Mathilda und die Feuerwehr. Die nicht ganz so war, wie sie sein sollte

by Donald Thome Pierre Barthelme

From the brilliant mind of Donald Barthelme, the National Book Award-winning tale for children of all ages. One morning in 1887, Mathilda went out into the back yard and discovered that a mysterious Chinese house had planted itself there overnight. She had wanted a fire engine, but the mysterious Chinese house was intriguing too. From inside came strange growls, howls, whispering, trumpeting. Plucky Mathilda walks right in. She finds all sorts of peculiar a sulky captured pirate, a giant popcorn-popping machine, an elephant that falls downhill once a day—truly "every kind of flawless flourishy footlooseness." Mathilda gets to see everything in every room, guided by the hithering thithering djinn, who even arranges to leave her a souvenir that is just about exactly what she wanted. Renowned author Donald Barthelme presents Mathilda's escapade in a witty and whacky text with collage illustrations made entirely from nineteenth-century engravings. It's a unique, fun, and ultimately wonderful book.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy, Humor, Art, American

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Donald Barthelme children's book might be the greatest thing under 1,000 words and between two hard covers. I only wish I owned this when my daughter was young - I would have read it to her over and over until she asked me to stop because the book smelled funny.

Because my personal copy does smell funny. A stale old cheese smell, something left on the counter better refrigerated. But I love it, and inhale deeply with each turned page, the scent altering slightly as the story progresses. A Barthelme children's book should smell as funny as the words. And pictures. Donald found a slew of 19th century wood engravings (each interesting and somewhat laughable in their own right) and then combined them to tell a magical story of desire through the eyes of the young hoop-loving Matlida. A djinn may/may not grant you your wishes. Choose wisely.

Wait, is this book supposed to be scratch-and-sniff?

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undeniably brilliant. Should appeal to fans of Alice in Wonderland, as it has much the same disjointed dreamlike effect, and much the same set of themes having to do with adventure, greed, courtesy, ego, fear, and joy. But the themes are subtle... it presents as silly clever fun.

Do you have a Mathilda in your life? Does Roald Dahl's Matilda have anything in common with this child? Why does the elephant whisper and the djinn trumpet? What else does this book Provoke you to Think about?

[Маx Nestelieiev · Rating 4 out of 5]

чудова абсурдна історія, майже Аліса, майже сон, гімн нестримній уяві, на яку здатні лише діти й генії.

[Jack Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barthelme gears his minimalist mimicry into 'The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine,' a great children's picture book, which was justly rewarded with a National Book Award nearly 2 score years ago (1972).

It can be read in 10 minutes, so I won't say much as far as the plot goes without giving it away. But there are many lessons to be learned in this collaged story, such as finding happiness when what you want isn't happening quite exactly as you'd like.

TSIFE contains the types of collage works that many tirelessly attempt to recreate and fail miserably in doing so. Barthelme gives us just enough -- nothing more -- for the story to be told (or viewed) efficaciously.

Two slightly irregular thumbs up for this children's classic.

[Stewart Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donald Barthelme wrote a children’s book back in the 70s, and luckily for completionists like me, it’s still available to purchase at a fair price online. I’d only recommend it to hardcore fans, but as someone who’s obsessed with the man’s work, it’s a very fun little oddity to add to the collection.

[Guilherme Semionato · Rating 2 out of 5]

Open Library.

[Libby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even interest my 2-year-old son in TRYING to read this. After reading it once through myself, (with much protest from my son) I decided this isn't really a children's book. It's quite bizarre. I think it's meant to be some kind of hoity-toity, artistic, hullaballoo meant to impress adults with it's creativity. (but i don't appreciate it)

[Mir]

“Would you like to have an escapade?” the djinn asked. “We can arrange that. Escapades come in two styles – fancy and more fancy.”

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I paid a lot of money for this book because it used to be out of print. Donald Barthelme wrote a a book for children?!? And it won an award?

I had to get a copy.

It was OK.

[Esther Ben-Koheleth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Не книжка, а именины сердца!
Смотрите сами какой замес: девочка мечтает о красной пожарной машине и в один прекрасный день ей таки обламывается жирный судьбоносный куш: она обнаруживает во дворе китайский цирк. Какого бычьего цепня он там оказался? Вчера вроде не было, а сегодня - получите, распишитесь. Чёрт знает что творится. Но не в этом суть, как говорится (и вроде даже поётся). Суть в том, что девочка туда идёт. Цирк оказывается напичкан не больше, но и не меньше, чем всем, включая котопродавцов, циркачей, пиратов, занятых вязанием и много кем ещё. Джинн, конечно же, в столь уважаемом заведении тоже есть. Вот этот последний мне особенно приглянулся: спокойный, как статуя с острова Пасхи, рассудительный, да ещё и не жадный - готов был поддаться искреннему порыву и впарить Матильде презент. Правда, сначала хотел озолотить тем, что самому не жалко, руководствуясь принципом «на тебе, Б-же, что нам негоже»: «Хочешь бочонок маринованных огурчиков, увенчанный суровым гражданином с кислой миной? Или статую Начальника Полиции - в героическом стиле, сплошь мраморную? <…> Или воздушнокукурузную машину производительностью 50 000 зерен? Или анатомическую схему?» Но девочке такой финт не зашёл. Не, - говорит, - хочу тачку, и всё тут.
В итоге, ламповый житель сдался и одарил юную гостью пожарной машиной. Всамделишной! Только зелёной, а не красной. Немножко не то пожарное авто, но в целом, приемлемо, - заключила Матильда, благосклонно приняла дар и стала разрешать своим родителям время от времени на этой машине выезжать покататься. Вот так-то!
А ещё, в книжке картинки есть. Зачётнейшие! С такими, например, надписями: «Гидрат хлорала - нежный тихий бальзам утешенья для нервических духом». Весьма изысканно, аристократично и утончённо, как по мне)

Короче, я осталась более чем довольна. Годная детско-взрослая книжка, наполненная высокой философией - редкий зверь, а если еще и сдобренная сарказмом - так вообще краснокнижный.
Спасибо автору за то, что он такую прэлесть написал и мне за то, что я её прочитала.

[Askorbinka · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was beautiful! Such a stream of imagination, I love the stories like these.
“Would you like to have an escapade?” the djinn asked. “We can arrange that. Escapades come in two styles – fancy and more fancy.”

[Claudia Sorsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd, but cute.

My favorite bit was the knitting pirate, but then again I'm a knitter who's always loved pirate stories, so consider the source.

[Gabriel Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those books that left you asking, "What did I just read?"

It was thought-provoking and reminiscent of "Alice in Wonderland."

I just want to research this book now!

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

slightly less immediately alienating to actual children than sam's bar, but i can imagine some of them getting a certain sort of pleasure from its deleteriousness

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

So odd and slightly racist. The use of old photos was interesting, though.

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those really odd books that I didn't really like so much as I liked finding something so obscure and strange in the library collection. A young girl goes out into her back yard to discover a mysterious Chinese house. The "illustrations" are 19th-century wood engravings. I really liked the elephant! I should add that this "children's" book (winner of the National Book Award!) will really appeal more to adults than actual kids.

[Jennybeast · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have known artists who work in the realm of word and image collage, but this is the most successful storyline I've seen. It's a beautiful, compelling, dadaist story with a letterpress aesthetic. Not to be missed!

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adult children's book, accompanied with great Victorian Dover-clip-art-esque illustrations. Bizarre tongue-in-cheek fun.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't get it. Totally bizarro.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any book that makes me laugh out loud on more than 50% of its total page count rates five stars from me!

[A.D. Jameson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to have this back in print again.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the most bizarre children's book I've ever read. Normally I don't rate all the kids' books I read on here, but I wanted to save this one so I would remember it.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

"years are bearing us to heaven"

[David Markwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic children's book! Full of wonderful characters and wordplay. Barthelme is brilliant!

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Irregular, indeed.