Pierre Probst: Fanfan Series

There is another small series that Probst created with some different characters that are similar to the Caroline characters, but different. They appear to have been around for awhile, too. I call this the Fanfan series since, like Caroline, there is one main human character and several animals, the main character being a boy called Fanfan (in French).

This series has a slightly different bent to it, more of "moral" stories than the simple Caroline adventures. Fanfan and his friends go about rescuing animals, and the environment, in cute stories that seem a little more grown up.

I have seen the series in four language editions: French, Spanish, and two in English (American and Australian). Each has a different name for each of the four major characters in the Fanfan series. Funny that the some translations use some of the names from the Caroline series, but not for the same animals! Also interesting that in the Australian versions, the author is listed as Peter Probst. What, was it bad to be French in the 70s in Australia? Here are the four main characters with a naming guide.

French Name Fanfan Poum Tim Caprice

American Name Kenny Hector Bobby Suzy

Australian Name Jojo Skip Fluff Sooky

Spanish Name Fanfan Pum Tim Caprichos

Here are some of the books I've seen go by on Ebay, with a couple comments about content and price.

Fanfan et sa Pèniche, French
Kenny and his Raft, American
Jojo and his Barge, Australian
Fanfan y su Barco, Spanish

This was the first Fanfan book I ever came across. The Spanish version came up and I had never heard of Fanfan, but bought it anyway. The story is very cute. It is a story about a flood where Fanfan and his friends rescue lots of animals from the area, starting with a little duck named Pluf (Puff in American, Quackles in Australian). It says ©1968.

About the same time the above came up on Ebay I got a note from a used book trader who wanted $150 for this American version of Fanfan. I thought that was way too high. Then I found it a couple of months later on the web for about $40 and picked it up. It is the same as the Spanish version, except the character names are changed, as shown in the preceding paragraph. A couple months later the original French version came up on Ebay and appears to be the same. This books is listed as ©1966 in France, ©1968 American Publication.

Here are some other Fanfans I've seen go by on Ebay in various languages. The going prices have been low, between $6 and $20. The Lone Wolf story is about the adventures of the wildlife-saving crew helping out poor animals during the winter when they find that a wolf is being targeted by the local lawmen. They decide that they have to help the poor wolf as well. The Storks story is about Fanfan and friends trying to help some poor baby storks during their migration. I haven't seen any of these as American editions.

Fanfan et les Cigognes, French
Fanfan et l'ours de Camarque
Le Noël de Fanfan
Fanfan et la Chèvre Blanche
Fanfan et le Dernier Loup
Fanfan et le Singe Vert
Fanfan et la Colline en Feu

Fanfan y el Ultimo Lobo, Spanish

Jojo and the Storks, Australian
Jojo and the Green Monkey
Jojo and the Lone Wolf

There appear to be at least a few stories with the same characters that are not centered around Fanfan. The last one below I saw on Garneau, the French Canadian bookseller's web page (they appear to be offline as of this update though), and haven't seen a cover for.


French Name	Fanfan	Poum	Tim	Caprice
American Name	Kenny	Hector	Bobby	Suzy
Australian Name	Jojo	Skip	Fluff	Sooky
Spanish Name	Fanfan	Pum	Tim	Caprichos