Nicholas

If your French is middling (as mine is), it's my guess that you (like me) will find that this book motivates you to read. Nicolas' hilarious take on the situations around him is dry and literal and leaves you wanting to both hug him and send him to his room without supper. I can't recommend these books enough for intermediate French reading!

A while ago I was heading off to join a boat on which my two granddaughters are the junior crew. At home they'd had a pal named Nicholas, so I figured they'd like this book. Little did I know what a hit I'd made! Not only did the girls (aged 3 and 5) oblige me to do a daily reading, but after the first chapter I realized that I'd also captivated the rest of the crew, ranging in age from 30 to 43. All work stopped at five o'clock, and the two children and six adults gathered for the next chapter of Nicholas's adventure. Not only was the original wonderfully done (on that I have the testimony of the girls' mother, who read it for a French class in high school) but the English translation is perfect. Nicholas and his friends are still little French schoolboys, but the names of the adults and some of the children have been changed to their English equivalents. (The snooty rich kid is now Cuthbert.) I think part of their appeal is that they aren't politically correct. They swear ("big fat stupid ninny!") and smoke cigars and beat each other up and run away from home. The girls are terrible manipulators. On the other hand, Nicholas cries from time to time. It's all very satisfactory! I'm delighted to see that in Britain a second volume is being published this month (October 2005). With any luck, it will soon be available in the U.S. I know of two children and six adults who can't wait!

I had not heard of this book (originally published in France in 1959) before I came across it in a bookstore. But I was so intrigued, I decided to buy it, since Phaidon is one of my favorite publishing companies. This story is so charming, I'm already looking for futher volumes! Goscinny's writing is full of wit and the directness that children really do have. Reading the first chapter, "A Photograph To Treasure" took me right back to my own childhood, and the antics of Picture Day. I think I even had the same teacher Nicholas did! The late Rene Goscinny obviously had a special gift. We so often loose our childlike imaginations and candor when we become grown-ups, but not he. Like so many others around the world, I am an admirer of Sempe's work from magazines like the New Yorker, and his illustrations here strike just the right tone for this wonderful story. Don't worry if you don't have children, or nieces or nephews. This book is for anyone and everyone. It's gentle charm will touch your heart and remind you of the sweeter, simpler times in life.

As a child, my mother would read us the Nicholas tales but it was always difficult to make out the words between her laughter. We would giggle and roll around the bed, our stomachs aching. The humour easily managed to cross the age gap and is a clear display of Goscinnys comedy talent. The storys are highly descriptive looks into the minds of kids at a French school (English translation is as funny); narcissistic, self-obsessed, easily engrossed and overflowing with creativity. The adults are odd obstacles. The world the kids find themselves in is also odd. The author manages to capture both the childs' amusement at the strange reality we all find ourselves in and the childs vast lack of concern thereof. Like Adam and Eve, the children are free of guilt. And, like Adam and Eve, they couldn't care less.