Le Petit Nicolas

Le petit Nicolas (Little Nicholas) is a series of French children's books. It was created by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé and it was first published on March 29, 1959. The books depict an idealized version of childhood in 1950s France.

The work started out as a comic strip, which initially ran in Le Moustique between 1956 and 1958, drawn by Sempé and written by Goscinny. However in 1958 it became a series of illustrated novels instead, as Sempé preferred to just provide pictures.

The books are told from the point of view of Nicolas himself, which gives the book a distinct and personal sense of humor. The narration is a pastiche of childish storytelling, with run-on sentences and schoolyard slang used in abundance, and much of the humor derives from Nicolas' misunderstanding of adults' behavior. At the same time, adults are as much a target of the book's satire as children, as the straightforward and uncomplicated worldview of the child narrator exposes the flaws of adult perception. This subversive element in Le petit Nicolas made it an early example of modern children's literature that is centered on the experience of the child's interpretation of the world, rather than an adult's.

The characters from the French edition include (with names from Anthea Bell's English translation in square brackets):

Spanish version.

For Latin America the book published by Alfaguara had the Spanish translation, by _______ (information of the 1993 edition).

Names for this edition were

Nicolas Clotario Alcestes Eudes Godofredo Agnan Joaquín Majencio Rufo Eduviges Luisa Rex

Other characters include Nicolas's parents, as well as teachers and administrators in the school. The teacher is hard-working and loves the children, although they usually drive her crazy. The superintendent, Mr. Dubon [Mr Goodman] , is known as "le Bouillon" ("Old Spuds").

When Nicolas is going to a camp for vacations, he and the other children are forced to take a nap. The supervisor decides to tell them a story about "a caliph who was a very good man but who had a very evil vizier...", which is a prelude to Goscinny's future comic series Iznogoud. The supervisor then tells about how the caliph dresses as a common man to find out what people think of him, and the evil vizier takes his place, which is the plot of one Iznogoud adventure.

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