BRIGHTON WHO IS IT FOR? & HOVE Young City Reads is for 07 MARCH – 24 MAY Spotlight on Events everyone: whether you’re an PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS SUGGESTED FURTHER READING 2013 amateur sleuth, avid junior ERICH KÄSTNER EMIL-THEMED FAMILY THE EXTRAORDINARY CASES FILM SCREENINGS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, bookworm, outright brilliant DUKE OF YORK’S PICTUREHOUSE Jonathan Stroud & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle teacher or doting parent who ERICH KÄSTNER was a German author, poet, (BRIGHTON) NANCY DREW SERIES, Carolyn Keene loves to read aloud to your Sunday 5 May 11am HARRIET SPIES AGAIN, Louise Fitzhugh children. It doesn’t matter who screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, Emil and the Detectives THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, you are: Young City Reads is socially astute poetry and children’s literature. (1935) Director Milton Rosmer Siobhan Dowd A charming British version of the story, WILD BOY, Rob Lloyd Jones about opening up the world He was born in Dresden, Germany in 1899. Like in which Emil travels to London rather of words and ideas to than Berlin. FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF ONE CITY. ONE BOOK. MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER, everyone. Emil, Erich was an only child and was devoted to Thursday 9 May 6.30pm E. L. Konigsburg Hue and Cry A THOUSAND CONVERSATIONS. WHAT IS his mother who worked as a hairdresser to LAURA MARLIN, Lauren St John (1947) Director Charles Crichton YOUNG CITY READS? HOW DOES IT WORK? In the fi rst of the famous Ealing Comedies RUBY REDFORT SERIES, Lauren Child supplement the family income. He was drafted into It couldn’t be simpler. The idea a gang of street boys in London foil a YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES SERIES, IMAGINE SHARING the army in 1917 and the brutality of his experiences master crook. Andrew Lane A BOOK WITH YOUR is to get young readers (and Friday 24 May grown-ups) everywhere reading THE BLACK CAT DETECTIVES, BEST FRIEND, YOUR made him strongly anti-war. He published Emil and MICHAEL ROSEN ON EMIL Wendy Meddour Emil and the Detectives AND THE DETECTIVES THE DIAMOND BROTHERS SERIES, TEACHER, YOUR BUS between now and the end the Detectives in 1929 and Emil and the Three Twins Theatre Royal, Brighton 1.30pm – Anthony Horowitz 2.30pm Tickets: £5 or £3 for schools DRIVER OR YOUR of May 2013. All you need to in 1933. The books were extremely popular with THE ROMAN MYSTERIES SERIES, 01273 709709 Caroline Lawrence FAMILY. READING A do to get involved is pick up a young readers but when Hitler came to power the CONCLUDE YOUR YOUNG CITY READS ADVENTURE AS MICHAEL ROSEN TAKES THE ADVENTURES OF THE NEW CUT copy from your local library or GANG, Philip Pullman BOOK TOGETHER IS books were labelled anti-German and burnt during CENTRE STAGE FOR A LIVE, INTERACTIVE, bookshop and start reading! If THE BAKER STREET BOYS SERIES, A FUN EXPERIENCE. SCHOOLS EVENT CELEBRATING you’re a teacher you can sign the infamous book burnings of 1933, instigated ERICH KÄSTNER’S EMIL AND THE Anthony Read EVERYONE SHOULD DETECTIVES… JUDY MOODY GIRL DETECTIVE, up your whole class and read Megan McDonald by the then Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph VINTAGE CHILDREN’S CLASSICS TRY IT. the book together in school. Vintage Children’s Classics is a beautiful WILMA TENDERFOOT SERIES, Goebbels. Erich Kästner was one of the only authors Emma Kennedy and affordable series of books intended THE GUIDE actually present as his books were tossed on to the to inspire and nurture a life-long love of MONDAYS ARE MURDER, CHILDREN’S reading in children and adults alike. The Tanya Landman AUTHOR, POET This guide provides you with fl ames. During his lifetime Erich Kästner received series launched in 2012 with 30 titles and THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY, everything you need to know featured perennial favourites such as Lewis Trenton Lee Stewart AND BROADCASTER about Young City Reads. many awards including the Georg Büchner Prize Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, THE SECRET BREAKERS SERIES, MICHAEL ROSEN Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret H. L. Dennis ERICH KÄSTNER Taking you on a whistlestop (1957) and the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Garden and Robert Louis Stevenson’s , INVITES YOU TO tour of Erich Kästner’s Emil Treasure Island alongside much-loved ADVENTURE ISLAND SERIES Helen Moss Prize (1960). He died in 1974. contemporary classics exclusive to Random JOIN US IN A and the Detectives, providing House including The Boy in the Striped THE SECRET SEVEN, Enid Blyton CITYWIDE READ OF background information, Pyjamas by John Boyne. Further titles in THE FAMOUS FIVE, Enid Blyton reading hints, biographical the series will be launched later this year. ERICH KÄSTNER’S ATTICUS CLAW BREAKS facts and ideas for further The series is accompanied by THE LAW, Jennifer Gray CLASSIC CHILDREN’S reading. ‘ EMIL IS A WONDER... THE BOOK HAS a dedicated interactive website for FOR OLDER READERS children worldofstories.co.uk The DETECTIVE STORY , David Almond website includes fun quizzes, downloads MY NAME IS MINA Young City Reads is a Collected Works THE EFFECT OF MAKING ME FEEL and extra material where children are THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG EMIL AND THE CIC Project able to fi nd out more about their IN THE NIGHT-TIME, Mark Haddon DETECTIVES COLLECTED WORKS CIC PART OF EMIL’S LITTLE GANG OF favourite characters and stories. Collected Works is a Brighton & Hove FROM 7 MARCH TO based social enterprise, devoted to BOYS... EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES IS reader development through the shared 24 MAY 2013. act of reading fi ction in the community. A LITTLE MASTERPIECE... READ IT AND The organisation is led by Artistic Director, Sarah Hutchings. YOU WILL BE HAPPY.’ Maurice Sendak For more up-to-the-minute information visit cityreads.co.uk VINTAGE Join the adventure…Password Emil! CHILDREN’S CLASSICS www.citylibraries.info brightonfestival.org worldofstories.co.uk Ideas for About the book Chap
r Summary Discussion EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES - themes CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 6 & 7 Discuss Emil prepares to travel by train to Emil follows the thief by tram. He has Why do you think Pony acts COURAGE OR FOOLISHNESS? Berlin on his own for the fi rst time. He no money but a kind man pays his so grown-up ‘just like her A true hero needs to show courage When young Emil awakes on a city-bound train to fi nd his CHILDREN ALONE is going to stay with his grandmother fare. Meanwhile his grandmother and grandmother’? and strength of character. and is carrying a lot of money that his cousin are waiting for him but start to Question for Class Discussion: mother’s precious money gone, and with it his strange bowler- Like all great children’s adventures Emil and the Do you think she would act the mother has worked hard to save for worry when he doesn’t arrive. same way if the book was set in Do you think Emil is a good hero? hatted travelling companion, so begins an unforgettable Detectives places its daring young heroes at the heart of her. She tells him he must take great Discuss 2013? Or do you think he is wrong to adventure. To catch the thief, Emil teams up with a gang of the story. In the tradition of The Famous Five, Swallows care of it. The differences between town and city CHAPTER 14 pursue the villain without the help Guess! life. How would your life be different young detectives and together they stalk their prey in a gripping and Amazons and other such classics, here the kids are in The thief tries to change the stolen of a grown-up? Can you think of Let’s look at the book’s cover. What if you lived in the countryside? What bank notes but Emil and his friends cat and mouse chase across Berlin… charge: making the rules, calling the shots and overcoming do you think the story will be about? would be frightening about the city? a time when you had to be brave or intervene. Thanks to the tiny show courage? extraordinary odds – all by themselves. Together they plan, CHAPTER 2 What would be exciting? pinholes through the notes that Emil made his dramatic debut back in 1929 with the book’s Can you talk about that experience? reason and organise with ingenuity and discipline, tracking On their way to the station Emil and CHAPTER 8 & 9 Emil had made by pinning them to original German publication. Since then, Emil and the Detectives his mother run into the sergeant. Emil tracks the man in the bowler hat his jacket, he is able to prove that DIFFERENCE AND TOLERANCE and apprehending the villain of the story without a grown-up in has been translated into over 60 languages and adapted for the Emil feels guilty about a prank he was to a cafe. He meets Gustav and his they were stolen from him. Emil doesn’t look like the rest of sight to mess things up. For Erich Kästner (the book’s author), the recently involved in, and although the friends who offer to help him catch the Freeze-Frame the boys in the city yet they help screen half a dozen times. Almost a century on, the world’s fi rst sergeant doesn’t mention it, he fears perpetrator. The boys make a plan and Create a tableau scene of the him out. unsupervised children aren’t tearaways. Far from it: Emil and his he will be in trouble when he returns Emil writes a letter to his grandmother moment at which the thief is child super sleuth (and his daredevil accomplices) still cut a heroic Question for Class Discussion: brave band of brothers are seen as responsible and clever young from his trip. Emil boards his train and which Gustav delivers, telling her he has confronted in the bank! dash as they outmanoeuvre, outwit and outthink their sinister waves to his mother as it pulls out of something important to do and he’ll be Imagine the story was set now and a citizens. And childhood itself is a fertile ground for the very best of CHAPTER 15 & 18 boy of Emil’s age arrived at Brighton foe. With its wry humour, hair-raising plot, and timeless themes the station. there soon. Emil is rewarded £50 for catching human qualities to fl ourish. Station having been robbed on the of friendship and cooperation, Emil and the Detectives is an Role Play Discuss the man, who is a wanted bank Imagine the conversation that Mrs Emil’s options. Has he made train asking for your help. What international classic of children’s literature. ALTOGETHER NOW… robber! Emil’s story fi lls the Tischbein may have had with her next mistakes? What would you have done newspapers. He returns to his would you do? And what if that little In many detective stories or spy adventures a lone hero (with trusty customer after returning from the so far? boy couldn’t speak English? Would THE REAL DEAL… grandmother’s house and gives her sidekick if lucky) is cast in a battle of wits against a shadowy enemy. station. CHAPTER 10 & 11 the money from his mother, who that change things? From Alice in Wonderland to Harry Potter, children’s classics CHAPTER 3 The boys follow the man to a hotel is sent for. The whole family are Think Alex Rider, James Bond, Young Sherlock. For good to triumph MORAL ISSUES down the ages have drawn on fantasy and make-believe for their Emil chats to the other passengers in by taxi. Gustav reappears with reunited for a party. over evil they must draw on their own resources, courage and his carriage. Worried that the bank Emil’s cousin Pony who wants to be Discuss Emil has to make some important storylines. What made Emil’s story stand out from the crowd decisions throughout the story, you powers of deduction. Emil and the Detectives breaks this mould, as notes he is carrying aren’t safe he involved in the adventure too. If you were to rewrite the title of (particularly for the time) was its everyday setting and real-life decides to pin them to the inside Guess! the book, what would you call it? might not agree with all of them. here it is teamwork and cooperation that win the day. Emil might be scenario. No gnomes, no elves, no magic spells – just a gang of of his jacket. Everyone except the How will they catch the thief? Question for Class Discussion: Is it the ultimate hero but without Gustav and his young recruits pooling man in the black bowler hat gets off right to steal something back from young boys on the city streets with a common goal: to catch a CHAPTER 12 ‘ IT IS TERRIFIC THAT resources, sharing ideas and pulling together, the bowler-hatted the train, leaving Emil feeling very The gang decide they need a spy the person who stole it from you? dastardly thief and bring him to justice. nervous, but try as he might to stay fugitive might still be at large today! inside the hotel so they befriend ERICH KÄSTNER, WORKING TOGETHER awake, he eventually falls asleep. the lift-boy, who lends Gustav a Emil couldn’t have caught the thief RITES OF PASSAGE Role Play spare uniform so that he may move THE ROALD DAHL DID YOU KNOW? Recreate a conversation between the alone and thankfully he met some When Emil – a wide-eyed country lad in an ill-fi tting Sunday unnoticed around the building. The When Emil and the Detectives was published in Germany in 1929 passengers in Emil’s train carriage. boys discover which room belongs to OF GERMANY, WILL new friends at the right time. suit – fi nds himself all alone and penniless in the sprawling city, Guess! Emil was one of the fi rst child detectives to appear in a book. Emil the thief and Gustav and Emil settle BE BEING READ Question for Class Discussion: he’s immediately a fi sh out of water. Everything around him is What do you think will happen? down for the night in an empty room How important was it that all the and his friends are heroes, they stick together, they outwit the thief (Review after next chapter.) unfamiliar and he doesn’t know who to turn to. Yet as his story in the servant’s quarters. AND ENJOYED gang worked together? If they and accomplish something that even the policemen hadn’t been CHAPTER 4 & 5 Discuss unfolds, our resourceful hero rises to the occasion, gaining in hadn’t do you think they still would able to do. Today you can read all sorts of brilliant stories about Emil has a wild nightmare. When If you were hiding out with the BY BRIGHTON & have caught the villain? confi dence and learning valuable lessons about trust, friendship he wakes up both the man and the detectives for the night what supplies clever child spies (The Famous Five, Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider HOVE CHILDREN. I RITES OF PASSAGE and doing the right thing whatever the circumstance. His is also money are gone! He gets off the train would you take with you? books and Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl) but little Emil Tischbein was one stop early to follow the suspect. Emil’s confi dence builds as the story a story of tolerance and acceptance: for though CHAPTER 13 HOPE THE STREETS the very fi rst! Guess! The boys decide to surround the unfolds and he learns some valuable Emil sticks out like a sore thumb, he is soon What is Emil going to do? thief when he leaves the hotel the ARE FILLED WITH lessons about life. What will the man in the hat do? befriended by the Berlin boys and their next morning, with the hope of Question for Class Discussion: embarrassing him into returning the KNOWING CRIES streetwise leader Gustav, who accept his Do you think Emil has changed ‘I think it’s wonderful that a whole city is going money. Crowding around the man OF “PASSWORD at the end of the book? And if difference and embrace his quest as if it to read the book at the same time. I think this does indeed unsettle him but he so, how? were their own. dashes into a nearby bank... EMIL!” ‘ will build up a great sense of everyone exploring Laura Hassan, Editorial Director the book together.’ MICHAEL ROSEN of Vintage Children’s Classics