Little brown bear – who is it? Where is he from ? What are its networks?

” Oh oh lo, there’s someone Little Brown Bear / Hello are you my friend Little Brown Bear / Always be your rascal, my cunning bear »

All right ? Do you all have this in mind? (If not, I envy you…)

Today, on Daronne, we decided to tell you the behind-the-scenes story of the birth of the most famous (and also the most annoying) teddy bear in children’s literature. Who invented it? When ? We tell you everything!

Petit Ours Brun, a French creation for Pomme d’Api magazine

Let’s start with information that should put the Demonstration for all in PLS: the little brown bear has two mothers. Well, okay, not in the books where it has a papa bear who works and reads the paper, and a mama bear who does just about everything around the house.

But in real life, the Petits Ours Brun character was dreamed up in 1975 for the magazine Little apple, by Bayard jeunesse, of two women. A French teacher, Claude Lebrun, and an illustrator, Danièle Bour.

Several authors then followed one another to write the adventures of Petit Ours Brun, and Marie Aubinais has been at the helm for almost thirty years. The illustrator still sticks to the position from 1975.

This is how Danièle Bour recounts the creation of this character, in a special edition released for the 40th anniversary of Petit Ours Brun.

“When Pomme d’Api asked me in 1975 to create Petit Ours Brun, the character already existed in my family: he was my four-year-old boy who was also called Martin, like most bears. Over time, Martin has grown, grown… and Little Brown Bear has remained the same! »

Danièle Bour, illustrator of Petit Ours Brun

Little Brown Bear, a family story

For several years now, the creation of illustrations for the stories of Petit Ours Brun has even become a family affair, ever since Danièle Bour created them with his children Céline, Laura and Martin, to whom he passed on his passion for drawing.

Each month, the young readers of Little apple AND popi happily find the hero, his father, mother, friends and girlfriends, as well as all his animals (yes, this family of bears has a cat and a canary, that’s weird, but why not).

The Adventures of Little Brown Bear has also spawned a multitude of books and has even been adapted into cartoons three times, the latter of which easily wins the award for most painful title on the small screen.

Translated into Russian, Spanish, German, Dutch and even Breton, Little Brown Bear’s adventures even resulted in a musical!

Little Brown Bear tells the emotions of the little ones

If over the years the look of Petit Ours Brun and its environment have evolved – just like the somewhat sexist clichés that studded certain stories – what makes the teddy bear successful has not changed: telling the daily life of a child of 3 years -old child, as close as possible to his emotions, with accuracy and sincerity.

“Petit Ours Brun tells the emotions of the little ones in everyday life. So I try to capture these emotions and translate them as accurately as possible. For this I observe the children, I question them or their parents. Then I invent my little story in seven scenes. The truth of these experiences, I believe, allows readers to acknowledge their own and put it into words. »

Marie Aubinais, author of Little Brown Bear

This is probably why Little Brown Bear annoys parents who find these stories silly: we’re just not the target. That, and his demonic credits that will hang in your head all day.