Knickerbocker gang
Knickerbocker-Gang is the title of a children's crime book series by Thomas Brezina , which was first published in 1990 and has been continued irregularly since then. The books have been translated into 19 languages and published in several countries.
The name Knickerbocker
The name of the gang is reminiscent of the Knickerbocker pants , the knee breeches not only worn for hiking. In the first adventure of the Knickerbocker gang ( riddle about the snow monster ), the origin of this unusual name is explained: The members of the gang, who did not know each other at the time, win a lederhosen design competition, but do not want the knickerbocker designed at the award ceremony demonstrate, as the designs are sometimes very embarrassing. However, you are forced to do so by the very plump and unfriendly advertising manager. As the winners of the competition, the four of them can ask for what they want. In revenge, they want the advertising manager to shoehorn on stage for five minutes . Thereupon he calls them "miserable knickerbockers". At that time, Thomas Brezina also considered other names such as “carrot gang” for the series. Supposedly, the final name came to him in the shower.
Gang logo
The logo of the Knickerbockers' gang is a white bordered, orange-colored circle on which a green "K" and three yellow "boards" with the inscription "Die Knickerbocker-Gang" lie. This symbol can be found on the title page of every German-language edition; the translations also try to adhere to it.
The logo has been completely redesigned for the first time for the new edition of selected volumes published by Ravensburger Buchverlag since the beginning of 2015. The new logo shows the bright red lettering spread over three lines; the first letter K of the word “Knickerbocker” extends oversized over the height of the three lines and thus takes up the characteristic green K of the original logo. The lettering is again underlaid with a round element - this time a metallic silver-gray shiny circle, which is surrounded by a dark blue ring made of peeling paint and which expands in the direction of the lettering.
The members of the Knickerbocker gang
The gang consists of four members, Axel Klingmeier, Lieselotte "Lilo" Schroll, Dominik Kascha and Paula "Poppi" Monowitsch. They all live in Austria : Axel comes from Linz , Lilo from Kitzbühel , Dominik from Vienna and Poppi from Graz , but from episode 10 onwards they all live in Vienna. Together they solve numerous more or less unreal adventures.
Like many fictional children's gangs, the four knickers have some of their typical characteristics. For example, Lieselotte is the leader of the gang (it is not for nothing that she is called the “mastermind” - when someone quarrels with her, she is also called “Frau Super Smart”). Dominik, whose hobby is acting (mainly Shakespeare ), calls himself Hamlet's father and is a child extra at the Burgtheater . His parents are actors. He is the walking lexicon of the team and speaks very complicated things, which the other members of the gang always make fun of. He wears glasses. Axel is the smallest and the sportiest of the four. Knickerbockers benefit from his sportiness on adventurous chases or climbing, although he is often teased because of his height. His trademark is a cap with the letter "A", he has several of them, the most famous piece is red with a white "A". Poppi loves animals and has a mini zoo and a dog, which from time to time plays an important role in the books. She is the youngest on the team.
One of the Knickerbockers' motto is that friends should stick together through thick and thin - as a special aspect at the beginning of the 1990s, girls also played a decisive role in solving cases from the very beginning. Another guiding principle is that a real Knickerbocker should never give up: " A real Knickerbocker never gives up ".
The plot of the stories
The detective work leads the knickerbockers around the world, be it in the Netherlands , Switzerland , the USA , France , Germany or even China . Some adventures take place in Austria.
The knickerbockers always solve their cases together, although going it alone cannot be ruled out within an adventure. During their adventures they become annoying to the evildoers time and again, with the result that the four detectives are often lured into a trap. The Knickerbocker adventures often have similarities with James Bond films . For example, there are often car chases and an endless number of shady people seem involved in the case at first. It is not uncommon for superlative objects to appear, such as the “Schreckensschokolade” (explosive chocolate) or the “million dollar stork”.
Knickerbocker gang junior
Knickerbocker Gang Junior was a series for younger readers (7–8 years old). The books were set in larger font and the stories were shorter or less complicated. The main characters Daffi, Roki, Babs and Chris are big fans of the Knickerbocker and they all have a role model from the gang. A total of 14 volumes were published.
Knickerbocker gang 4 always
In March 2017, Thomas Brezina asked his fans via Facebook whether he should write a sequel to the Knickerbocker gang and thus provoked positive reactions. In November 2017, the first volume of the adult knickers appeared under the title "Alte Geister rest unsanft"; he was awarded the golden book and the platinum book of the Main Association of the Austrian Book Trade. In September 2018, the second volume in the series was published with the title "Shadows of the Future". A third, final volume of the "Knickerbocker Gang 4immer" series is due to appear in 2020.
Publishers
The series started in 1990 at Neuer Breitschopf-Verlag . At that time the illustrations were made by Atelier Bauch-Kiesel. The books have been published by Ravensburger Verlag since 2000. Initially, the volumes with the original illustrations, but in a new format, with new title pages were published until the Knickerbocker saw a rejuvenation in 2005. The new illustrator is Jan Birck . The old volumes were reissued and new stories were published until 2009 - an average of two to three books a year. Some volumes were also published as paperbacks by Omnibus-Verlag and Ravensburger Verlag . No further volume in the series has appeared since the 67th case. In June 2014, however, Brezina announced on his homepage that he had written two new volumes that should appear from spring 2015.
Special books
English language books
Some of the volumes appeared in small format and were in English. Erich Ballinger translated and revised some adventures for children who have been learning English for 2-3 years (for example “Dr. Horror”). There were also educational CD-ROMs for these books.
Guessing stories and decision-making stories
Also worth mentioning are special volumes, some of which contained guessing thrillers or short thrillers based on the principle of “ you decide ”. These books included decoders and other gimmicks that were used to determine the right solutions or to evaluate performance.
Gang sheet
In addition, detective magazines were published in 1993/1994 under the title “ Das Knickerbocker-Gangenblatt ”, they appeared once a month and contained short crime stories, guessing stories and fan pages.
Special editions
Thomas Brezina wrote several mini knickerbockers for German and Swiss bookstores in the 1990s.
Film adaptations and books for the films
In 1995 the film The Knickerbocker Gang: The Talking Grave came into the cinemas. In 1996, 14 knickerbockers' adventures were filmed on behalf of ORF ( Die Knickerbocker-Gang (TV series) ). There are books for both the movie and the TV episodes. The spine of the volumes in the ORF special edition together form a Knickerbocker logo.
The Knickerbocker gang on stage
In 2001, the Graz children's theater Next Liberty staged the episode When the Tower Clock 13 strikes as an interactive play directed by Michael Schilhan .
Anniversary editions and Knickerbocker 2000
The anniversary volume (volume 50) appeared with a “golden” title page. A special volume entitled The Hunt for the $ 100 Billion Treasure was published for the 10th anniversary .
There were two more so-called "Knickerbocker 2000" cases ( Race to Atlantis , When the Ice Man awakens ) in which the Knickerbocker work on behalf of private detective Larry Hunt . The Ravensburger- Verlag, where the books have been published for some time, also published two interactive CD-ROMs ( Disappeared in Saurian Land , Phantom of the U-Bahn ) based on the principle of the “Knickerbocker 2000” stories. In these games, the children had to help the four knickerbockers identify the cases, the client is again the mysterious Larry Hunt .
5. Member of the Knickerbockerband in Volume 63
In volume 63, which appeared in early 2006, the gang got a 5th member (but only for this one episode): 11-year-old Michael Funcke, who won this unusual prize in a competition held by Ravensburger Verlag the previous year. The story is about football and Michael, who is a goalkeeper in real life, has a crucial role to play.
Others
- Fan articles such as mini detective agency, detective guides, bags, backpacks, etc. were available alongside the books in the early 1990s.
- Most Knickerbocker adventures start with a scary fall (ghosts, werewolves, zombies, magicians, etc.), but they all have a realistic resolution.
Knickerbocker songs
There are four theme songs for the Knickerbocker: Two were used in the radio plays (the first song by Klaus Back and Tini Beier We are four and we are on the ball is in the earlier editions of the books with notes and text on the first page, the second The song, which can be heard on the newer cassettes published by Ravensburger-Verlag and at the beginning of the CD-ROMs, begins with Echte Knickerbocker ), and two each in the movie (Friends forever) and in the television series.
Knickerbocker adventure hiking trails in Tyrol
In 2006 Thomas Brezina staged three stories in the Tyrolean holiday region of Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis as "adventures to hike".
"The nosedive": The initial situation is a plane crash. Eyewitnesses report that objects were dropped before the crash that the children have to find. On the hiking route, the young detectives await further clues, which in this way come closer and closer to the solution, and ultimately even a real wreck in the trees and objects that can be discovered on branches. If the case is solved, the children are rewarded as "master detectives", receive a certificate and can be immortalized in the "Book of Adventure".
“The Witches' Path”: The young witch Grisabella Glockenkuss and her brother made a mistake about a saying during the magical duel. Your witch's house has blown up and some furnishings have been scattered all over the forest. As a reward after solving this puzzle, the children are expected to be named "young witch" or "young witch".
“The Explorer Path”: A famous researcher has disappeared. On the way to his strange looking research house, the young detectives encounter gigantic snails, see the world from the perspective of an ant, have to recognize animal tracks and develop trapper qualities. At the end of the hike you can discover who the researcher was and what he was working on.
Discussion about the series
In the 1990s, the series sparked a discussion among Austrian educators and parents about the educational value of the books.
title
- Book index
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- Special publications
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- English books
- Who is Robin Horror?
- The Horror Diamond
- Hollywood horror
- Alice in Horror Land
- Welcome to Horror Hotel
- Radio plays
Ravensburger / Universal Family Entertainment
- The treasure of the last dragons
- Titanic, please report!
- The invisible player
- The cry of the golden serpent
- The creature from the Devil's Gorge
- The man Without a Face
- It came from the ice
- The poison yellow violin
- Race to Atlantis
- 13 blue cats
- Behind the forbidden door
- The ghost rider
- In the werewolves' forest
- The dragon junk
- The green bell ringer
- The beast in the moor
- Password poison claw
- The tomb of Baron Pizza
- The boomerang of evil
- Count Drakul's gold
- The Lord's Secret Halloween
- The diamond face
Junior
- The barrel with the skull
- The phantom of the school
- Where is the millionaire stork?
- The curse of the black knight
- Meeting point at the shower mill
- When the tower clock strikes 13
- Hot Traces (The Organ of Terror / The Bald Cat)
- The sultan's zombie sword
- Hunt for the harbor shark
- The red mummy's revenge
- Columbus and the killer carp
- The night of the white sausage vampires
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Brezina: The Knickerbockerbande: Riddle about the snow monster. 6th edition 1991. Breitschopf Verlag. Pp. 29-31.
- ↑ Questions to Thomas Brezina ( Memento of the original from September 10, 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. : "It should be ready in early 2015."
- ↑ http://www.amazon.de/Knickerbockerbande-Jagd-Millionen-Dollar-Schatz/dp/3473348899
