KASTNER. ERICH EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner

Publisher:Vintage

Imprint:Vintage Children's Classics

Format:Paperback

Pagination:176 pages, b/w original

Dimensions:188 x 129 mm, 127 grams

Country of Pub.:United Kingdom

Pub Date:02/08/2012

Soon to be performed at the National Theatre, read the story now.

Written in 1928 this classic tale of a boy learning to rely on himself – and on his new friends is set in Berlin and is one of the greatest pieces of childrens literature.

'Password Emil!' Emil is excited to be taking the train on his own for the first time. He doesn't like the look of his fellow passenger, the man in the bowler hat. Emil will just have to keep his wits about him and his money in his pocket. When his money is stolen on the train by a mysterious stranger, Emil thinks he’s lost everything. But as he starts tracking down the thief, he soon discovers that he’s not alone in the big city after all.

But Emil falls asleep and when he wakes up the man in the bowler hat is gone - and so is the money! Emil is determined to get it back. He teams up with a gang of young detectives and so begins a hair-raising chase across Berlin to catch the dirty rotten thief...

What other critics and writers have said of this classic childrens book

'Emil is a wonder... the book had, and still has, the effect of making me feel part of Emil's little gang of boys... Emil and the Detectives is a little masterpiece... Read it and you will be happy' Maurice Sendak

Both boys - me in 1955, my son in 1996 - seemed to be drawn into this story in some way beyond the usual...The main pleasure of the book is in the way in which it plays to the fantasy of omnipotence in a child: that a team of kids could really organise themselves into a team of detectives and catch a thief

Michael Rosen, Guardian

The perfect introduction to the world of fictional crime detection

Independent

A great political story: democracy in action

Philip Pullman, Ten books every Year 7 child should read

The main pleasure of the book is in the way in which it plays to the fantasy of omnipotence in a child: that a team of kids could really organise themselves into a team of detectives and catch a thief

Michael Rosen, Guardian

The perfect introduction to the world of fictional crime detection

Independent

Erich Kästner was born in Dresden in 1899, the son of a saddle maker and a maidservant. He was drafted into the army in 1917, and his experiences there were to influence his later pacifism. He published Emil and the Detectives in 1928 to great success. A sequel, Emil and the Three Twins, appeared in 1933, but soon afterwards his books were labelled 'contrary to the German spirit' and burned in public by the Nazis. He was interviewed by the Gestapo several times, but remained in Berlin until 1945, when he fled the city to avoid the Soviet assault. After the war he continued to write and remained committed to anti-war movements until his death in 1974.