Where is the French Mother Goose?

Part of the allure of coming to France (apart from the wine),and living somewhat embedded in the culture here, was an opportunity to experience the culture as up close and personal as it gets for someone who was not born and raised here.  (Can one truly be considered a Frenchman (or French woman) if they haven't been born and raised here? Does it take one generation, two?  I'm very interested in finding out...)  In particular, I was excited to explore and learn about the popular culture for young children. What is on the shelves in the grocery stores, and the book stores?  What children's entertainers do they celebrate?  What music do they listen to, what is on television for the children on weekends (and Wednesday mornings)? What is their equivalent of Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes?  What cartoon characters are on their clothes and backpacks in this branded world that we live in?  Are there many branded clothes here for children?

When I first walked into a supermarket, and browsed the multimedia aisles, I saw an explosion of dubbed Disney and other Hollywood favourites.  There are some, few, original French movies and television shows for children for sale on the shelves, but by and large, they seem to have imported a lot of what is popular from Disney and Nick Jr. and the rest of Hollywood.  I guess the Mouse really does almost rule the world!   Oh, and they really seem to like Garfield, and Scooby-Doo, here.  A lot!  These cartoons are on French public television all the time!  Although, to be fair, there are a very large number of imported programs for children from Britain, which we are very familiar with in English, because we have imported them into Canada, too.  They do have Toupie et Binou here, a cute but annoying cartoon that was at least partly developed in Quebec, and exists already in Canada in both languages.

I have asked a couple of people about "French" children's programming, and was told that there are a lot of imports from Britain and America, which I had noticed already.  The lack of emphasis on "made in France" children's programming seems odd to me, but then again, I am Canadian, a child of the CRTC, and an interested observer in Quebec's fight to preserve her language and culture.   (And has Britain carved a niche for themselves with respect to clever children's programs?  Clever and annoying programs??)

Of the French children's movies that we have enjoyed, our two favourites are « Chasseurs de Dragons », by Guillaume Ivernel et Arthur Qwak, a delightfully animated French-only DVD that our whole family has enjoyed too many times to count, and « Brendan et le secret de Kells » , with language options of French and Breton (Irish), as well as English in other regions, by Tomm Moore.  I am stretching the French-only claim for Brendan, as it is a France-Ireland-Belgium production. (I also think that I completely lucked out when I purchased these two DVDs.  They are very very good stories, with a magnificent visual presence. Keepers, for sure.)

Through the course of the school year, we have learned of  several different magazines that we can subscribe to for our children (at multiple ages and skill levels), and children's book clubs.  We will be taking advantage of some of these to keep in touch a little bit with the culture of youth in France, and to track how the language differs from our Canadian French. 

As far as branded clothes and accessories for children, OF COURSE!  We really do live in a global world.  Pokeman, Dora the Explorer, Charlotte aux Fraises (aka Strawberry Shortcake), Spiderman and other superheroes, top the list of the usual suspects.  

I shall keep looking around, and noting from where the cartoons and children's programs originate.  And at the same time as I look for "made in France" children's content, I will keep my eyes open for more of the "made in Canada" programs for my children.