Avail Yourself Emil And The Detectives Conceived By Erich Kästner Distributed In Hardcover
has everything that a children's book is supposed to have, A simple story, a young boy as the hero who is ably assisted by other young boys, a cunning bank robber who gets nabbed by the young detectives boys.
As the story progresses you root for the small boys and it is a satisfying denouement as the story ends in all positive manner,
In it are interwoven some wonderful themes: Love for Parents, Friendship, Honesty, Be careful with the Strangers especially when travelling alone,
Along with many small boys there is also a small girl in the group, But she is reserved only for the girl things, She brings food for the boys, does the household chores considering it as her heaven bound duty, etc, That is the only drawback, But then, the novel was written originally in, The ideas were very regressive,
Otherwise, it makes a fast and entertaining reading for young boys,.stars.
This is funny and sweet and unexpectedly serious, I think kids would love it, Great illustrations too.
And I very much enjoyed having a sort of "insider's view" of the choices the translator made when taking this story out of German into English grins because is a nerd :P When I was a kid, I read this book in my native language dozens of times.
I loved it. So, decades later, when I found its ebook in English, I was excited to read it again, The Turkish translation I used to read must have been translated directly from German because I remember all the names were German, In this edition, most of the names are anglicized and seeing Gustav named "Paul" was a bit disappointing for me, All in all, though the story was engaging as always, I couldn't enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed its Turkish version, but I'm probably biased, you know, due to my childhood memories and all.
It's a great children's book nonetheless, I read this German children's classic while the Greek debt drama of Julywas unfolding I would finish a chapter, go to the Daily Telegraph live blog, catch up on the latest news from Brussels, then return to Emil.
The people reporting on the political story were eager to cast the Germans, particularly the hardline Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, as the villains, I read many pieces about how Schäuble was imposing unreasonable and humiliating conditions on the Greeks, and when one looked at poor Euclid Tsakalotos it was indeed difficult not to feel sorry for him.
But as Emil's story progressed, I began to experience an odd sympathy for the Germans, Emil, a bright and responsible eightyearold, comes from a poor home, His father is dead. His mother doesn't bring in much as a hairdresser, but by planning carefully she is just able to
make ends meet and even save a little, She's finally scraped togetherMarks so that Emil can go and visit his grandmother in Berlin for a week, and both she and Emil are very proud of this achievement.
And then, while he's on the train, a heartless thief steals his money, Emil never cries, but he cries now, because he thinks of all the sacrifices his mother made to put that little capital together, And then he moves heaven and earth to get his stolen money back,
I watched Schäuble requesting more and more outrageous conditions before he would consent to lend a third tranche of his country's money to Alexis Tsipras, and I suddenly saw him as a small boy reading Emil und die Detektive.
He did now just what Emil does in the book: he made contact with a group of likeminded people, got them on his side, encircled the criminal who seemed to be on the point of making off with his assets, and forced him to capitulate.
Greece will probably get its loans, but only when they've pledged suitable collateral, It was one of the toughest pieces of negotiation I've ever seen,
There's something beautiful and terrifying about that Protestant work ethic,
Oh, phew! I was really worried there for quite a few pages,
So many aspects of the book are highly realistic, Emil's personality and relationship with his mother, and their money worries, that I was afraid that in the end , This is a book that I saw and had to buy and read,
It represents a time in my life when I was too busy playing sport or out with mates to read books, I was also lazy and lacked confidence even to read in class but I always liked stories, This was a book that I remember from my youth like, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, Brer Rabbit and a wooden horse who collected money somehow and worked down a pit and went to war.
Emil and the Detectives was a story that resonated with me, perhaps as it is about crime, perhaps 'cos it is about a group of lads who form a gang for good and although boys will be boys worked together to get a job done.
I like that aspect of the story still today, It perhaps doesn't reflect young men at play so much in thest century but it is almost ageless in its account of a life from the previousyears.
It is also exciting as it is set in Berlin, Germany and is a story that could have been equally true if set in England, Written init is chilling to think that this was a youth that went on to be soldiers in World War II,
Still it is a timeless children's novel and a perfect medium to encourage young people to read for themselves, Rather than a late developer like me who got his Mum to read to him even as a teenager and always loved Jackanory, This was mentioned in two different books I've read recently, The first, Enemy Brothers actually, it was pretty well featured, and second, I can't remember, Haha! But I think it was an Eleanor Estes book, . . maybe The Alley And if Eleanor Estes is recommending it, . . well, it's got to be good!
This book was lots of fun and sure to be a favorite with children! I mean, what child doesn't dream of and anticipate the day that they'll have an adventure!
And an adventure is exactly what happens to Emil.
On the train to his grandma's house, he observes an unusual man that peeks an odd sense of alert in him, He tries so hard to stay awake, but alas, with the lolling of the train, he succumbs to dreamland, When he wakes up, he discovers the money his mom gave him is gone! And that's when he sees the strange man making a mad dash off the train.
Full of memorable characters and rollicking moments, this is a certain win! And I SO enjoyed the opening introduction from the author and how he began his story.
Entirely unique and so cleverly creative! Even if you just read the beginning to see what he does, it'd be time well invested, But then, I don't really think you'll stop there, wink
Ages:
Cleanliness: there is a bit of bantering and "smack" talk, but it's not meant to be insulting think of the old Little Rascals episodes.
A girl talks disrespectfully to her parents,
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