Coco the virus. An ally to talk to children about the Coronavirus.

Last updated on 12 February 2025

How can we talk to children about the Coronavoris pandemic? Not easy at all and especially when it comes to addressing the different aspects of this unprecedented health crisis with the little ones. Paul and Margerite de Livron are brother and sister. He's an engineer, she's a psychometrician. They invented a character Coco Le Virus and a multitude of supports to explain the Corona crisis to children. If the Youth Press has published many special issues dedicated to the health crisis, Coco has managed to follow the evolution of the pandemic with new stories published every day. All for free. Coco le Virus unfortunately still relevant for this new lockdown period with new stories and a book published in the summer by Éditions Larousse.

The result is great and especially useful for parents and teachers.

Comics and stories about the Corona designed for the little ones

Coco Le Virus takes the form of a small, not very friendly green character that children will learn to know better and also to fight better. These are short stories in the form of comic strips.

Each of them can be downloaded in PDF format and printed freely. More than forty stories have been published since March 15. The authors also made audio recordings of each of them so that they could be listened to.

Stories that put words behind a reality so complex and so difficult to explain. The drawings are pretty and the stories reassuring.

‘ In any case, don’t forget that one day Coco and her gang of awful people will leave us alone and the school will be able to start all over again as before! »

All topics to talk about Coronavirus to children without taboos and with a suitable tone

Coco Le Virus addresses all themes, without avoiding the most painful ones, like mourning or separation. Each time the stories created and shaped by the authors shine by the correctness of the tone and the choice of situations.

To help you find your way around, Coco the Virus has classified its story sheets into six main parts.

• The first part contains about 30 stories about confinement.
  In summary, Virus, immune system, barrier gestures, protective masks, distancing but also melancholy, anger, teleworking or screens.
• A second major part deals with the preparation of the return to schools.
  To try to reassure them about the modified school environment in which the class must resume, the CocoVirus team, in collaboration with specialists from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux and liberal doctors from the Nouvelle Aquitaine Region, has prepared content for children and school teachers.
• The third ongoing part addresses the ongoing de-confinement phase.
  Here again the authors just type with for example this story This explains why some children who have already returned to school or are about to go to school in the near future may not be able to find their teacher.
• A fourth part is aimed at the bigger ones and unravels some rumours about viruses, the use of gloves or air conditioning.
• Finally, a last part started a few days ago offers new stories and updated stories for this second ongoing lockdown.

Stories to talk about the Coronavirus to the youngest in several languages.

The adventures of Coco le virus are available in several languages thanks to a team of students from the Department of Linguistics at the University of Geneva who translate them on a voluntary basis. The files are in PDF format, printable in A4 format. Good material to talk to children about the coronavirus.

The site also offers a range of games and activities to be done at home or at school.

From site to album. Coronavirus explained to children

All this high-quality editorial work is done on a voluntary basis. Six months after the start of the lockdown, the two authors finally found a partner. Larousse selected around 30 stories that had to be reworked for a paper publication. They make up a beautiful book that is intended to be a trace of what children and families have lived and continue to live in 2020. A trace tinged with optimism and softness. Thanks to the authors.

The album is sold in all bookstores. Choose these places of culture. Even when closed, many of them have set up click and collect systems to pick up your book orders.

If this is not possible for you, you can order the album from a large online merchant and This is the way.

Link on the website with all the stories to be consulted online: Coco The Virus.