Slovenly Peter (Calla Editions)

Der Struwwelpeter might seem a bit alien and off-putting to the modern English-speaking reader. I'm not familiar with the abridged English version, so I don't know how much was snipped (SNIP! THE THUMBS!) but grew up with the original and a healthy suspicion of tailors, even though I can't say I

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knew any. This peculiarly German alienness should not detract from the quality of the book as such.

Some of the stories ought to be looked at in the context of the times. Der Struwwelpeter predates modern medicine, hygiene, and emergency services. Cleanliness may not necessarily have been next to godliness but improved your children's chance of seeing their next birthday. Playing with candles was potentially more deadly by a factor of a bazillion when the horse-drawn tank took half an hour to get to the blaze.

The rest of the stories are definitely more gratuitous in their cruelty. Granted, no one starved to death without soup in five days but entertainment was more gory in general, as is evident in the collections of the Brothers Grim(m). At least the German middle classes, who were the target audience of the book, were mostly cured of the scatological excesses of mediaeval and Renaissance humour by the 1840s. This book was billed as funny and indeed it was a tool that consciously intended to mock nonconformity and lack of discipline. As another reviewer pointed out, these were turbulent times for the European bourgeoisie. Keeping children in line was of utmost importance lest they find themselves broke and embarrassing their parents by writing radical manifesta by candlelight.

Despite its dated and unfamiliar imagery, der Struwwelpeter is quite capable of frightening the bejeezus out of your four-year-old and I would not feed it to mine. As an article of wordcraft it is powerful in its pictorial display and effective in its message. Today the book is paedagogically suspect, to put it mildly, but still makes a top-notch cultural curiosum.

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Please do not give this book to a child. A friend of mine had the German version (our parents were German speakers) and it gave me nightmares. I bought it for my daughter when she was about 12, and she said it scared her.

This translation is apparently abridged.

Other than inducing nightmares in

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susceptible children, it's wonderfully Victorian and a strong antidote to Tiny Tim.

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One of my favorite childhood books, but then again, I was not a thumb sucker. I'll never forget the day my mother visited my kindergarten class and I brought my favorite book, struwwelpeter, for her to read to the class. One little girl ran crying out of the room as my mother read the little tommy

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suck a thumb story-it turns out this little girl was a thumb sucker, and was very frightened at the thoughts of a man with big scissors coming to cut off her thumbs. Clearly this book is not for the timid child. But for those who are tough enough to handle it, these stories are imaginative and frightful and engaging.

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Cruel as all childrens books used to be

Rating this translation of the classic German picture book is difficult. Yes, the book was and is a classic, but I do not believe that the stories contained therein are at all suitable for some children, especially those children who have a very vivid imagination. My grandmother read me the German

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version of this book when I was a child, and some of the stories actually gave me nightmares. I was absolutely sure that the tailor would come with his horrible scissors and cut off my brother's thumbs (because he sucked his thumbs at the time), and the terrible story of the little girl burned to death because she played with matches frightened me so much that I did not even attempt to light a match until I was about 18 years old. The stories and pictures are entertaining to a point, and the book is a worthwhile and interesting example of 19th century German children's literature and pedagogy, but, in my opinion, it is not a book which can and should be read to small children. Older children might find a discussion of the different pedagogical methods intriguing, but Heinrich Hoffmann's work should never simply be read to to any child without first making sure that the former will not be needlessly frightened by the stories and pictures.

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A classic German children's book, but that, in my opinion, is too frightening and too strictly pedagogical for most children of today. I was actually frightened by many of the stories when I was a child, and while I have more of an appreciation for the book now, I still think that many of the

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stories (as well as the illustrations) can be very frightening for imaginative and sensitive children. I certainly would not simply read this book aloud to children, unless I was absolutely sure that they would not be frightened by the stories.

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At first look, this seems highly in appropriate to read to children. However, after reading more about the author's motivation for writing it, in a time where children's books were dry and laden with obvious and rigid lessons, I can appreciate this book. Originally in German, this classic gives

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gruesome cautionary tales to ill-behaved children. When read with an open mind, humor can be found in the consequences for the defiant actions of some children. The thumb sucking one is outrageous, and some parents might not feel too comfortable with the content, but I'm sure a child would even be able to interpret the exaggeration of it all.

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This book was terrific and I can see why Victorian children were so well behaved ! Fancy a story about having your thumbs cut off by a crazy tailor for being a thumb sucker ??!!!!!

Another one deals with a girl told not to touch the matches who burns herself up !!!! Hard to believe this was

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classified as children's lit 150 years ago.

As awful as the stories are, I found them a refreshing change from the junk I had in 1st grade ( Dick and Jane ) and Carolyn Hayward.

I am much more in the Alice in Wonderland and Roald Dahl camp for kid's lit.

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