(Continued)

Before going to the printer, a book is usually prepared by a publishing house. The publisher is the person who organizes the sketches of the pictures and the text of the book that we want to publish (like Ginette Anfousse's pencil drawings, for example). The publisher acts a little like a judge or a fortune-teller -- if he (or she) thinks that the rough copy has a chance of becoming an interesting book, then he (or she) agrees to publish it. Even the word "house" in "publishing house" sounds rather reassuring, don't you think?

At the beginning, Ginette Anfousse had no intention of creating a book. Her characters could have been in a film because, at that time, the author was working on television programs. She knew all about it and she knew how to go about it. But, after lying in a drawer for several years, her story became a book. Then she created a second, then many others.

Except for the last one, the thirteenth book in the series, Ginette Anfousse always handed over two stories to her publisher at a time. Two stories of words and pictures. The book School, the seventh in the series, was published at the same time as The Party. It was the Le Tamanoir publishing house, which later became La courte échelle, which risked the money to publish Ginette Anfousse's books. As you no doubt guessed, you have to pay for the paper, the ink, the colour in the pictures, the binding, especially when you print 2000 or 3000 books at a time! You also have to pay all the people who to produce the book.

It is also the publisher who looks after translating the books so that people who speak English, Spanish, Russian, Italian or other languages can also enjoy them.

The publisher of La courte échelle liked Ginette Anfousse's ideas very much. That is why he published the thirteen books in the series "The Adventures of Jojo and Pichou". And he continues to order reprints when there are none left in the book stores. The publisher plays an important role with the authors. He advises them, encourages them and makes beautiful books from their stories!