Avail Yourself Emil And The Detectives Conceived By Erich Kästner Distributed In Hardcover

Erich Kästner on Emil and the Detectives

review is for the wonderful Scholastic edition, not the rottenedition, GR's stupid software updates have decided that they know better than me, For the review of the horribleedition, check the Scholastic cover, I tried to fix the confusion and made it worse, Sheesh.
Aaaaahhhh, that's better,

This is the translation of Emil that I grew up reading, My brother bought it from Scolastic back in the lates and I read it over and over again,

Fast forwardordecades and I bought it on Amazon, Or thought I bought it on Amazon, Unfortunately it never occurred to me that this classic would be descrated with a "modernised" translation, Published in, the millenial slang the translator and editors saw fit to insert was indigestible to say the very least,

Huge thanks to my GR friend Miriam who sent me her copy, I spent the afternoon of a tiring day with a smile on my face, reading it, My eidetic memory rejoiced in every remembered phrase,

Only thing is, when I wasthe book seemed so much thicker, . . LOL

Think I'll read it again soon, This is more like a reviewbyproxy of Emil and the detectives,

I watched a sitelinkprogram on youtube in which sitelinkMarcel ReichRanicki, without doubt the most famous German literary critc of his time, is talking about German authors this time about Erich Kästner.
Of course he also had something to say about "Emil", Born in Poland inwith a Polish father and German mother, the family moved to Berlin in the lates, Here little Marcel learned to read German, Although he sort of liked the usual books set in exotic places and historic times "Ben Hur", "Quo Vadis", "Robinson Crusoe", the Karl May stuff, etc.
he was enthusiatic about Kästner's novel for children, This was the very first book, at least in Germany, that is set in a place the children actually know about Berlin and at the current time and not in some distant past.
The characters in the book speak the same language as the readers, while the story is also believable and understandable, So here's a clear fivestarrating from Mr ReichRanicki,

But that's not what I wanted to talk about,

Later ReichRanicki moved back to Poland and, as a Jew, was held captive in the Warshaw Ghetto, In an antiquarian bookshop he discovered some German books, one of which was Kästner's sitelinkLyrische Hausapotheke Poetic Medicine Chest.
He wasn't able or not allowed to buy the book, but he could borrow it for a limited time, His thengirlfriend and later wife copied the poems by hand, added some images, and gave it to her boyfriend as a gift for hisst birthday.
They both read the "book" many times, while hearing Germans shooting and Jews screaming on the streets of the ghetto, Death was imminent any day,
After the war ReichRanicki went back to Germany, and eventually became a known figure in German literary circles, In the midfifties he met Erich Kästner in Munich for the first time, When he showed Kästner the "illegal" copy of his book that was read in the Warshaw Ghetto the author had no idea that his works banned and burned by the Nazis were read outside of Germany during the war.
I bet he had to brush away a tear or two, Another case of a pen that is ultimatley mightier than any sword,

PS: There was a facsimile edition made from the Ghetto book, and I think I'm going to get me a copy.

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.
The introduction to this book confidently tells us how the story has been faithfully translated from German and in no way loses any of the excitement, thrill or adventure had by our main character, Emil.
It's right too, because this is a cracking story, first published in English in, of Emil's train ride to visit his Grandmother in Berlin and his subsequent adventure.


On the way to Berlin Emil sits next to a man wearing a bowler hat and reading a newspaper, there is something not quite right about him, after nodding off to sleep because of the rhythm of the train, Emil awakes later to find both the carefully concealed money he was taking to his Grandmother and the man in the bowler hat.
gone.

I love this book, I love the detective story that unfolds and the way Erich Kastner, the author, stops to address the reader with extra, necessary explanations about the behaviour or motives of the characters.
Everything about this book makes it a thoroughly great read, 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 , .