Emil and the Detectives

I have read and enjoyed this book as a child and wanted my son to enjoy it too. The translation is good and the illustrations minimal, but funny. Erich Kaestner's happy inner child is as fresh as ever. The book's setting is pre-war Berlin and the city plays a big role in the story. My son was a bit impatient when I started reading it aloud to him. It is probably better for kids slightly older than seven. The book is compact and light, with good binding and a dust-jacket.

I don't remember much about this book, except that it was brilliant when I read it, over and over, almost 40 years ago. Now, I bought it for my 6-year-old daughter who inhaled it. She was critical of it, though. "Too many boys in this book."

This is a vintage kids' book that delivers the goods: mystery, intrigue, hallucination (dream) descriptions (was that chocolate bar spiked?), chase scenes, double-entendre character names, an interesting plot, likeable characters, and a John Grisham hero-gets-the-big-bucks type ending. A classic which I read and re-read as a child, this is a book to introduce kids to the detective novel genre, and it has stood up well to the passage of time. I recently purchased a copy for sentimental reasons, and guess what - I read it, and re-read it again (and again). There is a moralistic foundation to the story, but the good guys are just mischievous enough to be fun to be around, and the story is a great story, even if a little far-fetched to be believable. But it's totally believable if you use your imagination, and that's the fun of it!

I always avoided "Emil & the Detectives" when I was a kid because I thought it would be scary. I finally read it in my twenties, and kicked myself for missing it before. The story and characters are completely engaging, and the writing style is so humorous. May Massee's translation is a bit dated in regard to slang--it was done in the twenties--but she captures a wonderfully droll sensibility that I hope really exists in the German original. I am so mad that this book is out of print, because I want to buy it for my little cousin, who's a big Harry Potter fan, and I know would love this book too. If you can, try and find a version that has Kastner's hilarious introduction, in which he discusses the difficulty of finding a good idea for a story, even when you're lying on the floor under the dining room table.

This book is an exciting and breathtaking adventure.I loved this book because the main character reminded me of me. It was one of the best books I ever read. There were character descriptions under every picture. This helped me to see what the characters looked like and helped me keep them straight in the story. I felt like Emil was a one of a kind character. I never read any books with a character like him. He was really smart the way he solved the myster.The professor was also a really good character. He really acted like a professor even though he was a kid. I reccomend this book to any kids who like adventures!