(Continued)

Pichou

The other character in the books by Ginette Anfousse is Pichou, my-very-small-baby-aardvark-who-really-eats-ants. He hardly ever opens his mouth. Pichou goes everywhere with Jojo but he never speaks. He can't even whisper! But he does listen! And a friend who listens is very special. Maybe you also have a person close to you who knows how to listen to you. Is their name very long too?

When you don't know very much about an animal, it is very helpful to give it a name that says what it does, like my-very-small-baby-aardvark-who-really-eats-ants in Ginette Anfousse's book. It's like saying bear-cub-with-fur-that-tickles or the dog-who-guards-the-house-and-who-barks-at-robbers!

An anteater, or aardvark, is an animal that we don't see much around here. It lives mostly in hot countries, like in South America, and can grow to be as big as a dog. An anteater in our cold regions would be very unusual! In Ginette Anfousse's story, the anteater is more than that. It is rare and precious, like someone we really love a lot, who is unique and irreplaceable.

Framed portrait of Pichou Copyright/Source

Speaking of the anteater, something really surprising happened. This is called a "coincidence". When Ginette Anfousse decided to give an anteater to her character Jojo, she really didn't know that the first books in the original French Jiji and Pichou series would be published by a publishing house called LE TAMANOIR (which means The Anteater)! This publishing house has since changed its name and is now called LA COURTE ÉCHELLE.

Back cover of Mon ami Pichou (Le Tamanoir) Copyright/Source

Back cover of L'École (La courte échelle) Copyright/Source

Later on, when you have learned more about how books are created, you will see how useful a publishing house is. In the meantime, there is still a character for you to discover.