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2nd out of 23 books
—
9 voters
Struwwelpeter in English Translation
One of the most popular and influential children's book ever written, this time-honored tale— sure to produce lots of giggles— describes the gruesome consequences that befall children who torment animals, play with matches, suck their thumbs, refuse to eat, and fidget at meals. A collector's item, written in rhyming couplets and illustrated by the author....more
Paperback, 32 pages
Published
April 7th 1995
by Dover Publications
(first published 1845)
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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. (view spoiler)
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 Dis...more
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 Dis...more
I read these classic morality tales enough times as a kid that I knew large chunks by heart. But, let's face it, back then they were seriously out of date, and now they're so archaic that they aren't amusing even as kitsch. No wonder most children today haven't heard of them.
So why doesn't someone produce an updated edition? I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult. Here are some suggestions:
So why doesn't someone produce an updated edition? I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult. Here are some suggestions:
Scarlett, Who Read Glossy Women's Magazines And Died Of Anorexia...more
Keith, Who Didn't Believe In Climate Change And
16 likes · like · see review
May 19, 2012
Gundula
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in German children's literature, or children's literature in general
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...more
6 likes · like · see review
The first english version of this book came around 1848. The stories are as mentioned in the title "fearful" and there are no efforts put to make the illustrations appropriate/less fearful for children.
The little stuff for little kids being covered here conveys relevant message but maybe in too strong a way. It seems to be more suited for the grown-up kids like me who chew their nails, evade shaving/haircuts and still play Hanging Garden with the chair.
But the best thing about being a grown-up...more
The little stuff for little kids being covered here conveys relevant message but maybe in too strong a way. It seems to be more suited for the grown-up kids like me who chew their nails, evade shaving/haircuts and still play Hanging Garden with the chair.
But the best thing about being a grown-up...more
3 likes · like · see review
I read this innumerable times in English translation as a child, and still know a lot of it by heart... but somehow I had never got around to looking at the German original. OMG, it is the most hysterically funny thing I have seen in at least a month. My German is very, very poor, and even so I found it impossible not to laugh on almost every page.
Here's a sample, courtesy of the Gutenberg version. If you also know the English Struwwelpeter, just try reading it aloud while looking at the pictur...more
Here's a sample, courtesy of the Gutenberg version. If you also know the English Struwwelpeter, just try reading it aloud while looking at the pictur...more
7 likes · like · see review
Loved this book. Had been trying to get it for years and now I finally have! There's lots of reviews of people saying it's horrifying and cruel and with zero psychological value, and I couldn't disagree more! First of all, the stories ain't all that terrible and shouldn't be taken so literally. The author wasn't killing real kids, was he? And there's a lesson behind almost every story. For example, take the one about the girl playing with matches and getting burn. Isn't that a true thing? Doesn'...more
2 likes · like · see review
Struwwelpeter is an old collection of very traumatic children's tales. The premise appears to be if you scare the crap out of your kid, you will also scare the thumb out of their mouth and make them brush their hair.
The tales start with a kid acting bad, and then their behavior causes some ironic misfortune. The girl playing with matches burns her face off. A boy outside in the rain is blown away to oblivion. But the most memorable tale is about the tailor who cuts off the thumbs of kids who suc...more
The tales start with a kid acting bad, and then their behavior causes some ironic misfortune. The girl playing with matches burns her face off. A boy outside in the rain is blown away to oblivion. But the most memorable tale is about the tailor who cuts off the thumbs of kids who suc...more
A ghastly and horrifying collection of children's stories guaranteed to frighten and scare your children. What else is there to say about a book where children's thumbs are severed as a punishment for sucking them or where little girls are burned to death because they play with match (nothing quite as disturbing as seeing an illustration of two sad cats crying a river of tears beside the charred remains of a disobedient German child).
This was one of my first books, and it explains a lot on how I view the world. How I believe bad children & people should be punished. It explains why my humor often has a dark undertone. I found an English language version of this the prose is not quite as good but it is very entertaining. Modern version of this book the art is faded, better to find a good copy. I did learn it was important to brush your hair & cut your nails.
Aug 28, 2007
Kristina
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
strange children & adults
I first had this read to me when I was quite young, but didn't get a translated version until I was in high school. Over 150 years old and it still has good lessons in it. Like if you suck your thumbs they just may get cut off, and lighting matches could leave you in a pile of ash. Germany has a bit of a different feel for children's literature than the happy-go-luckyness of American lit.
Jul 06, 2010
Erik Graff
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
children?
Recommended to Erik by:
Anne-Lise Graff
Shelves:
art
I don't know where the family copy of this book came from--probably Mother's father, my Morfar back in Oslo. It would be his sense of humor. My first clear recollection of going through it dates from when we moved to Park Ridge, Illinois--at the dining room table sometime around Christmas. Perhaps he had mailed his old copy from his own childhood as a gift for my little brother, his namesake, Fin, and myself. In any case, I poured over it with fascinated horror, just old enough to see some humor...more
This is the book I remember most clearly from my childhood, and there were plenty of books in those years. It's a set of short stories in rhyme that were written in 1845 for children ages 3-6... nothing out of the ordinary so far. The stories are about the consequences of bad behavior, and there are all sorts of bright drawings in the edition that I grew up with, too. The amazing element of the book is its gruesomeness. If you don't eat your soup, you waste away to nothing (complete with image o...more
A patron came into the library asking about Struwwelpeter stories and after learning about them, my curiousity was piqued.
Heinrich Hoffman wrote Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter) stories to tell children what could happen as a result of bad behavior. His stories remind me of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or The Little Red Hen. One story is about a boy who always looked up while walking and then fell into a canal. Hoffman wrote quite a few stories about what happens when kids are slovenly (...more
Heinrich Hoffman wrote Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter) stories to tell children what could happen as a result of bad behavior. His stories remind me of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or The Little Red Hen. One story is about a boy who always looked up while walking and then fell into a canal. Hoffman wrote quite a few stories about what happens when kids are slovenly (...more
Dec 12, 2007
Seizure Romero
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mythology-folklore
Should be sub-titled: "Scaring the Crap out of Children & Adults since 1845" or "How to Traumatize Your Children without Actually Beating Them."
Complete with scary-ass illustrations.
Hold me.
Complete with scary-ass illustrations.
Hold me.
I still have the original in German that my parents brought with us when we emigrated from Austria. I also have an Translated copy in English. I remember my mother owned a set of clay pins issued during the war to illustrate the stories. I have no idea why Americans always seem to be so horrified by the stories. My mother never instilled any fear in me when she read me the stories. They were funny A Southpark selfhelp book. No one ever mentions the 3 little boys who tormented the black youth. Th...more
Sep 23, 2010
Bettie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
gutenberg-project,
e-book,
kiddlewinks,
autumn-2010,
noir,
translation,
published-1844,
boo-scary,
gorefest,
poetry
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I love Struwwelpeter so much. This edition has a really brilliant essay in the beginning about what makes the Struwwelpeter such a phenomenon/curio.
A hair-raising cautionary tale of boys who face the consequences of their bad behavior. Translated from the German, originally published in 1847.
1 like · like · see review
Next to Max and Moritz, this is the best book to traumatize disobedient children. Those Germans know their discipline. . .
If the stories themselves aren't disturbing enough, the pictures will make you howl with laughter. I actually read the Null Papier edition, but I couldn't find that edition on GoodReads. My favorite story is called The Really Sad Story With The Matches about a little girl who likes to play with matches. She catches her dress on fire and burns up into a pile of ashes. ("Es brennt die Hand, es brennt das Haar, Es brennt das ganze Kind sogar.") Published first in 1844, parents bought this book for...more
This is a wonderful collection of cautionary tales for children, i was quotes this book by my Nan when i was little. I haven't read the german version but there doesn't seem to be any difference between it and the English translated version.
The pictures are slightly creepy but so are the tales, im not a huge fan of the Disney watered down versions of fairy tales (as the stories are supposed to be moralistic and haunting) not sickly sweet.
All in all this is a classic collection of cleverly writt...more
The pictures are slightly creepy but so are the tales, im not a huge fan of the Disney watered down versions of fairy tales (as the stories are supposed to be moralistic and haunting) not sickly sweet.
All in all this is a classic collection of cleverly writt...more
This book is amazing in how completely messed-up and wrong it is. It is filled with psychopathic, racist, and pyromanic kids, doing awful things to small animals, in an old childrens book. I'm not saying the acts are amazing by any means. They're horrible. But the fact that someone, once upon a time, thought these acts (in rhyming form) were good fodder for childrens stories...that's just messed up. This is a very short book, and deserves to be read. I found Struwwelpeter (in English) at Project...more
Can I just say that this book horrified me when I was a child. NOT psychologically valuable in any way. Fingers getting cut off for biting your nails? Burning to death for playing with matches (and the crying cat next to it)? Starving to death for not eating soup? Hanging all of the chickens as a "trick", littering the teacher's bed with bugs which would get smashed, and finally being ground into flour as a punishment? Don't get me started on the illustrations (the cut-off fingers, etc.), which...more
1 like · like · see review
Effektive Kindererziehung...
Ich bin fest davon überzeugt, dass dieses Buch (und Paulinchen) die Hauptschuld daran tragen, dass ich fürchterliche Angst vor Feuer habe. Es war außerdem der endgültig erfolgreiche Versuch, mich vom Daumenlutschen abzubringen. Die Zahnspange war später leider trotzdem nötig ;)
Really effective when it comes to children's education... this book scarred me for life and I'm convinced it is the main reason why I'm so terribly scared of fire. It's a German classic and I ca...more
Ich bin fest davon überzeugt, dass dieses Buch (und Paulinchen) die Hauptschuld daran tragen, dass ich fürchterliche Angst vor Feuer habe. Es war außerdem der endgültig erfolgreiche Versuch, mich vom Daumenlutschen abzubringen. Die Zahnspange war später leider trotzdem nötig ;)
Really effective when it comes to children's education... this book scarred me for life and I'm convinced it is the main reason why I'm so terribly scared of fire. It's a German classic and I ca...more
Struwwelpeter von Heinrich Hoffmann ist ein Kinderbuchklassier aus dem Jahr 1845. Ich habe das Buch als Kind schon geliebt und fand es gar nicht grausam. Ich frage mich nur, warum das Buch Struwwelpeter heißt, denn in meiner Ausgabe ist keine Geschichte dieses Namens, sondern ein Gedicht vom Christkind.
Natürlich liest man so ein Buch anders, wenn man erwachsen ist. Man sieht vieles vielleicht kritischer und aus anderem Blickwinkel, dennoch finde ich das Buch immer noch sehr gut, nur hatte ich te...more
Natürlich liest man so ein Buch anders, wenn man erwachsen ist. Man sieht vieles vielleicht kritischer und aus anderem Blickwinkel, dennoch finde ich das Buch immer noch sehr gut, nur hatte ich te...more
Quoted from the back of the book:
Warning!
This children's book is not for children!
Since 1845, millions of parents bought Struwwelpeter, a book that threatened their children with the consequences that befall the disordered and disorderly. Thumbs are sheared off, eyes fall out of sockets, faces are pecked to death and bodies waste to nothing.
Though castigated in recent years for its sadistic approach to child-rearing, Struwwelpeter remains a cultural phenomenon ... translated into many languages,...more
Warning!
This children's book is not for children!
Since 1845, millions of parents bought Struwwelpeter, a book that threatened their children with the consequences that befall the disordered and disorderly. Thumbs are sheared off, eyes fall out of sockets, faces are pecked to death and bodies waste to nothing.
Though castigated in recent years for its sadistic approach to child-rearing, Struwwelpeter remains a cultural phenomenon ... translated into many languages,...more
The color illustrations are particularly fun and while I enjoyed the poetry, it didn't have me laughing and shaking my head like Cautionary Tales. One poem in particular stood out though: "The Story of the Inky Boys," wherein three young boys are dipped in a huge pot of ink for teasing a black boy who was out for a walk. I found it interesting because this was written in 1845--long before slavery ended in the United States. Definitely a cultural difference between Germany and the U.S. at that ti...more
Sick, sick, sick. Wait'll you see these cautionary horror stories for children written in 1845 -- for a three-year-old! -- by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman. See the awful fates awaiting those unruly children who suck their thumbs, torment animals, or play with matches. While it's terrifying to think that this kind of text was actually used to instruct children (and is one of the most universal, oft-printed children's books in history), the book itself is pretty funny and over-the-top. Must be seen to be...more
I inherited this book from my great-grandmother as a child. I loved it then because it was so weird. I couldn't believe that children's books used to be like this and I would show it to all my friends and we would laugh a lot at how strange it was. The edition I had was very old and possibly had the Slovenly Betsy stories as well. I remember one story that isn't in the newer editions about a boy who ate, smoked, and drank too much and eventually split in two. Too crazy!!
I read this book as a child. While I loved the stories of bad children getting their due ( I had three brothers who were always up to no good. I think I wished some serious consequences would come their way), I mostly remember poring over the wonderful illustrations. I particularly liked the portrayal of animals- loved the rabbit wearing spectacles and toting a gun.(I had forgotten all about this until recently reading Petra's great review. Thanks Petra!)
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Heinrich Hoffmann was a German psychiatrist, who also wrote some short works including Der Struwwelpeter (German for either "slovenly Peter" or "shock-haired Peter"), an illustrated book portraying children misbehaving.
He wrote under the following names:
- Polykarpus Gastfenger (The given name is the German version of that of a Christian martyr; the surname sounds like "Gastfänger", which could be...more
More about Heinrich Hoffmann...
He wrote under the following names:
- Polykarpus Gastfenger (The given name is the German version of that of a Christian martyr; the surname sounds like "Gastfänger", which could be...more
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“It almost makes me cry to tell, what foolish Harriet befell.”
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Apr 05, 2013 06:32am
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