Re: Emil and the Detectives and The Land of Cockaigne

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. :-)