Waldi: ein lustiges Dackelbuch

by Fritz Koch-Gotha, Walter Andreas

Unusual book

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Fritz Koch-Gotha (1877 - 1956) was a German artist and illustrator of children's books.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

So indeed, Fritz Koch-Gotha's (and Walter Andreas') Waldi: Ein lustiges Dackelbuch (which roughly translates as that it supposedly is a fun book about a dachshund) might be considered a classic German language picture book, but also a tome that has most certainly NEVER even remotely been amongst my favourites. It was originally published in the early part of the 20th century, but even when I read the book, or rather, when I had Waldi: Ein lustiges Dackelbuch read to me around 1970 (when I was four years old), it felt extremely and awkwardly dated, and that poor dachshund Waldi gets punished for being mischievous and naughty by receiving absolutely NO presents at all come Christmastime, well that represents n my opinion the classic and yes supremely nasty not to mention patently useless for learning purposes "wait until your father comes home" type of punishment and way of parenting, for young Waldi should absolutely have been disciplined for his pranks right away, but instead he has to wait many months until Christmas, and then, wham, he receives a major punishment for all of his mischief in one fell huge and all encompassing swoop.

And combined with my emotional issues concerning the author's displeasing and oh so annoyingly dated printed words, I have also never really liked (or even all that much been willing and able to appreciate) the accompanying illustrations, which are equally by Fritz Koch-Gotha who acts as both author and illustrator in Waldi: Ein lustiges Dackelbuch (although I do have to admit that they are indeed colourful and descriptive). Because I most certainly have found (and continue to find) the dogs dressed in traditional turn of the century period garb more than somewhat creepy to say the least and while this anthropomorphism has never all that much bothered me with other classic German language picture books illustrated by Fritz Koch-Gotha, like for example his famous Die Häschenschule, in this particular case, with his Waldi: Ein lustiges Dackelbuch, the pictures of dogs clad in clothing like Lederhosen and the like have always kind of felt uncanny, strange (and even rather personally uncomfortable).