Nicolas et les Petits Copains

I just changed my blog title from “Deby’s Dancing Days” to “Deby et les Petits Histoires.” I created the title from a summer reading French book Nicolas et les Petits Copains. I loved this book. It is about a little boy who tells about the sort of mischief that he and his friends find while they are about elementary school age. As Madame says, Nicolas is like the French “Dennis the Menace.”

The book is a bunch of small stories clumped together into a children’s chapter book. One of my favorite chapters was Marie-Edwige. Nicolas invites all of his friends from school to come over to his house and have a snack with him. He also invites Marie-Edwige. When he tells his friends, they are outraged – as young boys are – because they don’t play with girls! I kept thinking about coodies as they chattered among themselves about the fact that they won’t play with girls. When Marie-Edwige arrives, all of the boys go silent. Nicolas’ mother then sets them all at the table, and serves them their chocolate cake. The boys begin to compete to see who can eat their cake the fastest. Marie-Edwige, of course the most proper of little girls, takes little bites. By the end of the chapter, the boys are climbing trees, doing summersaults, and fighting amongst themselves.

This book is similar to the Children’s Book of Virtues in that it teaches a lesson with each chapter. Marie-Edwige teaches children to include everyone, even if it is more fun to play with just your friends, because in the end it may come back to bite you in the bud, just like it did for Nicolas. He was invited to Marie-Edwige’s birthday party, and he was the only boy there. He sat in a corner by himself the entire time. This charming book of stories seemed like it teaches such good lessons for all people.

My hope is that my blog will have the same amount of humor and curiosity that Nicolas and his friends possess. I also thought it was particularly appropriate as French is one of my favorite subjects to create a title that was in French. No offense Mr. Coon, I am thoroughly enjoying your English class, but French is one of my passions, and it has been for over five years. Hopefully this title will suit my blog. Till next time, à bientôt! (404)