Common Sense Note
Parents should know that this is a book that finds its humor in schoolboy misbehavior, including playing hooky, fighting, and smoking a cigar. The incorrigible boys are usually punished one way or another, but this has little effect on their behavior.
Much of the humor also comes from Nicholas not really understanding what's wrong with his behavior, which you can discuss with your children. Also worth some discussion is the difference between this depiction of school and child behavior, from '50s era France, and today's schools in America.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
A bestseller in France since 1959, this uproarious translation is a timewarp to a kind of children's book you don't see much anymore, at least not in this country. Goscinny, author of the Asterix series, imbues his short, funny stories with no deeper meaning, no character development, and above all, no life lessons. In many ways they are Seinfeld for the younger set: no hugging, no learning, and all of the characters are badly behaved but oddly charming. These are meant to amuse, nothing more, but manage to do so without resorting to the vulgarity many modern authors seem to think the only thing children will respond to.
Filled with tiny cartoons by New Yorker artist Jean-Jacques Sempé which perfectly match the text, this will keep many children amused for hours, though the more worldly may find it a bit tepid for their tastes. It is tepid, but that can be a virtue. There are times when you want emotional involvement, edginess, or thrill-a-minute excitement. But if you're looking for a bedtime read-aloud or -alone that will get your kids giggling without getting them too riled up to sleep, you could hardly do better.
From the Book:
We weren't very happy, because our dads are supposed to sign our report cards and it can be a rather trying moment. So when the bell went for the end of school, instead of running for the door as usual and pushing and shoving and throwing book bags at each other, we filed out very quiet and glum. Even our teacher was looking sad. We don't hold any grudges against our teacher. I suppose we did play up a bit this month, and Geoffrey oughtn't really to have poured his inkwell all over Jeremy who had fallen down making horrible faces because Eddie had punched his nose when actually it was Rufus who'd been pulling Eddie's hair all the time.
Plot Summary:
In nineteen related short stories, Nicholas and his friends, French schoolboys in an all-boys school, innocently and with great good humor and energy destroy everything they get near. They drive their teachers and parents nuts, flummox a school inspector, play hooky, smoke a cigar, play soccer without a ball, destroy a school play, deal with report cards, and much more.
Related Books:
More Old-Fashioned Humor
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary
George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl
The Twits by Roald Dahl
The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content
|
 |
|
|
|
ViolenceLots of schoolyard fighting, bloody noses, etc. Parents slap children. |
|
|
 |
|
Language
|
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
|
|
|
Social BehaviorThis is a book that glories in schoolboy misbehavior and plays it for laughs: playing hooky, making messes, fighting, and generally driving adults crazy, though the adults don't behave much better. |
 |
 |
|
|
Commercialism
|
|
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoTwo boys smoke a cigar and get sick. A father smokes a pipe. |
|
|
|
|
