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Title: Struwwelpeter

Author: Dr Heinrich Hoffman

Translator: Translated from German, First published by Pavilion Book in 1997

Illustrator:

Publisher: Pavilion Books

Date Published: 2006

Format: Paperback

Genre: Other

Book Category: Picture Book

Age Range: 6-8

Original Title: First edition of collected stories published in German as Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder, Germany, 1845. Changed to Der Struwwelpeter in 1847

Country of Origin: Germany

Struwwelpeter

by Dr Heinrich Hoffman
Age Range: 6-8

An English edition of the original collection of children’s stories, complete with the original illustrations, ‘Shock headed Peter’ and friends have all sorts of unfortunate fates befall them when they won’t do as they are told and persist in bad habits! Are you: ‘Good at meal times, good at play, /Good at night, good all day?’ Well, even if you aren’t, you can still enjoy the delightfully dark rhymes and beautiful illustrations in Dr Heinrich Hoffmann’s collection of ‘Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures’… just as long as you heed the examples!

Dr Hoffmann’s stories are pitched perfectly; they are quite dark in some ways, but never upsetting, and although the illustrations can show children getting into trouble, they are beautifully drawn. A particularly brilliant illustration is the title character himself, Shock headed Peter, who should delight readers with his wild hair and long, long fingernails! You will not see a character like Peter anywhere else, and he seems to show how important the illustrations are to the book, as the tales really come to life in the vivid pictures.

The tales themselves are great fun to read. Dr Hoffmann sets up his naughty characters for a fall you can see coming, but this makes it all the more enjoyable and should have readers wriggling in anticipation. The fact that all the stories are told in rhyme seems to help this along, too, building up even more expectation and carrying the plot at a good pace. The rhyming lines are painstakingly translated and read wonderfully. The device of rhyme itself also makes the stories somehow more palatable for young readers, with the poetry somehow lessening the slightly scary elements in stories such as ‘Little Suck a Thumb’ where the figure of a finger snipping tailor with big scissors looms large.

This book will leave a lasting impression, with memorable example stories and great illustrations. It is a must for any child that enjoys a book about anti-heroes and dark deeds and should appeal especially to anyone who is fed up with angelic ‘goody goody’ characters. This wonderful English reproduction of the original is really exquisite; it should be enthralling children for many more years to come.

Abby Phillips (2010)

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