This supplementary French-language reader provides teachers and students with authentic historical documents describing the French exploration and settlement of the lower Mississippi Valley in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. More than a hundred selections of varying lengths and in a range of difficulty from intermediate to advanced provide lively subject matter, including French and Indian diplomacy and wars, the earliest appearance of Africans in the Mississippi Valley, and some of the first European observations of the natural history of the region. Each selection includes an English introduction, marginal vocabulary, and French study questions. The book is generously illustrated with contemporary engravings and woodcuts. Developed with the advice of classroom teachers from secondary schools and colleges, Rencontres sur le Mississipi, 1682-1763 offers the creative teacher an opportunity to anchor the language-learning experience in historical texts to the natural environment and geography already familiar to students.

There are three books in the series: Elemental, Intermediate, and Advanced. Each level's book offers a selection of original texts, containing a great deal of local colour and many light touches of humour. Each reading includes a series of exercises (to practise grammar, vocabulary, etc.) and games (as letter soups and crosswords). Each book also includes a bilingual glossary.