In my very first French class, the students were required to read Petit Nicolas by Jean-Jacques Sempé and René Goscinny.  That was the beginning of my love affair with these French stories about a young schoolboy who gets into all sorts of mischief (un écolier à malice), his friends and family, all told through the little boy’s eyes.  I also have Joachim a des ennuis, which continues with the adventures of petit Nicolas.  I recommend these books to any beginning French student as they are easy to read, yet full of interesting new vocabulary.  Each book is divided into very amusing, short stories about the adventures of the Bande des Vengeurs (Vengeful Gang).  There’s Un souvenir qu’on va chérir (A souvenir to cherish), which is all about the difficult task of reigning in the kids for the class picture.  There’s Les cowboys where Nicolas invites his friends over to play cowboys, they get into all sorts of fights and trouble and when Nicolas’ father starts to scold them, he ends up playing too and getting tied to a tree.  Then, there’s La visite de Mémé where Nicolas’ grandmother, who is a bit mischievous herself, comes to stay and his father has to sleep on the sofa and suffers in other ways because of his annoying mother-in-law.  There are many of these hilarious shorts stories and best of all, the little cartoon pictures that accompany them are adorable and humorous at the same time.

Anyone who has read the books or anyone who reads the books now can answer the questions below:
1. Comment s’appelle le petit frère de Joachim?
2. C’est quoi la profession du père de Rufus?
3. Qui est le chouchou de la maîtresse?

On attend vos réponses…  Bonne lecture!