When I was a little boy

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When I was a little boy is an autobiographical children's book by Erich Kästner , which was published in 1957.

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Erich Kästner's birthplace at Koenigsbrücker Strasse 66 in Dresden

Starting with his grandparents, Erich Kästner tells the story of his family and his childhood in Dresden . He is expressly aimed at children, whom he repeatedly addresses as “dear children” throughout the book . In his narrative he proceeds largely chronologically, but selects certain events and aspects of his life that seem particularly appropriate to him, because "not everything that children experience is suitable for children to read," as he notes in the foreword. The book ends with the beginning of the First World War , which Kästner, who was then 15 years old, later considered the end of his childhood.

References to Kästner's other books

In When I Was a Little Boy it becomes clear that Kästner's other children's books also have strong autobiographical traits. For example, Anton from Pünktchen and Anton as well as Emil from Emil and the detectives have a close relationship with their mother as Kästner has with his own mother, who, like Emil's mother, ran a hairdressing business. Erich Kästner took up his mother's habit of secretly following him on his way to school in order to be sure that he arrived at school unharmed in the story Frau Hebestreit spied , which appeared in 1962 in The Pig at the Hairdresser 's. He worked his time as an external student at a boarding school in The Flying Classroom, among other things . The names of his characters in the novel are partly borrowed from people from his childhood. Gustav, for example, as Kästner called a central figure in Emil and the Detectives , is the name of one of his childhood best friends, and his elementary school teacher, Mr. Bremser, appears as Anton's understanding class teacher in Pünktchen and Anton .

Release history

The first edition was illustrated by Horst Lemke . It was published by Atrium Verlag in 1957 . The book has been reprinted numerous times; it is currently published by Cecilie Dressler Verlag .

An audio book version by Walter Sittler was also published by Atrium Verlag . A radio play adaptation with Martin Held , Stephan Chrzescinski and Eva Brumby was published by Oetinger Audio .

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