🚀 go-pugleaf

Steve Hayes wrote:

>Emil and the Detectives
>and
>The Land of Cockaigne
>
>Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
>wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

I only know Emil und die Detektive, written by Erich Kästner. In fact,
this one is still very popular in Germany and I have read it more than
once with my 5th graders. It has been turned into a film 3 times, the
oldest one is from 1931 and the script was written by Billy Wilder, who
later made it big in Hollywood. I would definitely recommend this for
watching, it's so lovingly made and it shows the old Berlin from before
the war but I do not know if an English version, whether synchronized or
subtitled, is available.

-jw-
--
And now for something completely different...

Steve Hayes wrote:

>Just about the only thing I remember about "The Land of Cockaigne" was
>that it had hens going about dragging frying pans, and laying eggs
>that were immediatelt friend and ready to eat.

OK, I found it, it is a fairy tale by Ludwig Bechstein, it is called "Im
Schlaraffenland" (Land of Plenty or Cockaigne), you can find the German
version here: https://www.maerchenstern.de/maerchen/schlaraffenland.php
and if you do not speak German let Google translate it for you. :)

-jw-
--
And now for something completely different...

On Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:58:25 +0200, Joerg Walther
<joerg.walther@magenta.de> wrote:

>Steve Hayes wrote:
>
>>Emil and the Detectives
>>and
>>The Land of Cockaigne
>>
>>Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
>>wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.
>
>I only know Emil und die Detektive, written by Erich Kästner. In fact,
>this one is still very popular in Germany and I have read it more than
>once with my 5th graders. It has been turned into a film 3 times, the
>oldest one is from 1931 and the script was written by Billy Wilder, who
>later made it big in Hollywood. I would definitely recommend this for
>watching, it's so lovingly made and it shows the old Berlin from before
>the war but I do not know if an English version, whether synchronized or
>subtitled, is available.

Thanks very much. Good to see that it is still popular with today's
kids. Some say that they won't like it because there are no cell
phones etc.


--
Stephen Hayes, Author of The Year of the Dragon
Sample or purchase The Year of the Dragon:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/907935
Web site: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail: shayes@dunelm.org.uk or if you use Gmail hayesstw@telkomsa.net

Steve Hayes wrote:

>Thanks very much. Good to see that it is still popular with today's
>kids. Some say that they won't like it because there are no cell
>phones etc.

I've never noticed this, probably because the story is both suspenseful
and funny.

-jw-
--
And now for something completely different...

Steve Hayes wrote:

> When I was at school I read a book containing two stories:
>
> Emil and the Detectives
> and
> The Land of Cockaigne
>
> Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
> wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.

I've not heard of the second one, but I remember the first one from my
own childhood! I'm still tremendously fond of it. Very vivid setting
(the plot actually pays attention to public transport and payphone
practicalities, can you imagine?). There was also a sequel — Emil und
die drei Zwillinge (Emil and the Three Twins), if I remember right... I
had thought it to be boring and needlessly convoluted, when I first read
it, but it's probably no less charming.

I also read and loved Das doppelte Lottchen (Lisa and Lottie) and
Pünktchen und Anton (Dot and Anton) by the same author... Maybe someone
here remembers those as well.

Steve Hayes wrote:

>Thanks very much. Good to see that it is still popular with today's
>kids. Some say that they won't like it because there are no cell
>phones etc.

I'm quite sure kids are capable of comprehending the concept of a book
being set in a different time and place. :-)

On 03/07/2024 13.51, jsmith wrote:
> Steve Hayes wrote:
>
>> When I was at school I read a book containing two stories:
>>
>> Emil and the Detectives
>> and
>> The Land of Cockaigne
>>
>> Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
>> wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.
>
> I've not heard of the second one, but I remember the first one from my
> own childhood! I'm still tremendously fond of it. Very vivid setting
> (the plot actually pays attention to public transport and payphone
> practicalities, can you imagine?)

I first heard of Emil's author, Erich Kästner, when a classmate in sixth
grade gave a book report on his _The 35th of May_, which led me to
immediately check it out from our school library. Great fun!

Speaking of phones and public transportation, in Chapter V, it portrayed
a man on a moving walkway, who decided to make a call on his mobile phone.
He got off the walkway to deal with it!

I never read Emil until I checked it out (from a library in a different
state) to read it to my son. For me, it was so-so.

--
Michael F. Stemper
Isaiah 58:6-7

On Sat, 24 Aug 2024 11:04:22 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"
<michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 03/07/2024 13.51, jsmith wrote:
>> Steve Hayes wrote:
>>
>>> When I was at school I read a book containing two stories:
>>>
>>> Emil and the Detectives
>>> and
>>> The Land of Cockaigne
>>>
>>> Both were, I believe, written by German authors between the world
>>> wars, and I wonder whether anyone else remembers reading them.
>>
>> I've not heard of the second one, but I remember the first one from my
>> own childhood! I'm still tremendously fond of it. Very vivid setting
>> (the plot actually pays attention to public transport and payphone
>> practicalities, can you imagine?)
>
>I first heard of Emil's author, Erich Kästner, when a classmate in sixth
>grade gave a book report on his _The 35th of May_, which led me to
>immediately check it out from our school library. Great fun!
>
>Speaking of phones and public transportation, in Chapter V, it portrayed
>a man on a moving walkway, who decided to make a call on his mobile phone.
>He got off the walkway to deal with it!
>
>I never read Emil until I checked it out (from a library in a different
>state) to read it to my son. For me, it was so-so.

For me too, but the "Emil and the Detectives" seems to be better known
than "The Land of Cockaign", though I found that story more
interesting and would like to read it again. I remember it had hens
with frying  pans tied to them so they could lay fried eggs.


--
Stephen Hayes, Author of The Year of the Dragon
Sample or purchase The Year of the Dragon:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/907935
Web site: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail: shayes@dunelm.org.uk or if you use Gmail hayesstw@telkomsa.net