French Children's Literature: Periodicals


Figure 1.--Cartoon magazines were very popular with French children. This one is "la patrouille des Castors" about French Scouts. It was included in "Le journal de Spirou" which actually was publisghed in Belgium.

We are unsure if the French had 19th periodical children's magazines as were so popular in England. French readers tell us that France had several periodical children's magazines in the post World War II era. A complicating factor here is that several magazines that were very popular in France were actually punlished in Belgium. The most popular magazine for younger children was Roudoudou which came out one or twice monthly. There were also several popular magazines for teenagers. Coeur Vaillant (Valliant Heart) was a popular boys' magazine. It came out each Thursday and had a Catholic view. Vaillant and Tintin was another popular weekly boys magazine. Lisette was a popular girls' magazine. These cheaply printed magazines dealt with a variety of different topics of interest to children. A French reader writes, "Personnaly, being a good Catholic boy, I loved Coeur Vaillant and also, as a younger boy, Roudoudou ". One the oldest French magazine was "La semaine de Suzette". It was mainly for girls. it dates from 1905. The main heroes was "Becassine". We note quite a number of children's magazines that were comics. There were several popular comic magazines in France. One was "Le journal de Spirou" (actually published in Belgium) which began publishing in 1939. It inclided Spiron of course, with the "Marsupilami", but also "la patrouille des castors", "boule et bill", "buck Danny", "Gaston lagaffe" , "Natacha", "Yoko Tsuno" and "the smurfs". Le journal Tintin was first published in 1946, also in Belgium. It inclided "Tintin" along with "Blake and Mortimer", "Ric Hochet", "Modeste et Pompon", "Alix", "Corentin". All the french cartoons between 1945 and 1980 were found in these two magazine. After, came "Pilote" which was a French magazine, in which we found "Asterix", "Jacques Legall" and "Barbe Rouge". The illustrators were the cartoonist of other cartoons in the Belgian magazines.

Traditional Magazines

We are unsure if the French had 19th periodical children's magazines as were so popular in England. French readers have mentioned some titles, but we do not yet know very much about them. One old French magazine were: "L'Epatant (1908) with the "Pieds Nickeles" (Author Forton) and "Bibi Fricotin". Another old french magazine for girls was Lisette. French readers tell us that France had several periodical children's magazines in the post World War II era. A complicating factor here is that several magazines that were very popular in France were actually punlished in Belgium. The most popular magazine for younger children was Roudoudou which came out one or twice monthly. There were also several popular magazines for teenagers. Coeur Vaillant (Valliant Heart) was a popular boys' magazine. It came out each Thursday and had a Catholic view. Vaillant and Tintin was another popular weekly boys magazine. Lisette was a popular girls' magazine. These cheaply printed magazines dealt with a variety of different topics of interest to children. A French reader writes, "Personnaly, being a good Catholic boy, I loved Coeur Vaillant and also, as a younger boy, Roudoudou ". One the oldest French magazine was "La semaine de Suzette". It was mainly for girls. it dates from 1905. The main heroes was "Becassine". We note quite a number of children's magazines that were comics.

Cartoon Magazines

There were several popular comic magazines in France. One was "Le journal de Spirou" (actually published in Belgium) which began publishing in 1939. It inclided Spiron of course, with the "Marsupilami", but also "la patrouille des castors", "boule et bill", "buck Danny", "Gaston lagaffe" , "Natacha", "Yoko Tsuno" and "the smurfs". Le journal Tintin was first published in 1946, also in Belgium. It inclided "Tintin" along with "Blake and Mortimer", "Ric Hochet", "Modeste et Pompon", "Alix", "Corentin". All the French cartoons between 1945 and 1980 were found in these two magazine. After, came "Pilote" which was a French magazine, in which we found "Asterix", "Jacques Legall" and "Barbe Rouge". The illustrators were the cartoonist of other cartoons in the Belgian magazines. American boys did not subscribe to comic books like magazines, but rather brought them in the "drug store". I'm not sure how these French comic magazines were distributed.








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Created: October 4, 2002
Last updated: October 4, 2002