Nicholas on Vacation - Hardcover

Goscinny, René

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0714846783 ISBN 13: 9780714846781

Publisher: Phaidon Press, 2006

Synopsis

A collection of stories focuses on the whimsical adventures and misadventures of little Nicolas on vacation.

About this title

About the Author:

René Goscinny (1926 - 1977) 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 Sempé. They collaborated on picture strips and then stories about Nicholas. An internationally successful children's author, he also won awards for his animated cartoons.

Jean-Jacques Sempé (b. 1932) 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 and Paris Match. He lives in Paris.

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.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2–5—This entry in Goscinny and Sempé's series features a number of vignettes spanning a couple of summers. Each chapter opens with a few sentences from Nicholas or excerpts from correspondence between the boy and his parents. Nicholas's forthright voice is full of childlike repetition and exclamations ("fantastic!"). This book isn't notable for its plot. The stories are simple, relating Nicholas's antics when he and his parents travel to the seaside and then when he goes to his first overnight camp. What distinguishes this title is a narrative that captures a child so believably and allows its readers to relate to the action but also at times to see beyond what Nicholas himself sees. Sempé's charming cartoon illustrations appear throughout and reinforce the tone. The strength of voice, multilayered humor, short chapters, and episodic nature of the text make Nicholas on Vacation an ideal family or classroom read-aloud. It may take some selling, but it's well worth a place on library shelves.—Adrienne Furness, Webster Public Library, NY
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About this edition

• Publisher: Phaidon Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0714846783
• ISBN 13: 9780714846781
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 132
• Illustrator: Sempé Jean-Jacques