Der Struwwelpeter

This is me ( a few years ago!) ‘reading’ one of my favourite books!

Many of you will have heard about the Struwwelpeter, or the shock-headed Peter, as he is also known – a very famous children’s book written by German doctor Heinrich Hoffman in 1844. He was looking for a picture book Christmas present for his three-year-old son but couldn’t find anything suitable.

So he wrote his own!

It has always been one of my favourite books, despite all those horrible endings. For example the boy who sucked his thumb – the tailor cut it off! I loved the story, and yet, it didn’t stop me sucking my thumb. Or the girl who played with fire – she burnt to death! I just loved – and still do – reading those stories. Edit 2016: On Youtube you can find lots of Struwwelpeter videos, but as I always wanted to read them, too,  I have recorded my own Playlist . Here is another one of my favourites: the story of the boy who wouldn’t eat his soup. Despite his end I too often felt/ feel like saying “I won’t have any soup today!” Or as he shouts in German:

“Nein, meine Suppe ess’ ich nicht!”

Edit 2014: I have just found free legal downloads of ‘Der Struwwelpeter’ on Project Gutenberg   I downloaded the German kindle version, but you can also download an audio,  read it online or get the English translation.