Little Aquarius

Little Aquarius is a classic children's book by Otfried Preußler . The work was Preussler's first book publication. It was published by Thienemann Verlag in 1956 and, like many other books by the author , contains numerous illustrations by Winnie Gebhardt-Gayler . To date, Little Aquarius has been translated into a total of 32 languages. In 1957 the book won the special prize at the German Youth Book Prize for text and illustration.

content

One day a little boy will be born to the Aquarian parents who live at the bottom of the mill pond, with green hair, green eyes and webbed toes, as befits a real Aquarius. Soon the little Aquarius will go on a voyage of discovery with his father or with his friend, the carp Cyprinus. He learns to find his way around the pond , gets to know people and has many adventures. When it finally becomes winter and the ice covers the mill pond, the Aquarian family goes to sleep.

Emergence

Like most of Otfried Preußler's books, the story about little Aquarius is based on stories from his childhood. Back then, in the glow of the kerosene lamp , when it was uncomfortable outside, people were told stories of witches, werewolves, the magician Kittel , the tinsmith and the story of Aquarius , who sometimes came to the shore on moonlit nights and played the harp there.

Preussler had also told his children about such an Aquarius when they were little. The children liked the story so much that they kept asking their father to tell about him. Preussler himself enjoyed the story and one day he got the idea to write it down. He had already put radio plays, short stories, amateur plays for children and a play on paper. To make sure that his decision was the right one, he told the story to the children in his school class. They were enthusiastic and asked if the little Aquarius would not get in trouble if he was naughty. Little Aquarius became a real little boy who is curious and has to face the consequences if he is naughty and makes friends, but with the difference that he lives in the water in a little reed house at the bottom of the mill pond.

When Preussler was looking for a publisher for Der kleine Wassermann in the early 1950s , it was suggested that he should rather write environmental books. The second publisher left the manuscript for nine months. This was the Thienemann Verlag, where almost all of Preussler's books have been published to this day. Little Aquarius was an instant hit. From then on, Preussler continued to write, a total of 32 books.

Adaptations

In 1972, Karussell released a radio play version of the book on records and cassettes on its Philips and Fontana labels . The voice of the little Aquarius speaks Ulli Philipp , the narrator is Harald Leipnitz . In 2005 Robert Metcalf published two language radio plays for children under the title Learning English and Learning French with Little Aquarius . In 2008 the same publisher produced a new radio play with Friedhelm Ptok as the narrator.

In 2006 Der Audio Verlag brought another radio play u. a. with the voice of Laura Maire . In 2011 the same publisher published the work as an audio book with Florian Lukas as the narrator. The three stories Der kleine Wassermann - Frühling im Mühlenweiher , Der kleine Wassermann - Sommerfest im Mühlenweiher and Der kleine Wassermann - Herbst im Mühlenweiher , which Preußler wrote together with his daughter Regine Stigloher, were also published in 2014 as radio plays with Friedhelm Ptok by Der Audio Verlag .

In 2003 Wolfgang Adenberg wrote a stage version for little Aquarius. The world premiere was in the ETA Hoffmann Theater in Bamberg . Further productions took place u. a. from the Augsburger Puppenkiste and Gerhards Marionettentheater .

Sequels

In 2011, Thienemann Verlag published a sequel in the form of a picture book story under the title Der kleine Wassermann - Frühling im Mühlenweiher . The authors are Otfried Preußler and his daughter Regine Stigloher. The illustrations are by Daniel Napp . Further sequels were published under the titles Der kleine Wassermann - Sommerfest im Mühlenweiher (2013) and Der kleine Wassermann - Herbst im Mühlenweiher (2014).

literature

• Otfried Preußler: Der kleine Wassermann , 55th edition, Thienemann Verlag, 2002. ISBN 3-522-10620-2
• Otfried Preussler, Daniel Napp, Regine Stigloher: The little water man - spring in the mill pond , Thienemann Verlag, 2011. ISBN 978-3-522-43678-6
• Otfried Preußler, Daniel Napp, Regine Stigloher: The Little Aquarius - Summer Festival in the Mühlenweiher , Thienemann Verlag, 2013. ISBN 978-3-522-43746-2
• Otfried Preußler, Daniel Napp, Regine Stigloher: The Little Aquarius - Autumn in the Mühlenweiher , Thienemann Verlag, 2014. ISBN 978-3-522-43775-2

Web links

• Little Aquarius on the author's homepage
• Little Aquarius as a reading sample from Thienemann-Verlag (PDF, 886 kB, 15 p.)
• Review of Little Aquarius on KinderundJugendmedien.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.preussler.de ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Interview with Otfried Preußler ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF, 391 kB, 4 pages)  
3. ↑ www.hoerspielwelten.de ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Learning English with Little Aquarius (2005), Der Audio Verlag; ISBN 978-3-89813-419-4
5. ^ Learning French with Little Aquarius (2005), Universal Family Entertainment; ISBN 3-89832-886-4
6. ↑ www.karussell.de ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ Der kleine Wassermann (2006), Der Audio Verlag; ISBN 978-3-89813-545-0
8. ↑ Der kleine Wassermann (2011), Der Audio Verlag; ISBN 978-3-86231-039-5
9. ↑ Der kleine Wassermann - Spring in the Mühlenweiher (2014), Der Audio Verlag; ISBN 978-3-86231-337-2
10. ↑ Der kleine Wassermann - Summer Festival in the Mühlenweiher (2014), Der Audio Verlag; ISBN 978-3-86231-385-3
11. ↑ Der kleine Wassermann - Herbst im Mühlenweiher (2014), Der Audio Verlag; ISBN 978-3-86231-406-5
12. ↑ www.preussler.de ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ www.augsburger-puppenkiste.de
14. ↑ Information from the author on the continuation ( memento of the original from January 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ Information from the publisher to continue
16. ↑ Information from the publisher
17. ↑ Information from the publisher on the third sequel ( memento of the original from December 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.