Anatole is the title character of a series of children's books written by American author Eve Titus (who also created Basil of Baker Street, the inspiration for Disney's The Great Mouse Detective) and illustrated by Paul Galdone. He is a hardworking little French mouse who on the outskirts of Paris in a village of fellow mice and works in the city at a cheese factory, tasting their cheeses and evaluating them. But because he's a mouse, he must work in secret to avoid being spotted by the humans, who are unaware that their mysterious cheese connoisseur is in fact a rodent. Nonetheless, Anatole is respected by his fellow mice and lauded by humans for his refined tastes. When not working however, he spends time with his wife Doucette and his six children, Paul, Paulette, Claude, Claudette, Georges, and Georgette, as well as his best friend Gaston.
The first Anatole book was originally published in 1956, and was followed by 9 additional books between 1957 and 1979. The series consists of:
- Anatole (1956)
- Anatole and the Cat (1957)
- Anatole and the Robot (1960)
- Anatole over Paris (1961)
- Anatole and the Poodle (1965)
- Anatole and the Piano (1966)
- Anatole and the Thirty Thieves (1969)
- Anatole and the Toyshop (1970)
- Anatole in Italy (1973)
- Anatole and the Pied Piper (1979)
Anatole has been a highly successful series, with the first and the second books winning Caldecott Awards the year after they were published. Additionally, Anatole and his adventures have been adapted into other mediums. Most famously, the Canadian animation studio Nelvana produced a 26-episode Animated Adaptation that originally aired on YTV in Canada in 1998, and later on CBS' Saturday-Morning Cartoon block that same year. There was also a musical stage show in 2014 that adapted the first two books into a single performance, which was met with great commercial and critical success.
Tropes found in both the books and the cartoon:
- Cats Are Mean: The second book and the animated series feature a large black cat who tries to eat Anatole and Gaston while they are in the cheese factory.
- Fat Best Friend: Gaston is of the Big and Brash variety. He is much heftier than Anatole, but as every as proud of his French heritage as Anatole is. However, he does occasionally also serve as comic relief.
- Gay Paree: The books and the series are set in such a version of Paris.
- Happily Married: Anatole has a happy, healthy marriage with his wife Doucette, who is very supportive of her husband in all his endeavors.
- The Masquerade: Anatole has to keep his identity secret to the humans while working as a cheese taster, since people wouldn't react very well if they knew about the presence of mice in the cheese factory.
- Massively Numbered Siblings: Anatole and Doucette have six children who form three pairs of twins!
- Maurice Chevalier Accent: Anatole, Gaston, and Doucette speak in downplayed, less outrageous versions of the stereotypical French accent.
- Mouse World: Anatole lives in a tiny mouse village identical to a typical small French town, located right outside of Paris.
- Nice Mice: Anatole and his family, as well as Gaston, are a proud and kind-natured ensemble of mice who form a loving and tight-knit family.
- Noble Shoplifter: Anatole and the Cat sees Anatole, in his plans to bell the cat that the owner of the cheese factory has brought in to keep mice away (unaware that one of his best employees is a mouse), sneak into a couple of shops during the night and take an item from the shelves, leaving a piece of cheese in payment.
- Stock Animal Diet: Cheese. Not only does Anatole work as a cheese taster, but he takes great pride in his country's cheeses.
- Twin Theme Naming: Three brother-sister pairs named Paul and Paulette, Claude and Claudette, and finally Georges and Georgette
- Unexplained Accent: Inverted with Anatole and Doucette's children. Despite their parents both having prominent French accents, none of the six kids have such an accent.
