Struwwelpeter (original 1845; edition 1998)

This book is the antidote to Disney. It is the opposite of all those nasty, sugar-sweet versions of Cinderella, the Little Mermaid and worst of all Winnie-the-Pooh. Worst because Eeyore was, in the original, A.A. Milne version, a sarcastic, depressive real loner of a donkey, not a sweet-natured stuffed toy.

Struwwelpeter is all about children getting punished in the nastiest possible ways for their awful misdeeds. I loved this book when I was a kid. I also loved Disney, but I grew out of that, except for Bambi. Have to love Bambi.

My two personal favourites of the stories are firstly, Conrad, aka Little Suck-a-Thumb who was told that if he didn't stop plugging his mouth with his thumb he would get it cut off. And when he didn't and his mother was out, the nasty Scissorman came and snip snap, both thumbs gone!

Secondly is Augustus, my personal favourite, who starved himself to death rather than drink the nasty soup he was served for lunch. I had some sympathy there as more than once I had to sit at the lunch table, even missing school in the afternoon, because I wouldn't drink up the nasty chicken soup. I know that being Jewish chicken soup is supposed to be in my dna, but it just isn't and I hate the stuff, loathe it Or another time, wouldn't eat the liver casserole, cold with congealed floating grease, or lamb chops glistening with fat...

These sort of stories were much more satisfying to me as a child being delightfully shivery.

But there was something else. Children have a very highly developed sense of justice. They are forever saying, "it's not fair" about some perceived injustice. Stories like these where naughty children get their comeuppance appeal to kids, they see the fitness of a punishment, rather than the forgiveness and sugary reward and happily-ever-after od Disney that never actually comes their way when they've been very naughty little boys and girls.

You can read all the stories and see the original hand-coloured woodblock prints on the Gutenberg site.

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Der Struwwelpeter is classic German children's book, but one that, in my opinion, is (or at least can be) rather frightening and too strictly pedagogical for most children of today. I was actually frightened by many of the stories as a young child, and while I have more of an appreciation for the book now, I still think that many of the anecdotes (as well as the illustrations) can be truly creepy for imaginative and sensitive children. I certainly would not simply read this book aloud to children, unless I were absolutely sure that they would not be unduly freaked out by the stories (or the accompanying pictures). ( )

Rating this translation of the classic German picture book is difficult. Yes, the book was and is a classic, but I do not believe that the stories contained therein are at all suitable for some children, especially those children who have a very vivid imagination. My grandmother read me the German version of this book when I was a child, and some of the stories actually gave me nightmares. I was absolutely sure that the tailor would come with his horrible scissors and cut off my brother's thumbs (because he sucked his thumbs at the time), and the terrible story of the little girl burned to death because she played with matches frightened me so much that I did not even attempt to light a match until I was about 18 years old. The stories and pictures are entertaining to a point, and the book is a worthwhile and interesting example of 19th century German children's literature and pedagogy, but in my opinion, it is not a book which can and should be read to very young children. Older children might find a discussion of the different pedagogical methods intriguing, but Heinrich Hoffmann's work should never simply be read to to any child without first making sure that the former will not be needlessly frightened by the stories and/or illustrations. ( )

I liked this book a lot. The fact that it is travelling together with Struwwelhitler (for reasons of comparison)made it even more fun.
I'm glad I signed up for this dual ring :-) ( )

This is a beautiful edition of this traditional German book. It comes with a CD of all the stories as read by Bernd Reheuser. ( )