'Lovable, naive and very French, Nicholas is timeless.' The Guardian 'illustrated with diabolic humour by Jean Jacques Sempe ... a series of subversive stories about a little French boy which has captivated readers since the Sixties.' Evening Standard 'a chic and sturdily childproof new English edition, translated in ebullient vernacular by Anthea Bell' The Spectator 'hilarious and timeless anecdotes that will have readers giggling.' School Library Journal '...Liberally endowed with Sempe's tiny, comic cartoon figures, these whimsical mini-adventures will captivate readers...' Kirkus Reviews

Jean-Jacques Sempe (b. 1932). Jean-Jacques Sempe is one of the most successful and best-loved cartoonists and illustrators in the world. He has published numerous collections of his work in his native France and thirty other countries since 1962, and still regularly contributes to magazines such as the New Yorker, Paris Match and Figaro Litteraire. Expelled from school for bad behaviour, Sempe took application exams for jobs at the French Post Office, a bank, and the French Railways, and failed them all. He enjoyed a variety of jobs, from travelling toothpaste salesman to summer camp worker, before winning an art prize in 1952 given to encourage young amateur artists to turn professional. Sempe also enjoys iconic status with generations of children (and adults) around the world, thanks to his collaboration with writer Rene Goscinny on a classic series of books describing the exploits of a little schoolboy called Nicholas. Author's Residence: Paris, France Rene Goscinny (1926 - 1977) Rene Goscinny is the world-famous writer and creator, along with Albert Uderzo, of the adventures of Asterix the Gaul. Born in Paris, Goscinny lived in Buenos Aires and New York before returning to France in the 1950s where he met Jean-Jacques Sempe. They collaborated on picture strips and then stories about Nicholas, the popular French schoolboy. An internationally successful children's author who also won awards for his animated cartoons, Goscinny died in 1977. Anthea Bell was awarded the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize (USA) in 2002 for her translation of W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz. Her many works of translation from French and German (for which she has received several other awards) include the Nicholas books and, with Derek Hockridge, the entire Asterix the Gaul saga by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.

Seventeen self-contained stories: Alec is Expelled; Uncle George's Nose; My Watch; Our Newspaper; The Pink Vase; Fighting at Playtime; King; My Camera; Our Football Team; The First Half; The Second Half; The Art Gallery; The March Past; The Boy Scouts; Matthew's Arm; The Medical Examination; Prizegiving Day