Struwwelpeter

Of the stories in Struwwelpeier, I think that Struwwelpeier itself was my favorite.  It was short and sweet.  I was immediately struck by the peculiarity of the illustration of the cover because I couldn’t tell if he was electrocuted or if his fingers were growing (both turned out to be wrong).  I also think it is a great introduction to the stories to come.  It sort of puts you in the correct mindset to finish the book.  My favorites were The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches and The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb.  I liked the latter because of how absurd the pictures.  It shows Harriet surrounded by cats lighting the matches then setting herself on fire and finally just her ashes.  I think they are very funny and well done.  The story also reminds me of a time that my brother and his friend lit matches and stuck them in the carpet at my old house (nothing happened my mom found them).  I like the Suck-A-Thumb story because I used to suck my thumb and my parents tried just about anything to get me to stop, but I don’t remember them ever saying a tailor was going to come and cut them off with scissors.  It is such an extreme.  Overall I really enjoyed this book.

Heinrich Hoffman seems like a really interesting man.  He was born in 1809 in Frankfurt Am Main.  He had a normal childhood and succeeded in school thanks to his father’s discipline, then went on to the medical field becoming a doctor.  In 1851, Hoffman became the doctor at the insane asylum where he learned much in the field of psychiatry.  He wrote Struwwelpeier in 1845 for his son as a Christmas present. Hoffman died in 1894.