Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver

My kids grew up with this. Or rather, they spent a substantial slice of their childhood with characters from Michael Ende's Jim Knopf series, translated as Jim Button. Much of this exposure was not so much by reading the books but listening to audio tapes and watching TV versions, in a puppet show. That's how I shared a lot of it, eg on car trips. Unfortunately, since the girls moved out of the house in the meantime, their best books from childhood have been boxed, so I could not pick Jim up and refresh my memory better. I remember I was particularly fond of the dragon in the first book of the series, where Jim and his friend Luke the locomotive engine driver went to China on some mission. The best volume in the series, as I recall it, is the Wild Thirteen, an encounter with a pirate gang of 12. If you want to have an explanation for this arithmetical contradiction, you will have to read the book or listen to the tape! Another fond memory is of the character 'der Scheinriese', translatable as the Illusionary Giant. That giant looks huge from a distance, but shrinks to normal size when in proximity. I forgot all about the problems that this difficulty causes for the poor giant, but the basic concept has stuck in my active memory of stereotypes. I run into Scheinriesen all the time! Ende is better known for his 'larger' books, mainly the Neverending Story, which I personally don't like half as much as Jim Knopf. So, if you are in need of a dragon, go to China with Jim and Luke! P.S. in case that you wonder why I posted the review without access to the actual book or tape, it is all Judy's fault! she forced me to review a children's book!

Most people know the later novels of the German writer Michael Ende: The Neverending Story and Momo. However, his first book translated into English as Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver and the followup Jim Button and the Wild 13 were, perhaps, even more popular in Germany. I still have the adventures of this fearless pair of advneturers in vivid memory 30 years after first encountering them, and recently reread the first book. My only regret is that the English version is out of print. I hope that I can find a library copy when my children are old enough to enjoy them.

Ask readers what they connect with fantasy books for children, and most will come up with the answer Harry Potter. But there were fantasy books before Harry came. The German writer Michael Ende is one of the many writers who have written wonderful stories, both for children and for grown ups. The story about Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver is one of them.Luke lives on a tiny, tiny island together with just a handful of other people. One day the postman arrives with a very special delivery, a small packet containing an even smaller little boy. The boy remains at the island and gets the name Jim Button. Everybody loves Jim, but when he growns bigger the island becomes too small for the people living there. Luke decides that he is the one who has to go, toether with his tank engine. Jim goes with him, in secret, and from here on the adventures of the two friends starts.The book is a wonderful tale of friendship and love, and also a story to teach children to overcome their fears, to believe in their own strength, and still be allowed to show your weakness. I have read the book together with my six years old daughter, and it has given us many great reading hours. Actually we are still enjoying being together with Jim and Luke, now reading the sequel to the book.Britt Arnhild Lindland

This maybe the finest story for children ever created, the events in this story are fictions indeed, but they are no complicated which demand you to think hard. Michael Ende created a "light" fiction story, because of that this story flies easily to your heart. And he also created all of his characters totally very humanly especially the two main characters: Jim and Lukas, ther are truly uniques: every person they meet, they help him, every bad situation they fix it in one way or another. All of these features, made this magnifient book a book of a life time! Michael Ende - your book is delightful - Bravo!

I read this book as a child several times (in German) and later I read it to my children (now 13 + 16). It is just wonderful, the journey of Jim and Lukas. Traveling through the desert, the Dragon City, their dragon friend. Have you ever tried the Tur-Tur The Giant's recipe for fried bananas? I did when I was 12 and I still love it. I have not found the book in its English version yet but I hope to get it soon to read it to my son in the US (7 years).