Emil and the Detectives is a classic children's book that I had never heard of until I saw it in this list. I suppose that's because it's a German children's classic and having never really read translations I was yet to discover it. When I initially read the title I was interested in reading what I thought would be a child's adventure in the world of professional sleuthing. I pictured young Emil joining forces with a policeman or detective, or maybe even being the reason for the sleuthing in the first place! I was close, but no cigar!
Instead, Emil, who is unwittingly robbed on the train to Berlin, whilst he is sleeping, tracks down his thief on the streets of Berlin with help from a group of local boys. Emil and the Detectives has a undertone of Dicken's Oliver Twist, or the traditional boys books of the late 19th and early 20th century. It has the feeling of both a school story and an all boys adventure tale combined. There is espionage, a stake out, a thief with multiple identities, and a fair bit of intruige. The book takes a while to get into this, and to start with the prose style is rather staid due to its translation from German to English. My particular edition was translated in the 50s, but the book was actually first published in the UK in 1931. With the slow start I was initially a bit sceptical about this book. How is this a classic? It's so boring! No child would speak like that! He's such a goody goody! But, as the story developed I found myself enjoying the bizarre nature of Emil's adventure, with its dodgy looking criminal and its eccentric child characters!
Intent of getting back his £7, Emil follows the suspicious looking Mr Grundeis (who looks every bit the spiv if the illustration is anything to go by!) off the train and into the middle of Berlin, a city where he has never been before. Soon enough though he is aided in his shadowing of the criminal by the brilliant Gustav, a boy with a motor horn! The horn is never explained but appears to be young Gustav's trademark and he goes around honking it all over the place! Gustav is the Artful Dodger to Emil's Oliver, and he soon rallies a whole group of boys keen to help Emil catch his thief! Once assembled they make a plan, which is engineered by the intelligent one, who of course wears glasses and is known as the professor! This book really has all the elements you'd expect from a boy's adventure story! However, the wild card in all this is Emil's cousin Pony, who is, shock horror, a girl! She dips in and out of the narrative, never fully included in the gang; though it is clear she has more bottle than some of the boys! It is hard to decide whether you should like Pony or not, she 's a bit pushy and pretentious, but also feisty and go getting, unlike the other female characters who are all a bit limp or overly domestic. Emil on the other hand is overly polite and moral, a little unworldly, and the boys make fun of his suit, yet he comes out as the hero of the story, despite being really quite a dull character!
Although I had my initial doubts, I actually really enjoyed this book. I can see why it would be classed as a classic, as it has all the hallmarks of a popular book of its time. Personally, I enjoyed all the quirky characters and the slightly absurd nature of the story line! If you get past the slow start, then this book is a little gem!
Thanks for reading, L x
Next time, it's The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith, which I am very much looking forward to reading!
