Parents
All about Simon Super rabbit
Simon is an animation series for children from 3 to 6 years old, it is the adaptation of Stephanie Blake’s albums published at Gecko Press.
Through Simon and his dynamism, it is the vitality of childhood that expresses itself. Through it, it is the child’s ability to assert himself in relation to the adults he opposes, even if he himself must finally give in. In a few years and a few albums,Simon has become a “star” in children’s books.
The Creator : Stephanie Blake
Author
The concept of an American falling in love with France, staying on a while, then returning to the motherland all the more cultured and enriched is not a new one.
In Stephanie Blake’s case, she unwittingly landed in France, one fine day, at the age of eight! She was so imbued with the books of her childhood, such as Dr. Seuss, Richard Scarry, William Steig, Margaret Wise Brown, A.A. Milne and Maurice Sendak, that maybe she didn’t even realize she was a whole ocean away from home!?
In the schoolyard in Paris’ 14th district (rue Didot, to be precise), she stood a good (blond) head higher than the other kids, and the gaps in her front teeth were a forerunner of the facial features of the rabbit she was later to create. Of course, the “rabbit” back then didn’t yet speak French. But, having hailed from Northfield, Minnesota, in 1968, Stephanie Blake went on to settle in this new-found land of France and form a family of her own.
She probably learned from Simon, the main character in “Caca Boudin”, that when an adult writes for kids, he must never lose sight of who he is addressing or where he’s come from, because life is full of secret doorways, necessary passageways and various oceans to be crossed. Life is full of children who push a forbidden door, only to find themselves in darkness, or they swing on a magic rope all the way up to thestars. Life is also brimming with books that make the hardships of everydayliving – both big and small – easier to face. Stephanie Blake’s books fit into this category: they’re full of our children’s lives.
Simon is like them and they are like Simon.
Discover Simon's books published by geckopress
Simon the rabbit creator and director
Director
With a degree in Fine Arts under his belt, Julien Cayot embarked on a career in animation with Millimages studios. He worked as first assistant director on “ETHELBERT THE TIGER” (26 x 5’ for France TV and the BBC), “Pigeon Boy” (26 x 26’ for France TV) and on season 3 of “LOUIE” (39 x 5’ for France TV). He was also the animation supervisor on the “Pitt & Kantrop” show (26 x 26’ for UER – France TV, BBC, ARD-WDR and TVE) and “Lola and Virginia” (52 x 26’ for France TV and Televisio de Catalunya).
“64 ZOO LANE” marked Julien Cayot’s début as a director, in 2008 (two seasons of 26 eleven-minute episodes, for France TV and the BBC). He then alternated between the posts of animation supervisor on “COMMANDER CLARK” (52 x 13’ for France TV and Cartoon Network) with GO-N Productions and technical director on “MOUK” (62 x 11’ for France TV and the BBC) with Millimages.
In 2012-2013, he went on to direct two seasons of the animated web show “Les indégivrables” (The Unthawables) (52 x 1’45’’ for France TV) with La Station Animation. Next, he came back to GO-N Productions as director of “ZIP ZIP” (52 x 12’ for France TV, Super RTL and Disney Channel). He has recently begun directing a brand new show: “Simon” (52 x 5’ for France TV).