee) whipped cream
(or a kind of lace)
Gros
(Grow) big
Dodo
(Doe-doe) a baby’s naptime
Coucou
(Coo-coo) Hello there!
EXPRESSIONS
* * *
Avoir un chat dans la gorge
To have a cat in your throat.
(Like the expression, “I have a frog in my throat.”)
Revenons a nos moutons.
Let’s get back to our sheep.
(Meaning, return to the subject at hand.)
Oui, quand les poules auront des dents.
Yes, when chicken have teeth. (Like the expression, “When pigs fly!”)
WHAT TO ORDER AT A RESTAURANT
* * *
Bonjour, Monsieur. Puis-je avoir un croque monsieur avec une salade verte? Et aussi un coca s’il vous plaît?
Hello, sir. May I please have a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a green salad? And a Coke, please.
BOOKS WITH A FRENCH SETTING
* * *
Madeline
by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Eloise in Paris
by Kay Thompson
Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Victor Hugo
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas
Joan of Arc
One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.—Joan of Arc
JOAN WAS BORN around 1412 in the small town of Domrémy in France, on the border of the provinces of Champagne and Lorraine, to Jacques d’Arc and Isabelle Romée. She grew up helping her father and brothers work the land and helping her mother, a devout woman, tend the house.
The year she turned twelve, she became convinced that there was something special about her—a destiny she alone could fulfill. She began hearing the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, whom she believed had been sent by God to inform her of her divine mission to save France. So compelled was she by the urgency of these voices that by the time she was fifteen she cut her hair, began dressing in a man’s uniform, and took up arms.
France and England were deep into the Hundred Years’ War at this point. At that time in
history, the two nations were not as separate as they are now, and there was a battle raging over who should be king of the general area. By 1429,