PAPA

"When I grow up, I'll buy a classroom just to play in it!” For the Petit Nicolas, Goscinny invents a childish language that seduces children as much as it makes their parents smile. Combined with Sempé's marvellous drawings, these stories became an international bestsellers and became classics of our literature. The extraordinary complicity of the young author duo of Goscinny and Sempé reveals a real universe.

"Goscinny came up with a text about a child who told about his life with his friends, who all had strange names: Rufus, Alceste, Maixent, Agnan, Clotaire... The headmaster was nicknamed the Bouillon. That was it: René had found the formula", says Sempé.

The first adventure of Petit Nicolas appeared on 29 March 1959 in the newspaper Sud Ouest-Dimanche. For seven years, every week Goscinny and Sempé brought Petit Nicolas to life, writing 222 stories. Through Nicolas and his friends, they bring their own memories to life. "Sensations, more than memories: the smell of a chocolate bun when leaving school, the atmosphere of a playground, all the hustle and bustle of childhood that Sempé felt so well," Goscinny said.

© IMAV éditions/Goscinny-Sempé.