do you have a son who loves to watch the popular animated series pj masks? When you visit the library, does your child insist on checking out the PJ Masks picture books every time? You know what I’m talking about: those skinny little paperbacks that take words and pictures straight from the TV show.
There are many books like that, which were created from a popular children’s television series. but! What if I told you that in the case of PJ Masks, it was the TV series that came out of the books? no, not the paperbacks I mentioned earlier, but a series of French books called les pyjamasques. I didn’t know that, you might be thinking. neither did i, until children’s book author leslie van zee shared this interesting information with me. And now, Leslie is here to share more about Les Pajamasques with you.
You are reading: Les pyjamasques books in english
les pyjamasques: a sneaky way to arouse children’s interest in learning French
by leslie van zee
Hello blog readers! As an aspiring children’s book author and mother of two preschoolers, I am an avid fan of picture books. but I’m also a working mom, and I’ll confess that my kids get a heavy dose of video time in addition to reading time.
To alleviate my parents’ guilt over this, I try to at least control the programs they consume. by doing so, I end up attached to some of the programs almost as much as my children. One of the series that we like the most in our house is that of pj masks.
for those unfamiliar with them, the pj masks are a trio of preschoolers who gain superpowers when they put on their special pajamas. then they go out into the night to foil the plans of their mischievous arch-rivals.
My children, ages 5 and 3, love the series. That said, I would still prefer my little ones to read books, so I went to see if there were any picture books based on the series.
lo and behold, the show is actually based on a series of picture books called les pyjamasques that have been popular in france for over a decade.
Created by author and illustrator Romuald Racioppo, there are 25 books in the series, beginning with Les Pajamasques et le Grogarou (2007) and continuing through Les Pajamasques et la Momie d’Apophis, Volume II (2019).
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all the characters in the tv series come from characters in the books, although the names are a little different. the main protagonists are:
- connor/cat from the tv series is known in the books as night yoyo.
- greg/gekko is known as gluglu at night.
- amaya / owlette is known as bibou at night, and in the early stories she was actually a boy.
it is a pity that none of the books of les pyjamasques have been translated into English, because they really are a delight. the illustrations are rich and full of details and energy, much more painterly and organic in style than the cartoon series. the plots of each book are also much less formulaic, and share much more imaginative scenes and settings as a result.
I also like that the line between good and evil is more fluid in the books. for example, in one story, the pajamas try to stop a gang of arch-rivals from breaking into a candy machine, but then they decide that they want candy too, and end up sharing the candy all together. I can’t help but adore these little quirks of realism. yes, it’s good to encourage good morals and teamwork, but the TV series sometimes gets a bit preachy about it.
To give you an idea of what the books are like, here is a review of the third book, les pyjamasques et lilifée. having read all the books online, I think this is a good representative of the series.
synopsis:
It’s a snowy night and a fairy-like creature named lilifée descends from the sky to make artistic creations out of snow.
She is delicate and cultured, in contrast to the boisterous antics of the three little masked children who intrude on her scene.
Who are these masked acrobats of the night? they are les pyjamasques: bibou, gluglu and yoyo (which are the three children in the first books).
everyone is captivated by her beauty and begins to compete for her attention. When her antics and superiority send a barrage of snowballs at Lillifee’s snowman, he springs to life and bursts out of the snowbank to chase after them.
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However, being Lillifee’s creation, the snowman is not as dangerous as he seems and just wants to present you with a beautiful snow flower. This is the right way to win their favor, they learn pajamas.
my thoughts:
As with all books, there are some very imaginative concepts here. i like the fact that lilifée’s snowman is a copy of one of the giant headed statues on easter island, and that the whole body is in the snow underneath. the characters are very engaging, one can’t help but smile at their antics. the plot is well paced for 3-5 year olds, and the little twist at the end is so cute.
I’m not fluent in French at all, so I can’t speak too much about the quality of romuald’s prose. but it seems very authentically french to me, like in little details like lilifée dismissing pajama snowmen as works of bad taste.
I would encourage even parents who are not fluent in French to consider picking up a copy of one of these books. is a great way to expose your children to a foreign language.
I probably have an intermediate level of understanding of French, and with that and the helpful google translate, I can get the gist of things well enough to satisfy my little ones, as evidenced by regular requests for these books at bedtime.
If you’re interested in learning more about this series, there’s a lot of information compiled into a wiki here at fandom.com. you can order the books through amazon.fr or from the publisher’s website: gallimard-jeunesse.
leslie van zee is a mother, children’s book author, and former euphonist who lives with her family in the san francisco bay area. By day, she develops corporate communications designed to resonate with adult audiences, and by night, she creates stories to accommodate her children in bed who often make them too nervous to sleep. she loves jazz fusion, podcasts and singing silly songs while she does the housework. visit her blog stories.leslievanzee.com for more book reviews, original stories, and thoughts on balancing work and parenting.
thanks for stopping by, leslie! this was very interesting, and i especially like the original illustrations by romuald racioppo. precious!
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