Le Petit Nicolas

Le Petit Nicolas (Little Nicolas) is a series of children's books by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé, about a little French boy and his friends. It started out in 1957.

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 adapted into a CGI animated series and a live-action movie.

Tropes used in Le Petit Nicolas include:

• Adaptation Dye Job: Nicolas' mom, originally light-haired in the illustrations, becomes a brunette in the animated series and the movie.
• Age-Appropriate Angst: A lot.
• Art Evolution: Compare the original art with the latest ones; the heads got bigger, the noses less round, the lines thinner...
• Ascended Extra: Louisette, who originally appeared in only one chapter, becomes a main character in the animated series.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Happens frequently to Nicolas' parents after a harsh argument.
• Badly-Battered Babysitter: Nicolas' one-time babysitter didn't spend a very peaceful night.
• Big Eater: Alceste IS this trope.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Louisette, who bullies Nicolas while her mother isn't looking and bats her eyelids at her, making her convinced she is being a very nice girl.
• Gag Nose: 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.
• Hair Colors: Nicolas has black hair, which is helpful in finding him in crowd pictures.
• Hair of Gold: Marie-Edwige, although Nicolas rather describes her hair as being "yellow".
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Not even Clément Mathieu could get the kids to sing in The Movie.
• Hypocritical Humor: Makes up about half of the endings.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Averted with Geoffroy, whose family is extremely rich but who is still in with the gang. He has a conflictual relation with them, but then, everyone in it does.
• The Movie: Came out in 2009, with Maxime Godard as Nicolas, Kad Merad as his dad and Valérie Lemercier as his mom.
• Nerd Glasses: Worn by Agnan, and he is the only one with glasses in the class. And these are the reason why the other kids don't punch him in the face as often as they'd like.
• Out-of-Character Moment: In the live-action film, Agnan tries to POISON his new teacher with old chocolate because she has replaced the teacher he likes.
• Slice of Life
• Teacher's Pet: Played straight with Agnan.
  • Subverted in a storyline where the class gets a substitute teacher, who favours Butt Monkey Clotaire over Agnan.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Louisette and Marie-Edwige in the animated series.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Marie-Edwige in the animated series becomes somehow nastier...
• Took a Level In Kindness: ... while Louisette becomes nicer.
• Unnamed Parent: Nicolas' parents.
• Unreliable Illustrator: Sempé's illustrations would often contradict the text. Examples include:
  • During the visit at the museum episode, Alceste is described as looking at a "small painting", but the illustration shows the painting being ten times his size. Later, the text says Alceste is carrying it under his arm... which would be quite difficult, now, wouldn't it?
  • During the vacations episodes, a boy called Crépin gets a visit from his parents. He is described as having curly hair. The illustration shows him with straight hair.
  • 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.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Pretty much all of the main kids, who almost always get into fights when they meet. However, they regard it as good fun.
• You Lie: 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.