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I recall reading a series of French books in the 1980's about a group of kids who had some time travel adventures (maybe among other types of adventures). The books might have been pre-1980's

In one of the stories, the kids were travelling to the future, but ended up in a medieval time. Eventually, it was revealed that they were indeed in the future, but there had been a nuclear incident in the area and society had organized itself in a medieval fashion. The area was in France, maybe Bretagne and generally in a forest setting.

Another book was about how one of the kids had Viking ancestors, and he was navigating a Viking ship as if by instinct, he was remembering how to navigate by stars.

Another plot, perhaps in another book in the series: their time travel had accidentally brought in some dinosaur into medieval times, and they had to collect the ingredients for gunpowder (salpetre?), and then blew up what the medieval folks believed to be a dragon, maybe into a cave.

Pretty sure it was not "Les 6 compagnons" or "Le club des cinq"

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  • Hi, welcome to SF&F. Were these book hardcovers or paperbacks? Do you remember any of the covers?
    – DavidW
    Commented May 7 at 23:02
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    Hum... really not sure. Leaning towards hardcovers. Did some titles or series spring to mind?
    – TomEberhard
    Commented May 7 at 23:06
  • Not for me, sorry, just trying to tease out as many details as possible because it's hard to tell what might trigger someone's memory.
    – DavidW
    Commented May 7 at 23:07
  • Could it be "Les 4 voyageurs" by François Appas? It featured a group of children/teenagers traveling to various periods in time, thanks to a machine designed by a scientist. You can find some excerpts on Gallica (gallica.bnf.fr). I don't know about a story involving a dinosaur or a nuclear incident, but in one of the books, they travel back to Viking times: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k48086008. However, it's a book series from the 1990s.
    – J-J-J
    Commented May 8 at 9:46
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    Thank you @J-J-J but that's not the one. I've definitively read it between 1981 and 1989, so 1996 would be too late. However, the book cover reminded me that it was a series in "Bibliothèque Verte".
    – TomEberhard
    Commented May 9 at 19:49

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It sounds like The Fantastic Conquerors (Les Conquérants de l'impossible) by Philippe Ébly:

  • It's a book series that started in the 1970s.
  • The main characters are young, and time-travel.
  • One of the story involves time travel to the future, where the society where they end up has been isolated for centuries and a lot of technology has been lost, due to a nuclear explosion. This is set in Brittany.
  • One of the books features a character taking a drug that triggers memories and personality from his Viking ancestor, making him want to navigate on the Atlantic ocean.
  • Another story involves dinosaurs, but I couldn't find more details about it.
  • In comments, you mention that it was published in the collection "Bibliothèque verte", which is the case.
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    Yes!!! Thank you J-J-J those are indeed the books. Gonna re-read them in French :)
    – TomEberhard
    Commented May 9 at 20:47
  • @TomEberhard Glad to help :) It was very helpful that you mentioned the "Bibliothèque verte" book collection.
    – J-J-J
    Commented May 9 at 20:49

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