History Literature / LePetitNicolas

* YouLie: You could make a drinking game of the number of times a boy calls the other a liar, especially when it is Geoffroy being called so.

* BookDumb: Clotaire doesn't seem less intelligent than the other kids, but he is the last in the class and has horrible grades. The fact that he's rather lackadaisical about his education and is often AsleepInClass probably doesn't help.

* ChromosomeCasting: There are very few female characters, and that's just counting the adults. The boys go to a same-sex school and don't care much about girls.

* FieryRedhead: Eudes is depicted as a redhead in the 2022 animated movie, which retroactively makes him this.

* TheMovie: Came out in 2009, with Maxime Godard as Nicholas, Kad Merad as his dad and Valérie Lemercier as his mom. Followed up by two sequels in 2014 and 2021.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: [[spoiler:In the live-action film, Agnan]] tries to POISON his new teacher with old chocolate because [[spoiler:she has replaced the teacher he likes.]]

* TheQuietOne: In the second movie, Fructueux rarely talks, and when he does, it's short sentences.
** He's also TheStoic. Actually, the only moment where he shows any emotion is when [[spoiler:the viper is being tossed around]]. And even then, his reaction is kind of tame when compared to his friends.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Pretty much all of the main kids, who almost always get into fights when they meet. However, they regard it as good fun.

The series is very popular in and outside France, however it took 50 years for any adaptations to come out. In 2009, a live-action movie, named ''Little Nicholas'', came out. It spawned two sequels: ''Nicholas on Holiday''[[labelnote:Original title]]Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas[[/labelnote]] (2014) and ''Little Nicholas' Treasure''[[labelnote:Original title]]Le Trésor du Petit Nicolas[[/labelnote]] (2021).

The series is very popular in and outside France, however it took 50 years for any adaptations to come out. In 2009, a live-action movie came out. It spawned two sequels: ''Nicholas on Holiday''[[labelnote:Original title]]Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas[[/labelnote]] (2014) and ''Little Nicholas' Treasure''[[labelnote:Original title]]Le Trésor du Petit Nicolas[[/labelnote]] (2021).

Also in 2009, a CGI animated series under the premiered. The next animated adaptation - this time, a traditionally animated movie, named ''Little Nicholas - Happy As Can Be''[[labelnote:Original title]]Le petit Nicolas: Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux?[[/labelnote]] - came out in 2022, 13 years later; it's a hybrid of Goscinny and Sempé biographies and adaptation of a few stories with Nicolas. The same year, a second animated series, ''Nicholas Fantastic Summer''[[labelnote:Original title]]Le Petit Nicolas – Tous en Vacances[[/labelnote]] - an adaptation of Bains-les-Mers half of ''Nicholas on Holiday'' book - premiered in France.

''Le Petit Nicolas'' (''Little Nicolas'') is a series of children's books by Creator/ReneGoscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé, about a little French boy and his friends. It started out in 1956 as a comic strip and ran as such through 1958, and then switched to the short-story format it's better known as today until 1965.

The short stories focus on the main character's everyday life and range from causing mischief at school to helping dad paint the kitchen, playing with friends at the junkyard and generally getting into trouble.

In 2009, it was adaptated into a CGI animated series and a live-action movie, both of the same name. A sequel to the live-action ''Le Petit Nicolas'', ''Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas'', came out in 2014. A third live-action movie, Le Trésor du Petit Nicolas'', came out in 2021.

It took until 2022 for a traditionally animated movie, ''Le Petit Nicolas: Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux?'', to come out. This one is however focused on Goscinny and Sempé themselves creating Nicolas and coming up with his stories.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Nicolas' mom, originally light-haired in the illustrations, becomes a brunette in the animated series and the movie (played by Creator/ValerieLemercier).
* AdaptedOut: Maixent is the only boy of Nicolas's gang to not appear in the live-action movies.
* AerithAndBob: Alceste, Rufus, Clotaire, Eudes, Geoffroy, Agnan (all very old-fashioned names even when they were first published in 1956)... and Nicolas.

* AmazonChaser: Nicolas actually considers marrying Louisette in the future because he is very impressed by how she kicks a soccer ball.
* ArrangedFriendship: One story has Nicolas' parents arrange a playdate with the insufferable know-it-all TeachersPet Agnan, clearly hoping his bookworm tendencies will rub off on their son. Naturally, the opposite happens.

* AscendedExtra: Louisette, who originally appeared in only one chapter, becomes a main character in the animated series.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Happens frequently to Nicolas' parents after a harsh argument.
* BadlyBatteredBabysitter: Nicolas' one-time babysitter didn't spend a very peaceful night.

** It's easy to think that all the named recurring boys are the only students of Nicolas's class. However, in the first story, several other boys appear to pose for the class photo... and are never mentioned again. It seems Nicolas doesn't care about mentioning anybody else but his close circle of friends... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Agnan!]]
* ExactWords: Nicolas once becomes first of his class during a test... because the entire class is sick at home.

* TheFifties: Though the later books would seem to be set in the early Sixties, as the currency is the new franc, introduced in 1960.

* FunHatingConfiscatingAdult: Le Bouillon tends to be this, and Nicolas's parents. Then again, the boys ''do'' tend to be rowdy and disruptive with their toys.
* GagNose: One episode has Nicolas buying a big red plastic nose that supposedly looks like his uncle Eugene's, and he wears it in class, with predictable results.
* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Louisette acts like a proper lady but shows Nicolas she is quite good at kicking a football.
* GrannyClassic: Nicolas's grandmother is a kind and fun old lady. The Sempé illustrations all show her asking her grandson to give him a little kiss.

* HumanFocusedAdaptation: Oddly enough, this is the case for the 2022 ''traditionally animated'' movie, where about half of the screentime is focused on Nicolas' creators Goscinny and Sempé, but they interact with Nicolas himself as some sort of tiny muse.

* InnocentInaccurate: PlayedForLaughs. A lot of the humor comes from Nicolas innocently misunderstanding the adults' behavior.

* TheMovie: Came out in 2009, with Maxime Godard as Nicolas, Kad Merad as his dad and Valérie Lemercier as his mom.

* NotInFrontOfTheKid: Nicolas' mother sometimes says that when she gets into an argument with his father.

* PetTheDog: Le Bouillon does this sometimes. Usually a stern authority figure who often threatens the children, he does end up finishing written punishment lines for the boys (so they end out of class earlier) and agrees to pose for a photo taken by Nicolas.
** Lampshaded in the episode "la cantine" ( the cafeteria) where Nicolas eats exceptionally at the school cafeteria instead of going home for lunch. Le Bouillon helps him ((e.g. by placing him at the same table as Eudes, the only person in his group of friends who also eats at the cafeteria) and Nicolas recognizes that Le Bouillon is much more nice during lunchtime  than in recreation. 

* SarcasmBlind: Being a kid, Nicolas usually takes the sarcastic comments of adults literally.

* SitcomArchNemesis: Blédurt to Nicolas' father, who are always trying to outdo each other [[WomenAreWiser until their respective wives bring an end to it.]]

* StandardFiftiesFather: Nicolas's father. Comes home from an exhausting day at the office, just wanting to read his newspaper in peace and quiet...
* StayInTheKitchen: Nicolas' father once made the mistake of using this. He regretted it.
* SternTeacher: Nicolas's teacher alternates between this and CoolTeacher.

* TestosteronePoisoning: Nicolas feels so awkward after going to a girly all-girl party that his dad decides to take him see a violent cowboy movie.

* UnnamedParent: Nicolas' parents. Goscinny always manages to avoid mentioning their names, even when they're talking with other adults.

** In another vacation episode, Nicolas and other boys are being bothered by three girls. One of them, Micheline, is described as being fat, and yet the illustrations show the girls all being thin. What is worse, when Micheline is described as slapping a boy, clawing another one and getting her pigtails pulled, a ''different girl'' is shown each time... and in the last case, there are suddenly ''two'' girls with pigtails, even though they were previously shown with different hairstyles.

* WomenDrivers: One story is about Nicolas' mom trying to get her driver's licence, with such incidents like her claiming she didn't see a tree that jumped into the road. In the end, she passes, but it's so frustrating she swears off driving.
* WritingLines: A common punishment in Nicolas' school.