When the family of “La Petite Poule” expands
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Initially, there was only one gallinaceous female. In 2000, Christian Heinrich, drawing, and Christian Jolibois, screenplay, laid The Little Hen who wanted to see the sea, first as a play, then as a book (at Pocket Jeunesse, like all the others). Christian Jolibois, a farmer’s son, explains to the World how she came up with the idea of telling Carméla’s journey to America, where she meets her Piticok: “Like Christian Heinrich, I grew up among chickens. So this animal imposed itself. The desire to see the sea is also a bit me: I only discovered it when I was 14 years old. What I wanted to do in this first story is contradict the saying that curiosity is a bad thing. »
After the success of this album, Pocket invites them to expand the family. A year and a half later, the series “Les P’tites Poules” begins, which focuses on Carmelita’s children: Carmen and Carmélito. Throughout the adventures, readers also meet their companions Coquenpâte, Liverpoul and Coquillette. The many puns and references invite a double reading: “We must not forget that children love to read the same story several times, sometimes to the chagrin of parents. The winks that we address to them allow us to maintain a form of jubilation among the older ones. » And it hits the mark: the albums total, according to their publisher, Valentine Lenglet, 5.7 million copies sold.
” Cooking time “
When it comes to describing their recipe, Christian Heinrich compares it to “a cooking time that is spread over four meetings, where each plays the opponent of the other in an incessant game of ping-pong”. These moments of complicity, which precede seven months of labor during which everyone works at their table, allow the story to be pushed to its limits, as Christian Jolibois recounts: “I remember having first imagined a square henhouse, like in my childhood, when Christian presented me with the boards of a round henhouse like an enormous egg. And there I exclaimed: “Yes, of course!” » Christian Heinrich adds: “What you have to understand is that the language we defend is neither the text nor the image, but the story. »
“Society continues to be formidable. We still have our place to explain what the world is to children” – Christian Jolibois
History yes, History too. Because the peregrinations of the little hens lead them to cross paths with many historical or legendary celebrities: Christopher Columbus, Galileo, but also Gargantua or Puss in Boots… The style must adapt: “We mix apparently incompatible graphics which generally require a day’s work per page: painted in acrylic on traditional paper, with some digital retouching, the cartoon characters evolve in very elaborate realistic settings”, explains Christian Heinrich. This allows him to reconnect with the documentary drawing by which he was formed, and from which he had to detach himself: “It took a lot of effort to succeed in modeling these little hens. Gradually, the feathers became fingers, and the wings arms. It took a very long time to turn them into comic characters. »
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