Pierre Probst: The French Shorts, 1980-

These are identical to ones sold by a company called Continental Books for $10.99, but have gone for as much as $70 on Ebay. Typically, though, they average around $20. Continental only sells 10 titles, so some of these are harder to find. They are smaller in size, about 8" x 11", and about 25 pages.

Last year I found a French bookseller out of Montreal on the web that had all of these. It is called Librarie Garneau, and, as far as I can tell, does not have an English shopping mode. (It appears that this link is dead, and unfortunately I can't find the replacement link for it. It looks like it has been taken over by an umbrella organization called Sogides, but I can't find them either...) Therefore you either need determination with your BabelFish or similar web translator, or you need to speak the language. The titles are all new I think, and go for $5.95 to $20.95 (Canadian dollars).

We were in France this summer (2002) and actually found several book stores that carried Caroline. Most book sellers had heard of the series, but only a small percentage of them carried them. I was really in search of used and old ones, but had no luck. I did pick up three new ones while I was there, just because.

A few years ago, I picked up these first six for myself from Continental Booksellers. They are fun to attempt to read to our 2 year old daughter, Alia. What she doesn't know is that I have no idea what I'm saying and that my accent is likely horrible.

They are all cute, but display an art style that I don't consider as good as his old style. My understanding is that Probst took several years off and came back to his "family" with many new stories, but in my opinion he lost some drawing ability in the years. But that is not a statement of his writing abilities, which still show his still-sharp wit and strong ability for story telling.

Caroline visite Paris (©1984)
Caroline chez les Lillipuchiens (© 1984)
Caroline au Pôle Nord (©1986)
Caroline sur la Lune (©1989)
Caroline Détective (©1988)
Caroline et L'île Mysterieuse (©1990)

I got these next three for my siblings for Christmas 1999.

Caroline au Cirque

This appears to be the French origin of Caroline's Circus, available as a British short. Caroline au Carnaval
Caroline en Vacances

This is the French origin of the short story in the American Treasury titled "Caroline at Camp". It is interesting to see the differences. Of course the one in English has changed some of the placards and signs around the story, but there are other differences as well, probably evolutions as Pierre rewrote them over time.

These I have seen on Ebay, and are not available from Continental Books. They are all available from Garneau.

Caroline au Canada
Caroline en Randonnée
Caroline et Son Automobile
Caroline Invite Ses Amis
Le Croisiere de Caroline (© 1995)
Le Noël de Caroline (© 1992)
Caroline a la Mer
Caroline aux Indes
Caroline aux Sport D'hiver
Caroline au Ranch
Caroline et le Robot
Caroline en Russie
Caroline à la Ferme
Caroline Déménage
Caroline et le Mystére du Chat Fossile
Caroline et les Vagabonds
Caroline à Travers les Ages
7 Calins de la Semaine

These are also available from Garneau, but I don't know anything else:

Caroline - Recueil No. 3
Caroline à la Campagne
Caroline à la Mer
Caroline a Bicyclette
Caroline a la Fete
Caroline dans la Neige
Caroline Dans les Alpages
Caroline dans sa Maison
Caroline et Boum Ermite
Caroline et la Galette des Rois
Caroline et sa Maison
Caroline Fait du Cheval
Caroline les Sportifs

These appear to be small collections:

3 Histoires de Caroline

There are at least 5 of these, numbered 1-5. They are collections of three of the above.

These remaining two exist according to the back of the any of the books from Continental (though not for sale by Continental or Garneau):

Caroline en Égypte
Caroline et les Vacances de Titus