STRUWWELPETER by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann = my first book ever, my first possession. I never owned a house, a boat, a horse – but some books. My favorite philosopher Theodor W. Adorno wrote in his “Minima Moralia“: “In his text, the writer sets up house… For a man who no longer has a homeland: WRITING becomes a place to live…” Do you remember your first book?
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I think I was about 8 when I first saw this book, luckily for it was very different from what I was used to and the quality of illustration got me interested in vintage children’s books…. My first memories of reading, definitely not my first book though, would have to be a.a.milne’s classic set of 4 Winnie the Pooh series – those lovely fabric covers and nice, thick cream colored pages… They are hiding somewhere!
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What a great quote – and I love that you still have the book!
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Ah, and I do. It was a Golden Book of Children’s Poetry … as I remember it not only looked good and read well but it tasted wonderful!
Frizz, that is such the perfect quote. Thank you … and now I have to post it on my blog and search out the book, which is new to me. Thanks for the intro.
Happy weekend.
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I have my first book too- Jack and Jill!
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Don’t have or remember my first book but can remember my first visit to the library like it was yesterday.
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it was also for me the first book
and by this way:
why all stories for children are so cruel
(for example: hänsel und gretel verbrennen die hexe)?
and why have the children no problem later with this bad news?
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My son in law has forbidden me to tell my little grandson (aged 3) these stories. There’s a certain cruel background in my personal life with this book: it was given to me by the people who bought me in an orphanage: but there was no liberty for me: every night they locked me in a dark basement room (together with the coals) as legal punishment. Legal? Yes, via Struwwelpeter they explained me, I had been evil too. That were 10 years from 1945 – 1955. This guy, his name was ERWIN, I had to say “father” to him, he had been a guard in a concentration camp of the Third Reich, every evening, 7 p.m., there was a ritual of corporal punishment. So he continued the same thing 14 years torturing me …
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Yes, and you can read about it on my post….the roots of wanderlust…..A Childs Garden of Verse. I loved the pictures as much as the words, and I still know lots of the poems by heart 🙂
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Being No. 4 of 5 siblings there were already many children books in our house (and of course Struuwelpeter was one of them), so I couldn’t tell about my “first” book.
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I remember this book. I don’t know if I owned it or if it was introduced to me at Saturday morning German school (I hated German school). If I owned it my mother would have thrown it away. I asked her once what happened to all my old toys. Apparently when we weren’t looking she would throw everything we didn’t play with anymore into a garbage bag and put it on the curb. My mom was the exact opposite of a hoarder.
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