Le Tour de la France par deux enfants

Le Tour de la France par deux enfants (1877) is a French novel/geography/travel/school book.

The book was widely used in the schools of the Third Republic, where it was influential for generations of children in creating a sense of a unified nation of France.

The story recounts the journey of two young brothers from Phalsbourg in Lorraine, Andrew and Julian Volden, who, following the annexation of the Alsace-Lorraine by the Prussians in the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War, and the death of their father, go in search of family members through the French provinces.

The accumulated wealth of knowledge—agriculture, home economics, hygiene—leads them to establish a perfect farm called "La Grand'Lande", symbolic of the nation of France.

Media related to Le Tour de la France par deux enfants at Wikimedia Commons