A classic detective story told at a cracking pace, this features one of the first fictional child detectives. When Emil is robbed of his mother’s hard earned savings from right out of his pocket as he is asleep on a train, he takes swift action. Emil has no confidence in the police and so recruits his own assistant, Gustav. The two boys round up a group of friends and catch the thief. Emil is handsomely rewarded and all ends happily. Emil is charming and clever, the ideal hero of this terrific adventure.
Emil and The Detectives by Erich Kastner has been in print ever since it was first published in 1928.
Young Emil is robbed on his first real railway journey of money entrusted to him by his hard-working mother for the relatives he is to stay with in Berlin. A gang of boys about his own age come to his aid, and a thrilling adventure full of surprises ensues as they use their wits to devise a wonderfully simple but practical trick to capture the thief.
With every detail clearly drawn - from the tiresome business of getting into best clothes for the journey, down to the final anxiety as to what shall be done with a gloriously unexpected reward - this is a story all young readers will enjoy. Reissued in the 'A Puffin Book' series of children's modern classics.
Erich Kästner was born in Dresden in 1899. He is the author of many novels in children's books, poems and essays. Together with other German writers, he tried to attack Hitler's totalitarism and lack of freedom with humour and pacifist ideas. Kästner's children's books reflected his social optimism based on his belief in the renewing power of the each new generation of youth. He was awarded with the Hans Christian Andersen in 1960. Though he became popular through his children's books, he was also very successful among adults as a novelist and poet.
