Lisa and Lottie

I read this book as a ten-year old and it stuck with me for what has been the next seventeen years. Warm, wonderful, very charming. The ORIGINAL, BEST and should have been the ONLY version of the Parent Trap. I wish I had known that this book would be largely forgotten, I would have held on to my copy to share with my own kids.

It's so amazing it took almost 12 yers for me to find out anything about Erich Kastner! I enjoyed his books as I was growing up in Japan and had been looking for English translated version for such long time... I don't really care for the movies much since they are so different from the book..well, it's too Disney-ish... But why in the world there aren't much of his works available in the U.S.??

After seeing a good movie based on a book, do you like to read the book? So do I! That's why I read Erich Kastner's novel, translated under the title of "Lisa and Lottie." Lisa lives with Daddy, who is an opera conductor in Vienna. Lottie lives with Mommy, who is employed by a periodical in Munich. When they meet, there is none of the feuding which we see in both of the Disney movies. (Kastner was imprisoned by the Nazis for his pacifist convictions. He might have disapproved.) The girls take a trip to town and have their picture taken. The photographer makes an extra copy and sends it to the periodical in Munich as a curiosity. At the end of the camp season, the girls make the switcheroo. They exchange messages by General Delivery until Lottie meets Cruella's counterpart. The shock renders Lottie bed-ridden, so Lisa stops receiving messages. About this time, the news is slow in Munich. The editor shows Mommy the photograph of the twins and asks her to write a caption. Mommy realizes the truth and presses Lisa for an explanation. Lisa says that they have been exchanging letters, but she hasn't received any in a while. Mommy correctly infers that Lottie is ill. So Mommy and Lisa take a trip to Vienna, and voila! The book is a short children's novel, and I was able to read it in three hours. It's not nearly the tear-jerker that the movie is, but it was nice and entertaining. Incidentally, didn't Annie and Hallie both say that their birthday was October 14? That must have been for a touch of authenticity!

This was my favorite book as a child (and avid fiction reader). I read it several times at different ages and was always fascinated with the concept of separated twins finding each other. Now I'm hoping to locate a copy in order to share the story and illustrations with my own children. It's delightful, with an "old world" quality to it that's different from Disney's "The Parent Trap".

Erich Kastner is an extra ordinary writer. His books are the perfect books for children. I am sorry that some of his books such as "The Flying Classroom" have not been translated or published in English. Read him, he is great! Wunderbahr!