I love those books! Erik and the detectives most, but also Lise and Lotte, and the other Emil book.

I know that both Emil and the Detectives and Lise & Lotte are made in to films in the US, so perhaps there's hope for them too? But as always the books are best!

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Right. And how about May 35th? And Pünktchen and Anton? Ahh, Kästner. He also wrote some other things beside children's literature; it would be interesting to encounter those for the first time in German. Ooh, I can't wait!

P.S. I need to ask you something; please contact me on ICQ/AIM/MSN. Thanks.

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I remember seeing that Kästner had written much more that I'd read, but I never got around to borrow it form the libary. Perhaps I should check it out next time (if it's translated into something I know).

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I lived by his books and read them so many times I remember most of them by heart. My favorites are 35th of may, The little man, The animal assembly and The flying class. I also own most of them.
Also read one book of his that wasn't intended for children, named Three Men in the Snow.

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i had it once, translated to hebrew. years after i assumed that gronich's "ROZA MARZIPAN" was based on that book.

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Erich kastner is one of my favorites. I particularly love 35th of May.
You just sparked a trip down memory lane for me!

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Das doppelte Lottchen, of course!

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I remember reading those books together, and looking at the wonderful pictures...
Remember that?
I loved Kastner's books.
:)

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"The Flying Classroom" was always my favorite of the lot, strangely enough.
"Strangely", I say, because I have always been a big fan of fantastic literature, but my favorite Kastner (spare me the umlaut, please, I don't remember how to bring it in) is the least fantastic of them all. Still, I do so love the characters. I re-read it every few years, and never tire of it.

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That book never fails to make me laugh.
(And in it Kestner invented the cellular phone...)

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He envisioned the mobile phone, certainly.

And yes, it's still a hilarious book.

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Kaestner is well known as a children book author but he also wrote several novels for 'adults'.
one of them, "Drei Maenner im Schnee" was the first book I had read in German from cover to cover, and in the city it was written in, on top of it all. The book was also made into a film (I havnt managed to find that yet) sometime in the 30's, though I am not sure if it was in English or in German. Additionally, a short search in IMDB shows that two further versions have been made of the movie, one of them supposedly narrated by the author himself.
In short, do yourself a favour, find the works of Kaestner for adults for an easy, flowing read in German.

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There are several movie versions of "Drei Männer im Schnee":

1936. SW. Stackars miljonärer.
R: Ragnar Arvedson und Tanered Ibsen.

1936. CS. Tri muzi ve snehv.
D: Vladimir Slavinský.

1938. USA. Paradise for Three.
D: Edward Buzzell.

1955. A. Drei Männer im Schnee.
D: Kurt Hoffmann.

1974. BRD. Drei Männer im Schnee.
D: Alfred Vohrer.

The most popular version in Germany is the Austrian one of 1955.

One of Kästner's adult novels is "Fabian. Die Geschichte eines Moralisten". I've read it at high school. It's a satire, dealing with the desparate situation of people in Germany in the early 30s. I can only warn you: it's not funny like his children's books but rather dark and cynical.
Another famous one I read but couldn't find listed here is "Die Konferenz der Tiere".
Kästner is a must in Germany. I loved his books.

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