“Do you see that figure on the unicycle?” Our guide in Erfurt asked, “Do you know who that is?” Of course, I do! The man in the jester hat is Till Eulenspiegel, a figure of German storytelling for over 700 years. But who was Till Eulenspiegel? A Jester, a prankster… someone who spoke truth to power. Over the years, the…
Category: Children’s Books
Erich Kästner’s Books- Well Loved Stories in German & English
Sitting in the darkened theater surrounded by other kids, the obligatory bucket of popcorn on my lap, I stare up at the screen enjoying Haley Mills and Haley Mills fool parents Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara, to bring them back together in the 1960s version of The Parent Trap. At the time, I had no idea that the original story,…
Rübezahl! The legendary Silesian Lord of the Mountains!
I strolled down memory lane, sorting through a box of my old childhood Story Albums sent to America by my Opa. Max und Moritz, Kinder Märchen, and then a brown album with a scary brown giant on the cover Rübezahl! I loved listening to this one as a child (records or vinyl, for those of you too young to remember,…
German Nursery Rhymes and Children’s Songs
My mother didn’t recite Mother Goose to me when I was a child. I heard the German Nursery Rhymes and songs that she grew up with. “Alle Meine Enten”, “Hoopa Hoppa Reiter”, and “Backe backe Kuchen”. The funny thing is that when I had children, I mainly sang and clapped my way through the rhymes of my childhood. These sweet…
Die Häschenschule A Day At Bunny School -A German Easter Classic
If you are of a certain age, you probably had a storybook about a Rabbit School on your bookshelves as a child. In 1924 Albert Sixtus published a book about a bunnies going school called Die Häschenschule. 95 years later, this classic book is still charming children all over Germany. For Easter in 2019, the Esslinger Verlag (Esslinger Publishing company)…
Hanni and Nanni – Our Favorite Twins for Over 50 Years!
Of all the nicknames I had growing up, my favorite was bestowed on me by my German family, “Leseratte” (Reading Rat). Probably because every time I went to Germany, I spent a LOT of time reading. Why would I spend so much time with my nose in a book in GERMANY? Well, the family was in Farm Country, and…
Max and Moritz- Behind Wilhelm Busch’s Bad Boy Stories
At the end of the book, the Miller grinds up the two boys in the giant flour mill, and ducks eat them. It sounds like the latest horror film to come out of Hollywood, doesn’t it? But this is the ending of Wilhelm Busch’s “Max und Moritz: Eine Bubgeschichte in sieben Streichen” (“Max and Moritz : A Boyish Story of…
The Pied Piper of Hamelin Story-800 Year Mystery Wrapped in Fairy Tale
When I was growing up, one of my favorite German fairy tale vinyl records had the Rattenfänger von Hameln story, the Pied Piper of Hamelin Story. As a child, the idea of all those kids being snatched up because the town fathers didn’t want to pay the exterminator’s bill made a HUGE impression on me. I listened over and over,…
The Gingerbread for Liberty Book- The Story of a German American Hero during the Revolution
Gingerbread for Liberty!: How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution Gingerbread for Liberty book a beautifully illustrated children’s book by Mara Rockliff is based on the true story of Christopher Ludwich, a German Baker who arrived in America as a young man. Ludwich was known for his delicious Gingerbread, and his motto “no one goes hungry if I…