Poil de carotte is a long short story or autobiographical novel

Autobiographical novel

An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fiction elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction...

 by Jules Renard

Jules Renard

Pierre-Jules Renard or Jules Renard was a French author and member of the Académie Goncourt, most famous for the works Poil de carotte and Les Histoires Naturelles...

 published in 1894, which recounts the childhood and the trials of a redheaded

Red hair

Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations...

 child. It is probably in this miserable childhood story where one should look for the origins of Renard's skepticism and irony, his skill in using litotes

Litotes

In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech in which understatement is employed for rhetorical effect when an idea is expressed by a denial of its opposite, principally via double negatives....

, his dense and precise style, and his harsh method of observation. The story unfolds in a series of short sketches.

Summary

The story of "Poil de carotte" is that of an unloved redheaded child, the victim of a cruel family. François Lepic, nicknamed Poil de carotte, grows up with a mother who hates him and a father who is indifferent to him. The reader follows the journey of this young boy, the relationships with his parents, with the world around him and with nature. Poil de carotte uses cunning to battle the daily humiliations he experiences and to stand up to the adult world. So, tragedy notwithstanding, the reader enjoys delightful, amusing, comical, and moving adventures.

Adaptations

• The author adapted the story for the stage
  Theatre
  Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
  
   in 1900 with André Antoine
  André Antoine
  André Antoine was a French actor, theatre manager, film director, author, and critic who is considered the father of modern mise en scène in France.-Biography:...
  
  .
• Julien Duvivier
  Julien Duvivier
  Julien Duvivier was a French film director. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930-1960...
  
   adapted it for the screen
  Film
  A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
  
   in 1926 and in 1932
• Paul Mesnier adapted it for the screen in 1952.
• Henri Graziani adapted it for the screen in 1972, starring Philippe Noiret
  Philippe Noiret
  Philippe Noiret was a French film actor.-Biography:Noiret's father was in the clothes trade. Philippe was an indifferent scholar and attended several prestigious Paris schools, including the Lycée Janson de Sailly. He failed several times to pass his baccalauréat exams, so he decided to study...
  
   and Monique Chaumette.
• Richard Bohringer
  Richard Bohringer
  Richard Bohringer is a French actor.-Personal life:Bohringer was born in Moulins, Allier. He is the father of actress Romane Bohringer, and has two other children, Richard and Lou.-Career:...
  
   adapted it for television in 2003.
• An animated cartoon
  Animated cartoon
  An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
  
   was made in 1997 and broadcast on France 5
  France 5
  France 5 is a public television network in France, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring educational programming, the channel's motto is la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir...
  
  .