The texts analysed are two books for children by Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys and Tanglewood Tales respectively published in 1851 and 1853. There are three French translations of these works: (1)  Le livre des merveilles ±première partie» (1858) and Le livre des merveilles ±deuxième partie» (1858) translated by Léonce Rabillon. (2)  De merveilleuses histoires (1928) and Les contes prodigieux (1939) translated by Henry Borjane. (3)  Le livre des merveilles (1952) translated by Pierre Leyris.  We present the theoretical concepts behind this study, examine the biography of the writer (Hawthorne), analyse the critical reception of the two works in English and French as well as the habitus of the three translators/adapter and present an analysis of the three translations/adaptation. We conclude with a sociological synthesis on the data obtained in this thesis.