Help, the Herdmanns are coming!
Help, get the Herdmanns is a 1971 authored children's books of American author Barbara Robinson and forms the first part of their Herdmanns- trilogy . It tells the story of the six Herdmanns - the worst children in the block - and how, despite their unconventional way of life, they show the other residents of the city the true meaning of charity and thus the "Christian values" on the occasion of Christmas . In the US the book was published under the title The Best Christmas Pageant Ever , in Australia , New Zealand and the UK it is titled The Worst Kids in the World .
action
The Herdmann children are, according to the residents of the American town where the six siblings live and go to school, "the worst children of all time". They smoke and steal, harass other children and even set an old tool shed on fire. These children, of all people , are taking on all the main roles in the annual nativity play this year , which is for once directed by the mother of the first-person narrator. Even the rehearsals for the nativity play are exciting and informative because the Herdmanns do not yet know the Christmas story and place the story in the context of their world of experience.
In the course of the story, the residents of the city, who assume that they are socially far above the Herdmanns, learn that the Herdmanns understand the Christmas values after a few arguments and are able to break them down to their everyday lives.
The whole thing ends in a Christmas performance, in which, from the director's point of view, a lot goes wrong, but the meaning of Christmas becomes clearer to everyone than ever before.
Names
In the English original, the name Herdmanns is written with an "n", ie Herdmans.
The names of the children are in the original: Imogene (Eugenia), Ralph (Ralf), Claude (Klaus), Lenny (Leopold), Ollie (Olli), and Gladys (Hedwig).
Book edition of the Herdmanns trilogy
The following editions of the trilogy are available - the German ones:
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Harper & Row, New York NY 1972, ISBN 0-06-440275-4 .
- Help, the Herdmanns are coming !. German by Nele Maar and Paul Maar . Oetinger, Hamburg 1974, ISBN 3-7891-1989-X .
- Help, the Herdmanns are coming! . Carlsen, Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-8415-0434-0 .
-
The
WorstBest School Year Ever. HarperCollins, New York NY 1994, ISBN 0-06-023039-8 .
- Careful, the Herdmanns again. German by Kristina Kreuzer. Oetinger, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7891-4617-6 .
-
The
WorstBest Halloween Ever. HarperCollins, New York NY 2004, ISBN 0-06-027862-5 .
- Watch out, the Herdmanns are back. German by Andreas Steinhöfel , Oetinger, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7891-4614-5 .
The books have also been published in German translation in a 352-page collective edition:
- Always these Herdmanns . German by Nele Maar, Paul Maar, Kristina Kreuzer and Andreas Steinhöfel Illustrations: Isabel Kreitz. Oetinger, Hamburg 2011. ISBN 978-3-7891-5870-4 .
Audio books / radio plays / readings (selection)
| publication | title | Art | publishing company | Director | Speaker | ISBN-10 | ISBN-13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Help, the Herdmanns are coming! | Abridged edition | Oetinger Media GmbH | k. A. | Manfred Steffen | - | - |
| 2013 | Help, the Herdmanns are coming! - the radio play | radio play | Oetinger Media GmbH | Hans-Helge Ott | Alexander Maria Bamberger, Hans-Peter Korff , Christiane Leuchtmann , Gerd Baltus , Tom Kime-Rathje, Stephan Schad | 383730647X | 978-3837306477 |
| 2017 | Help, the Herdmanns are coming! | Unabridged reading | Oetinger Media GmbH | Frank Gustavus | Gabrielle Pietermann | 3837310078 | 978-3837310078 |
Film adaptations
In 1983 , an American television adaptation was released, directed by George Schaefer , for which the author herself wrote the script .
The film received mostly positive reviews in the United States.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cover text for the first volume of the German-language edition Help, the Herdmanns are coming! : “The whole district agrees: The Herdmanns children are the worst children of all time. They lie, steal, smoke cigars (including the girls), drive the neighbors to despair with their skateboards and, with the help of their half-wild cat, can sweep a classroom completely empty in the record time of three minutes. Now they have even managed to get all of the leading roles in the nativity play that is to be performed for Christmas. Of course everyone expects the worst nativity play of all time ... "
- ^ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Retrieved March 12, 2020 .
- ↑ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (TV Movie 1983) - IMDb. Retrieved March 12, 2020 .