Emil and the Detectives

Emil and the Detectives

Summary

'Password Emil!'

Emil is excited to be taking the train on his own for the first time. He doesn't like the look of his fellow passenger, the man in the bowler hat. Emil will just have to keep his wits about him and his money in his pocket. But Emil falls asleep and when he wakes up the man in the bowler hat is gone - and so is the money! Emil is determined to get it back. He teams up with a gang of young detectives and so begins a hair-raising chase across Berlin to catch the dirty rotten thief...

BACKSTORY: Learn all about the book's brave author and find out just how good a sleuth you would be.

Reviews

  • This is a well-presented edition of a real classic, and I hope it helps it find the new audience it deserves
    The Bookbag

About the author

Erich Kästner

Erich Kästner was born in Dresden in 1899, the son of a saddle maker and a maidservant. He was drafted into the army in 1917, and his experiences there were to influence his later pacifism. He published Emil and the Detectives in 1928 to great success. A sequel, Emil and the Three Twins, appeared in 1933, but soon afterwards his books were labelled "contrary to the German spirit" and burned in public by the Nazis. He was interviewed by the Gestapo several times, but remained in Berlin until 1945, when he fled the city to avoid the Soviet assault. After the war he continued to write and remained committed to anti-war movements until his death in 1974.
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