Dot and Anton

Description

'Matches, buy my matches, ladies and gents!' calls Luise Pogge, a.k.a. Dot, evening after evening, standing on Weidendammer Bridge in the middle of Berlin. Of course, her wealthy parents have no idea of her whereabouts, believing her to be in the safe care of her nanny, Miss Andacht. But Miss Andacht is being blackmailed by her shady fiance, which is where Dot comes in. Anton, on the other hand, has to beg because he and his mother are paupers, and desperate. When the two children make friends on the streets of Berlin, Dot, who is no fool, has a brilliant idea which is sure to solve both their problems, and in the process they even solve a dastardly crime.

Erich Kastner, writer, poet and journalist, was born in Dresden in 1899. His first children's book, Emil and the Detectives, was published in 1929 and has since sold millions of copies around the world and been translated into around 60 languages. After the Nazis took power in Germany, Kastner's books were burnt and he was excluded from the writers' guild. He won many awards, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1960. He died in 1974. Walter Treir was an acclaimed cartoonist and illustrator, and Kastner's collaborator on more than a dozen children's books.

[Erich Kastner] has a way of being very funny while also making a serious point Irish Times Dot is a delightful creation... A child reader will adore the pug dogs and cream cakes and Christmas lights, all winningly illustrated by Walter Trier-the Quentin Blake to Kastner's Roald Dahl. An adult, though, will see behind the pigtails and street chases, to signs of a Germany which had lost track of morality and reason Standpoint magazine Full to the brim with memorable characters... The bold line drawings by Walter Trier enhance the story wonderfully... Nearly a century later the messages of courage, pride, respect and friendship remain equally relevant today Children's Books Ireland First published in 1931 and last available in English in 1973, the tale is presented here in handsome packaging with its original fluent line drawings, and it wears its age reasonably well... A minor classic featuring a pair of intrepid protagonists, a comically suspenseful climax, and a mildly caricatured adult cast Kirkus