10 things you didn't know about : 'Mystere dans la forêt des contes'
HANDMADE:
The text under the objects is handwritten and the illustrations are all in gouache and colored pencil.
OMA OMA OMA:
The contents of Red Riding Hood's grandmother's bag are inspired by 4 different grandmothers : my mommy (iron, brig of orange juice), my mommy (pill box for days of the week, fountain pen), my great-grandmother (underpants) and a friend's grandmother (basket for picking roses).
THREE BELGIAN PIGLETS:
The items of the three little pigs refer to objects of mine (a bear with an orange dress, headphones, planning...) and my 2 younger sisters (frog-cuddly toy, portable record player and dog on wheels). Three guesses who the piglet with the house of stone is a.k.a the piglet who likes to craft and draw :)
NO WINE FOR GRANDMA:
At first, in Red Riding Hood's bag, there were a whole bunch of crown corks and... wine! The Tintin comic book in the wolf's bag was also a no-go. Not to mention : the phone number I had invented for the hunter... Oops. Fortunately, that was quickly solved by leaving out a few digits.
MONSIEUR SEGUIN:
Many French people link the goat's milk in the hunter's backpack to the story ''la chèvre de Monsieur Seguin'' - a gruesome children's story by author Alphonse Daudet in which a goat is eaten by the wolf. To me, goat's milk is more reminiscent of the fairy tale of the wolf and the seven goats. But then, to each his own, right?
A BOOK WITHOUT TEXT:
The first version had no text, just descriptions under the objects. The idea of looking for lost objects in the book and going by each character only came later.
101 HOURS:
The idea for this book grew out of a school project on the theme of order and disorder. The school where I studied illustration (CESAN in Paris) organized a week (101 hours) in which we were allowed to work on a children's book proposal.
WHAT'S IN MY BAG:
But it also originated from one of my guilty pleasures : "What's in my bag" - videos of movie stars showing what's in their handbags and Instagram posts of people traveling and displaying their luggage on their beds.
FRENCH, GERMAN AND DUTCH BASKETS:
Little Red Riding Hood does not always bring the same things to her grandmother. In the Netherlands, in some versions, she brings cookies and milk. In Belgium and Germany there is a bottle of wine and cake. And sometimes flowers and apples. In France, we find a small jar of butter and a "galette" in the basket.
IS LITTLE RED A BOY ?:
In French, little red is a "he" - "le" chaperon rouge. That took some getting used to at first and Chloe, my publisher, had to correct me more than once.
