The seventeen short stories, supplemented by black and white sketches of major scenes, only take up about 120 pages (it is a kid's book, after all!), but Goscinny, who was also involved in the creation of another French icon, Asterix, manages to pack a wide variety of stories and emotions into such a small space. Just as in 'What Maisie Knew', the reader sees events through the eyes of the title character, but in this book, the child's lack of understanding of what adults say and think is substantially more light-hearted. 'Les Récrés du Petit Nicolas' is a French book about a young boy and the adventures he has at school with his friends. After the recent traumatic tales of the darker side of childhood, I thought it would be nice to finish off a trilogy of kid-lit (my copyright, if there's any money in it) with a short book concentrating on the sunnier side of being young.
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