The other morning on the radio I heard Andy Griffiths (popular Australian author, most well-known for The Day my Bum Went Psycho or … Butt … in the US). He was a speaker on a panel for a Deakin University debate on the topic, ‘Yes, I can’t read and write but it’s not my fault.’
Andy was talking about the books he loved as a child: Dr Seuss, Alice in Wonderland, Cole’s Funny Picture Book, and Enid Blyton’s ‘canon’. But clearly one of his very favourite books was Struwwelpeter.
Der Struwwelpeter was first published in 1845 by German author, Heinrich Hoffmann, and first published in English in 1848. The book is made up of a series of short stories, each devised to teach a lesson, and in each one a child comes to a very sticky (and frequently morbid) end. Through an adult’s eyes, it’s really very gruesome. In the story of Kaspar who did not have any Soup, a healthy, strong boy proclaims that he will no longer eat his soup, and consequently wastes away to death. In the story of Little Suck-a-Thumb, a mother warns her son not to suck his thumbs. When she goes out he continues his thumb sucking, until a tailor appears and cuts off his thumbs with giant scissors. Nice. And worth remembering that when written this book was intended for an audience of 3 to 6 year olds…
Andy’s memories of Struwwelpeter are of it being one he read at his grandmother’s house, and he would approach reading it with a mixture of joy and dread. He said he thought it was a great example of children’s literature because you never knew what would happen next: it could be ‘horrifying or funny or a mixture of both’. When Andy became a secondary English teacher, he realised that one of the reasons his students were not motivated to read was because they hadn’t learnt books could be fun; his students had never had the chance to meet deranged characters like those in Struwwelpeter.
Have been thinking about this since, even in relation to some of the books that Rowan loves as a toddler… more thoughts on this soon.
There is no mistaking where Andy gets his inspiration from then! The Bad Book and The Cat On The Mat Is Flat have so many echos of Struwwelpeter. Every time I look at the image on the jacket of Struwwelpeter it creeps me out although I can remember as a child reading it and being absolutely enthralled.
I was terrified and enthralled by this book as a kid. I used to suck my thumb and was frequently read the story of Little suck a thumb as some kind of bizarre incentive to terrify me out of it (didn’t work). I must have loved it though, a few years back I picked up my own second hand copy – I saw it and couldn’t resist. I must admit I haven’t shown it to my kids yet – maybe as a special halloween treat
I admit to reading my copy of Struwwelpeter to my students and they loved it. Other dark or cautionary tales they loved were:
A.A.Milne’s “Disobedience” (“James James Morrison Morrison Wetherby George Dupree…”)
Morris Bishop’s “How to Treat Elves”
and
Edgar Marriott’s “The Lion and Albert” (“…’Mother! Yon Lion’s ‘et Albert’ And Mother said ‘Well, I am vexed!’”
Susan, the Book Chook
I used to read Struwwelpeter to my students and they loved it.
Other cautionary or dark tales they loved were:
A.A Milne’s Disobedience
Edgar Marriott’s The Lion and Albert
and Morris Bishop’s How to Treat Elves
Susan (the Book Chook)