Caillou is the main fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the Canadian animated television series

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 Caillou

Caillou

Caillou is a Canadian children's television show based on the books by author Christine L'Heureux and illustrator Hélène Desputeaux. Many of the stories in the animated version began with a grandmother introducing the story to her grandchildren, then reading the story about the book...

. He was first voiced by Bryn McAuley

Bryn McAuley

Bryn McAuley, born in 1989, is a voice actress whose roles have included Caillou on the television series of the same name, Anne Shirley on "Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series", Sam on Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs, Gina Lash on Angela Anaconda, Harriet on Franklin, Oyster on Toad...

 in 1996, and later by Jaclyn Linetsky

Jaclyn Linetsky

Jaclyn Michelle Linetsky was a Canadian actress who voiced Caillou from 2000-2003. She also provided the voices for Bitzi in the 2002 animated series Daft Planet, Lori Mackney in What's With Andy? , and Meg in Mega Babies...

 from 2000-2003. However, due to her death in 2003, Jaclyn was replaced in Annie Bovaird

Annie Bovaird

Lindsay Anne Bovaird is a Canadian actress who voiced Caillou in the animated TV Series. She began in the role in Caillou's Holiday Movie due to Jaclyn Linetsky's death in a car crash. She also voiced Elsa in Creepschool, Zaza in Dragon Hunters, Denim Farqueson in The Tournament and was in other...

. Caillou was first shown in the episode "Caillou Makes Cookies" which aired in 1998.

Caillou's name comes from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 word Caillou, meaning pebble

Pebble

A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimetres based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles . A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate...

, and from a ritual created by Dr. Françoise Dolto (1908–1988). Reflecting her philosophy of respect for the child as a person, she asked children to give her pebbles as a symbolic payment for her consultations, thus giving children complete freedom of choice regarding their treatment.

Role

Caillou is a 4-year-old boy with a vivid imagination with friends and family who help him navigate the trials and tribulations of growing up.In season 1 he was 2–3 years old and wore a gray shirt, but later he wore a yellow shirt. Caillou and his family live in a two-story blue house, living next door to Mr. Hinkle's House, whose address is mentioned in one episode: 17 Pine St. His nickname is the "Prince of Imagination". Caillou started attending preschool in the more recent episodes of the show.

History

The character was created in 1990 as a nine-month-old baby without a hair on his head. He owes his popularity to the combined talents of author and publisher Christine L'Heureux and illustrator Hélène Desputeaux. From the very first Caillou book, Christine L'Heureux's goal was to help children develop their own unique personalities while learning to live in harmony with the world around them. She wanted to create a human figure for children's books, a departure from the common practice of using animals as the main characters in books for babies and young children. The theory was that by making Caillou human, children could more easily identify with Caillou because they are so much like him. As a result, they feel close to him and can better see themselves in each Caillou story.

Caillou's name comes from the French word caillou, meaning pebble

Pebble

A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimetres based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles . A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate...

, and from a ritual created by Dr. Françoise Dolto. Reflecting her philosophy of respect for the child as a person, she asked children to give her pebbles as a symbolic payment for her consultations, thus giving children complete freedom of choice regarding their treatment.

Because they believed that it was important for babies to play with books, they created “Baby Caillou”. This imprint had a new logo and was characterized by a soothing pastel palette, setting this collection apart from the primary colors for which their other books are so well known. The baby Caillou titles are currently only available in Canada. In the first season of the show, Caillou was only 3 years old and wore a gray shirt. He first appeared in the show as a 3-year-old in the first episode "Caillou Makes Cookies". He later he wore a yellow shirt in the more recent seasons of the show, since season 2.

External links

• Caillou on PBS Kids
• Caillou on PBS Kids (French)
• Caillou on Sprout
• Chouette publishing (publishers of Caillou)
• Official Caillou Website
• Hélène Desputeaux official site