Caillou

Ok, I confess it to you now — I had no idea who Caillou was until I was given an opportunity to look through a variety of children books based on the character. Some people named Jennifer not naming names frequently tease me because I never seem to know what’s on tv or who or what things are. We don’t have television (although we do have a tv and most definitely make good use of DVDs) and so I’m frequently behind PBS crazes. The same could be said of the Caillou craze. I had no idea what it was. SO I learned a little and explored some new books with my son.

Our hands down favorite of the set of books that we looked through was the Caillou ABC Train Puzzle Book. This is a thick, hardy, and dependable type of book. Each page spread features three letters of the alphabet, all on a train car, and has three corresponding puzzle pieces to go with it. This book is solidly well made and given our fascination with trains, was a really winner. I also liked it because each puzzle piece has a letter on it and since we’ve been working on letter recognition, this book was useful as well as entertaining. This particular book does not focus on the character of Caillou at all, really, although he is featured within the pages. It is more about the letters of the alphabet and how they relate to the animals and items which are riding the train. My son thinks this book is just about trains and the alphabets. This book is just fun.

Another fun book in the set is My First Vacation which is a lift-the-flap book. In this particular story (which is simply told) Caillou is going on an airplane trip with his parents. As children read along with the story, they can lift the flaps to see inside the cockpit and to look at the clouds outside the airplane window. Caillou learns about headphones and music (by accidentally turning the volume up on his dad’s headphones!) and eating on a plane. And seriously – Caillou gets better food on an airplane than I’ve seen in some time! Juice, fresh bread, jam, cheese and fruit? They’d probably tack on an extra $50 food charge to your airline ticket if you wanted to be served such fine and delicious delicacies these days!

There is a Caillou Boxed Set of five hardbound books with the following stories inside: Caillou sleeps over, Caillou Makes a Snowman, Caillou Puts Away His Toys, Caillou Plans a Surprise, and Caillou and Rosie’s Doll. These stories are touted as being scenarios that young children can connect to as being familiar life situations — from accidentally messing up a sister’s toy, to attempting to make breakfast for the family (which is hard for a short person with minimal hand/eye coordination to do!) to cleaning up toys and messes. I remember making breakfast for my parents as a surprise one morning. I also remember them suggesting that while my gesture was sincere and sweet, they wouldn’t expect me to do it every morning. Ah well. I kindly meant it and they knew that.

Caillou is illustrated in a simplistic and colorful manner. In some ways, the drawings make me think of Peanut cartoons. Then again, it could be Caillou’s bald head reminds me of Charlie Brown’s bald head! Still, it’s very simplistic and straight forward in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get sort of way.

I was glad for a chance to become more familiar with this character. Apparently he’s a well-known INTERNATIONAL cartoon character who has been around since 1987. Being that I was, er, well, still young enough to notice cartoons you’d think I would remember something about it. Alas, no.

Feeling more up-to-date now, thanks!

Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.