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Struwwelpeter
First published in 1845. Struwwelpeter (variously translated as "slovenly" or "shock-headed" Peter) has become widely recognized as one of the most popular and influential children's books ever written. Heinrich Hoffmann was a Frankfurt physician. Unhappy with the dry and pedagogic books available for children at the time, he wrote and illustrated Struwwelpeter as a
...more
Paperback, 32 pages
Published
April 7th 1995
by Dover Publications
(first published 1845)
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
![Petra X](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1479476072p2/1237196.jpg)
This book is the antidote to Disney. It is the opposite of all those nasty, sugar-sweet versions of Cinderella, the Little Mermaid and worst of all Winnie-the-Pooh. (view spoiler)
Struwwelpeter is all about children getting punished in the nastiest possible ways for their awful misdeeds. I loved this book when I was a kid. I also loved Dis ...more
Struwwelpeter is all about children getting punished in the nastiest possible ways for their awful misdeeds. I loved this book when I was a kid. I also loved Dis ...more
![Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1383845644p2/8734459.jpg)
This is one of those picture books I grew up with, and so I have an unreasonable amount of love for it, even though it's kind of awful? Credit goes to my German-speaking mom, although I'm not sure if she shared this book with my siblings and me because she thought it was a funny book or was trying to scare us straight.
This is a German children's book first published in 1845, when society (particularly in Germany, I suspect) was much in the mode of "spare the rod and spoil the child." No children ...more
This is a German children's book first published in 1845, when society (particularly in Germany, I suspect) was much in the mode of "spare the rod and spoil the child." No children ...more
![Manny](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p2/1713956.jpg)
I read these classic morality tales enough times as a kid that I knew large chunks by heart. But, let's face it, back then they were seriously out of date, and now they're so archaic that they aren't amusing even as kitsch. No wonder most children today haven't heard of them.
So why doesn't someone produce an updated edition? I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult. Here are some suggestions:
So why doesn't someone produce an updated edition? I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult. Here are some suggestions:
Scarlett, Who Read Glossy Women's Magazines And Died Of Anorexia...more
Keith, Who Didn't Believe In Climate Change And
![Miriam](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1275489063p2/237469.jpg)
Jul 17, 2009
Miriam
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Authoritarian sadists
Shelves:
picture
This is some freaky shit.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380325782i/691157._SY540_.jpg)
![Manny](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442491692p2/1713956.jpg)
I read this innumerable times in English translation as a child, and still know a lot of it by heart... but somehow I had never got around to looking at the German original. OMG, it is the most hysterically funny thing I have seen in at least a month. My German is very, very poor, and even so I found it impossible not to laugh on almost every page.
Here's a sample, courtesy of the Gutenberg version. If you also know the English Struwwelpeter, just try reading it aloud while looking at the pictur ...more
Here's a sample, courtesy of the Gutenberg version. If you also know the English Struwwelpeter, just try reading it aloud while looking at the pictur ...more
![Matt](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1478422915p2/16077597.jpg)
According to recent research there was an additional story meant for publication, but was somehow missing from the final book. So, in addition to the stories of the Shock-headed Peter, Cruel Frederick, Fidgety Philip, and Johnny Head-in-Air we can expect to read the following story in future editions of the Struwwelpeter:
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1472285354i/20175258.jpg)
The story of the Lyin’ Donald...more
Since childhood, it is sad to tell,
young Donald did not behave well.
From morning when he bared his eyes
’til nightfall, all he told was lies.
The trut
![Manybooks](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1459773375p2/2970379.jpg)
A classic German children's book, but one that, in my opinion, is or rather can be too violent and also at times too strictly pedagogical for children, or rather, some children. I was actually frightened by a number of the tales when I was a child, and while I have much more of an appreciation for and of Der Struwwelpeter as an adult, it is my firm belief that many of the recounted anecdotes (as well as the illustrations, and in many ways, these even more so) can be rather majorly creepy for ima
...more
![Hana](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1458172215p2/10571559.jpg)
Mar 18, 2015
Hana
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Hana by:
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽
This book is wonderful in a gruesome sort of way and the illustrations are the best!
My favorite was the tale of the little girl who played with matches, even though her good cats, Minz und Maunz, tried to make her behave. The moral of the story is you should always listen to your cats.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1426691040i/14081813.jpg)
The story of the boy who never looked where he was going was edifying. These days he would be looking at a smart phone, not the sky, but his terrible end would be the same! Be warned!!!
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1426691040i/14081814._SY540_.jpg)
Thank you, Tadiana for intro ...more
My favorite was the tale of the little girl who played with matches, even though her good cats, Minz und Maunz, tried to make her behave. The moral of the story is you should always listen to your cats.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1426691040i/14081813.jpg)
The story of the boy who never looked where he was going was edifying. These days he would be looking at a smart phone, not the sky, but his terrible end would be the same! Be warned!!!
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1426691040i/14081814._SY540_.jpg)
Thank you, Tadiana for intro ...more
![Kwoomac](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1333998762p2/2076898.jpg)
I read this book as a child. While I loved the stories of bad children getting their due ( I had three brothers who were always up to no good. I think I wished some serious consequences would come their way), I mostly remember poring over the wonderful illustrations. I particularly liked the portrayal of animals- loved the rabbit wearing spectacles and toting a gun.(I had forgotten all about this until recently reading Petra's great review. Thanks Petra!)
![A Bookworm Reading (Plethora)](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1378836734p2/11978911.jpg)
Dec 03, 2015
A Bookworm Reading (Plethora)
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
childrens,
fiction,
library,
dws_qualifying,
zborn-germany,
2015-reads,
2015-dws_qualified,
y_born-june,
pi
The tales told here remind me of Mother Goose type of little rhymes, used to teach children to behave or who knows what awful fate they may meet. Some of these have mild punishments for misbehaving, while others are down right horrific. It is likely that these short verses worked well at keeping children out of too much trouble when they were written in 1845, while children may not have truly believed the outcomes they probably didn't want to step out of line either. Children today, overall, are
...more
![Erika](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1458536927p2/4532400.jpg)
Loved this book. Had been trying to get it for years and now I finally have! There's lots of reviews of people saying it's horrifying and cruel and with zero psychological value, and I couldn't disagree more! First of all, the stories ain't all that terrible and shouldn't be taken so literally. The author wasn't killing real kids, was he? And there's a lesson behind almost every story. For example, take the one about the girl playing with matches and getting burn. Isn't that a true thing?
...more
![Dustin Crazy little brown owl](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1320959271p2/2454496.jpg)
Jul 12, 2013
Dustin Crazy little brown owl
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Readers like me
Recommended to Dustin Crazy little brown owl by:
people that want to scare children
Wow! This will scare the kids into behaving for sure - complete with graphic pictures of injuries and death. Written in the 1800's. I read the English 1985 translation.
I shall share the highlights of my top 3 favorite disturbing fairy tales of the Struwwelpeter collection(shared in no particular order):
#1 Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup
Augustus was a chubby lad; Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had...
Augustus ate his soup everyday just like a good little fat boy should but then... (view ...more
I shall share the highlights of my top 3 favorite disturbing fairy tales of the Struwwelpeter collection(shared in no particular order):
#1 Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup
Augustus was a chubby lad; Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had...
Augustus ate his soup everyday just like a good little fat boy should but then... (view ...more
![Balente1978](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1304946053p2/5405739.jpg)
Questo libretto mi è ricaduto in mano dopo tanti anni, e quasi non lo ricordavo.
Hoffmann era un medico, ed inventava molte storielle per tenere a bada i piccoli malati dei quali si occupava. Sono create da lui, ma attingono molto anche dalla tradizione popolare.
Grazie alle rime serrate ed accattivanti, queste filastrocche piacquero così tanto che nel 1845 vennero messe in stampa.
Conquistarono immediatamente i bambini come i grandi.
E gran parte del successo fu da attribuire anche alle accatti ...more
Hoffmann era un medico, ed inventava molte storielle per tenere a bada i piccoli malati dei quali si occupava. Sono create da lui, ma attingono molto anche dalla tradizione popolare.
Grazie alle rime serrate ed accattivanti, queste filastrocche piacquero così tanto che nel 1845 vennero messe in stampa.
Conquistarono immediatamente i bambini come i grandi.
E gran parte del successo fu da attribuire anche alle accatti ...more
![Rebecca](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1467716150p2/135573.jpg)
Read this in translation as a kid. *unilingual* Stories designed to terrify children into compliance. Which obviously failed on me. *flaunts deviancy* ;)
The girl who plays with matches is burned alive. The fussy eater starves to death. The umbrella-user is carried, by a storm, to his doom. Clearly, he was deserving. ;)
The most horrific is The Story of Little Suck a Thumb which is animated here...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc...
*shakes fist at German psyche*
The girl who plays with matches is burned alive. The fussy eater starves to death. The umbrella-user is carried, by a storm, to his doom. Clearly, he was deserving. ;)
The most horrific is The Story of Little Suck a Thumb which is animated here...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc...
*shakes fist at German psyche*
![Jim Peterson](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1381082195p2/24498353.jpg)
Book review for learners of German:
We all know the original Grimm’s fairy tales were more gruesome than the Disney stories we grew up watching. Der Struwwelpeter is another example of a children’s book that today’s parents find shocking even though the book has been read to children for generations. Nearly every German knows this story, so it is culturally significant. But, no, I would not read this to my daughter. You can view it for free on Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org).
We all know the original Grimm’s fairy tales were more gruesome than the Disney stories we grew up watching. Der Struwwelpeter is another example of a children’s book that today’s parents find shocking even though the book has been read to children for generations. Nearly every German knows this story, so it is culturally significant. But, no, I would not read this to my daughter. You can view it for free on Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org).
![Justin](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1191205342p2/115677.jpg)
A ghastly and horrifying collection of children's stories guaranteed to frighten and scare your children. What else is there to say about a book where children's thumbs are severed as a punishment for sucking them or where little girls are burned to death because they play with match (nothing quite as disturbing as seeing an illustration of two sad cats crying a river of tears beside the charred remains of a disobedient German child).
![sabisteb](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1364815655p2/5100042.jpg)
Struwwelpeter von Heinrich Hoffmann ist ein Kinderbuchklassier aus dem Jahr 1845. Ich habe das Buch als Kind schon geliebt und fand es gar nicht grausam. Ich frage mich nur, warum das Buch Struwwelpeter heißt, denn in meiner Ausgabe ist keine Geschichte dieses Namens, sondern ein Gedicht vom Christkind.
Natürlich liest man so ein Buch anders, wenn man erwachsen ist. Man sieht vieles vielleicht kritischer und aus anderem Blickwinkel, dennoch finde ich das Buch immer noch sehr gut, nur hatte ich te ...more
Natürlich liest man so ein Buch anders, wenn man erwachsen ist. Man sieht vieles vielleicht kritischer und aus anderem Blickwinkel, dennoch finde ich das Buch immer noch sehr gut, nur hatte ich te ...more
![Suvi](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1455995002p2/59357.jpg)
So she was burnt, with all her clothes,
And arms, and hands, and eyes, and nose;
Till she had nothing more to lose
Except her little scarlet shoes;
And nothing else but these was found
Among her ashes on the ground.
That's something you don't see very often these days in a children's book. Struwwelpeter has a bit of a reputation of being macabre, but there are actually only three stories where misbehaving children end up dead or mutilated. Doesn't sound very fun, you say? Well, the rhymes make the sto ...more
And arms, and hands, and eyes, and nose;
Till she had nothing more to lose
Except her little scarlet shoes;
And nothing else but these was found
Among her ashes on the ground.
That's something you don't see very often these days in a children's book. Struwwelpeter has a bit of a reputation of being macabre, but there are actually only three stories where misbehaving children end up dead or mutilated. Doesn't sound very fun, you say? Well, the rhymes make the sto ...more
![Gift](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1425838156p2/11530466.jpg)
Es ist schon ein bisschen seltsames Gefühl dieses Buch das erste Mal als Erwachsene aufzuschlagen. Als Kind gruselte ich mich gerne bei alten, oft ziemlich blutigen und düsteren Märchen. Es ist allerdings ein Unterschied, alte und aus der Kindheit bekannte Geschichten als Erwachsene zu lesen oder sich als Erwachsene in unbekannte Kindergeschichten neu einlesen zu müssen.
Der Struwwelpeter ist ein besonderes Buch, in dem Mädchen verbrennen, die Daumen abgeschnitten werden und Buben an Magersucht ...more
Der Struwwelpeter ist ein besonderes Buch, in dem Mädchen verbrennen, die Daumen abgeschnitten werden und Buben an Magersucht ...more
![Helga Ganguly](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png)
I still have the original in German that my parents brought with us when we emigrated from Austria. I also have an Translated copy in English. I remember my mother owned a set of clay pins issued during the war to illustrate the stories. I have no idea why Americans always seem to be so horrified by the stories. My mother never instilled any fear in me when she read me the stories. They were funny A Southpark selfhelp book. No one ever mentions the 3 little boys who tormented the black youth.
...more
![Jennifer](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1420219301p2/2089918.jpg)
I inherited this book from my great-grandmother as a child. I loved it then because it was so weird. I couldn't believe that children's books used to be like this and I would show it to all my friends and we would laugh a lot at how strange it was. The edition I had was very old and possibly had the Slovenly Betsy stories as well. I remember one story that isn't in the newer editions about a boy who ate, smoked, and drank too much and eventually split in two. Too crazy!!
![Eric Berntson](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1175276398p2/43906.jpg)
This was one of my first books, and it explains a lot on how I view the world. How I believe bad children & people should be punished. It explains why my humor often has a dark undertone. I found an English language version of this the prose is not quite as good but it is very entertaining. Modern version of this book the art is faded, better to find a good copy. I did learn it was important to brush your hair & cut your nails.
![Therese](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1470333168p2/2118677.jpg)
A friend recommended this to my four year old daughter as a joke. With ancient German, illustrated stories about the man who cuts off the thumbs of naughty little thumbsuckers, of little girls who burst into flames while their kitties howl in mourning because they dared play with fire.
Yeah. I bought it.
LE found it. She loves it. Really loves it.
I am a ghastly mother. But my child does NOT suck her thumb.
Yeah. I bought it.
LE found it. She loves it. Really loves it.
I am a ghastly mother. But my child does NOT suck her thumb.
![Kristina](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1188307412p2/314973.jpg)
Aug 28, 2007
Kristina
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
strange children & adults
I first had this read to me when I was quite young, but didn't get a translated version until I was in high school. Over 150 years old and it still has good lessons in it. Like if you suck your thumbs they just may get cut off, and lighting matches could leave you in a pile of ash. Germany has a bit of a different feel for children's literature than the happy-go-luckyness of American lit.
![Krista the Krazy Kataloguer](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/users/1191519600p2/316102.jpg)
A hair-raising cautionary tale of boys who face the consequences of their bad behavior. Translated from the German, originally published in 1847.
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![62570](http://web.archive.org./web/20161217123303im_/http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208449581p2/62570.jpg)
Note: There is more than one Heinrich Hoffman.
Heinrich Hoffmann was a German psychiatrist, who also wrote some short works including Der Struwwelpeter (German for either "slovenly Peter" or "shock-haired Peter"), an illustrated book portraying children misbehaving.
He wrote under the following names:
- Polykarpus Gastfenger (The given name is the German version of that of a Christian martyr; the su ...more
More about Heinrich Hoffmann...
Heinrich Hoffmann was a German psychiatrist, who also wrote some short works including Der Struwwelpeter (German for either "slovenly Peter" or "shock-haired Peter"), an illustrated book portraying children misbehaving.
He wrote under the following names:
- Polykarpus Gastfenger (The given name is the German version of that of a Christian martyr; the su ...more
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