"dad had told me you had to work if you wanted to get on life..."

last night i was reading to my boys a greek version of the book ”little nicholas*”, an all-time-classic by René Goscinny, with the amazing and so simple illustrations by Jean-Jacques Sempé.

it had been a long weekend, with many arrangements, playdates, dinner at friends, spending christmas cozy time with grandma, playing with the inches of snowing that came sunday morning out in the park… and of course, as it happens to all non~kellogg’s~families a lot of everyday frustrations, tidying up, a bit of shouting, “eat-your-food”, “pick-up-your-toys”, etc. etc. etc…

so, it was actually revealing to find myself laughing out loud reading the stories told by little nicholas, with his innocent storytelling and his efforts to understand the way adults behave! i am not sure who René Goscinny’s audience actually was, the parents or the kids… cause the book is highly amusing, and provides a sweet commonground for parents to understand (or remind themselves) how kids think, while the children read a story told from someone …well someone exactly like them! 

and, as you can imagine, although it was sunday evening and i was tired (that means a bit grumpy), my mood became so much better; the stories of "petit nicolas" was the best medicine for sunday blues!

i have to say also that the greek translation, by the award winning Rita Kolaiti, is extremely good, and i had the opportunity to explain to my kids a lot of good greek words, some more childlike, that one feels a bit nostalgic about, cause we don’t use them anymore!

actually, natasa bought this book for us, when our son, our little nikolas, was born.
and my good friend thekla bought us the english version; thank you girls!

*Le petit Nicolas (Little Nicholas) is a series of French children's books and it was first published on March 29, 1959.
The books talk about childhood in 1950s France. The recent years, the books have been also turned into two films and one TV series!

so, if you are looking for an uplifting book to read (yourselves!) or with your kids, pick up any story from the series! trust me, this little guy will make you smile widely, the least!