Le Petit Nicolas by René Goscinny

Cover Page - Le Petit Nicolas

From Wikipedia

The humor of the books derives from their unique story-telling style: the adventures of Little Nicolas are told in the first person by Nicolas himself. On the one hand, the books are a parody of the story-telling habits of little children; for example, the author makes frequent use of stylistic features such as run-on sentences and employs an egocentric, naive point of view. On the other hand, adults are the targets of the books’ humor when the straightforward and uncomplicated worldview of the child narrator exposes the flaws of adult perception. The subversive element in the Petit Nicolas thus made it an early example of modern children’s literature that is centered around the experience of the child, rather than an adult interpretation of the world.

~ by Angela HUYNH on April 2, 2009.