Hello, readers! When you open up King of the Tightrope: When the Great Blondin Ruled Niagara, you’ll notice that the story is peppered with French words and phrases. It’s fun to guess the pronunciations, but here are some audio pronunciations to help you get the readings just right.

s'amuser! (have fun!)

Grand-père—grandfather
Fléchis—inflect or bend
Ouverts—open or wide
équilibre—balanced
Corde—rope
Non—no
Mesdames et Messieurs—ladies and gentlemen
Les enfants—children
Hourra!—hurray!
Magnifique!—magnificent!
Très bon— very good
Ordinaire—ordinary
Fantastique!—fantastic!
Oui, s’il vous plait!— yes please
Merveilleux— wonderful or marvelous
Tout de suite—right away
Sensationnel— sensational
Voilà— in this context, it means done or there it is
Arrêtez— stop
Dangereux— dangerous
Le milieu— the middle
Extrordinaire—extraordinary
Oui— yes
La fin— the end