This is the first review I do on children's literature but it is one of my favourite genres and a huge part of my education so if you don't like this one, just know that there will be so many more. A lot of people have read children's literature and I suppose it's not something you think of but the change from early 1700's that introduced the then non-existing genre to the children's literature that was introduced during the 90's and forward is just like two completely opposite worlds. When children's literature and horror were first introduced, the main aim of the story was to give the child a moral education, a quick five step guide on how to scare some sense and etiquette into your poor shivering child, because what is therapy when you can just threaten your child into behaving, right?
So basically the children of the 1700's and 1800's suffered through moral stories, educations, the whole you-have-to-be-a-tiny-adult and who could forget the why do we still bottle feed this child, he is nearly a grown up at the ripe age of 6 months old.
Heinrich Hoffmann wrote Struwwelpeter in 1845, which must have been the loneliest year of his life seeing as his idea of a good book was killing children and drowning the poor little boy that looked up at the sky while walking. Just imagine the look on his wife's face when he published the book, but also imagine the look on his face as he watched his wife leave with the kids from his kitchen window, wondering what he could have possibly done to make them all leave, I don't know Heinrich, perhaps it's all the children you kept judging. (This is not a true fact by the way, it's just how I imagine it would go down if my partner came home with a book that punishes children for acting their age.)
There is not really a plot for me to write out here from the short story, but instead many short moral stories such as the little girl that played with matches and burnt herself to death, "the story of flying Robert" a child that unlike all the other good children, went out on a walk during a storm and flew away to his death with the stories ending sentence being "Only, this one thing is plain, Bob was never seen again" and who could forget poor little suck-a-thumb, a child that likes to suck his thumb, however upon doing so again despite being told not to, a "great tall tailor" comes out and cuts his thumbs off instantly. "That will teach you to stop being a literal child suck-a-thumb, ha ha ha!" - Heinrich Hoffmann probably while killing off children in his stories one by one.
In terms of children's horror, this book is just right up that category. It is a horrifying book that was probably written with really good intentions and Hoffmann probably started popping that champagne thinking about how many good children there will be now that he has written the parents-guide-to-behaving-infants manual. But instead it lead us into the big literature shift when the genre of children's literature was reconsidered because oh my god why wouldn't it? If a book like this wouldn't be the one to change the big brains of literature's minds then perhaps it is all the fifty other books with similar interest and moral-code that finally did it for them.
The stories of the book (despite the meaning) are entertaining to read, there is absolutely nothing boring about the creative plots created by Hoffmann and it being a picture book really gives you an idea of what was going on in their heads back in the 1800's. The illustrations are really pretty with some old school children in pretty dresses and those shiny small shoes that Shirley Temple wore with all her outfits. It is an easy going book with very simplified language and text and it comes in all sorts of languages, but the original work was written in german, and I read it in english.
It is a good tool to use if you're studying literature (specifically children's), the writing style and story really shows you the evolution of writing and society norms, but it can also be good to show your children how things were seen back then and then you can always use the book to throw into a pit of fire incase you are freezing that one specific cold tuesday in the middle of january, you know which one, to really crank that fire up! I'm just kidding, don't do that. Or do. I can't stop you, but don't tell Mr. Hoffmann what you did.
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