F.B.F: Max und Moritz

Flashback Friday:  Max und Moritz

Flashback Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies and it's a way to show a little love to those books that hold a special place in our hearts. There are no set rules aside from the fact that the book must be at least five years old.
For today's flashback, I'm taking you back to high school (again) and talking about the very first book I ever really read in German.  When I started high school, I simultaneously enrolled in both Spanish and German because I wasn't sure which language I would like more; these were the only two offered at my high school unless you wanted to go to the other high school in town for one period to take French or Japanese.  After a year in both classes, I discovered that I really enjoyed learning German.  The language sounds angry and awesome and the culture is fascinating.  As a junior, after three years learning the language, we were assigned H.C. Wilhelm Busch's Max und Moritz:  Eine Bubehngeschichte in sieben Streichen (in English...Max and Moritz:  A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks). 

Though technically a book for children, the black humor and moral lessons were not lost on us third year German high school students.  It is an illustrated story told entirely in verse (rhymed couplets to be exact) and was published in 1865.  The story follows Max and Moritz, two friends who continually commit horrible pranks on various members of their community that escalate in severity until the very end.  I won't give away what happens at the end, because it would ruin it.  Suffice it to say that the two boys get their comeuppance. 

Culturally relevant in today's German-speaking nations, Max und Moritz are continually referenced in pop culture and the media.  It is a story read to children even today.  I loved this book because it was dark, funny, and horrific all at the same time.  If you want to read the story, you can find it in translation through Amazon in various version.

What moral books/stories are important to you?

Happy reading!

Comments

Post a Comment

Get Wordy!

Popular posts from this blog

2016 A-Z Blogging Challenge Theme Reveal

Image
Oooo...the day is getting closer; creeping stealthily, it will smack you in the face in no time! While we impatiently await the start of the challenge, it's time to reveal our themes.  Yay!  I'm going for something drastically different this year.  Something much more challenging than I've ever done in my previous four years participating in this particular challenge.  Normally my posts are pretty straight-forward, contained, not overly ambitious.  This year is going to be another beast all together. My mission, should I choose to accept it, will be to write one continuous story for the entire challenge.  I know my characters, setting, and where I want it to go...kind of.  All I need to figure out is how to get from point A to point Z.  The first word of each post will start with the letter for the day; some of these will definitely be more difficult than others, but I'm determined. I look forward to writing this, receiving feedb...
Read more

Bianca's Vineyard (Book #13)

Image
I've had Teresa Neumann's Bianca's Vineyard for a while now, thanks to my grandmother, but have been skipping over it to read other books.  I don't know why I did this because it was actually a great read.  Neumann is a local author who decided to write a novel about family history.  The majority of the novel is based on factual evidence and personal family interviews.  There is one portion, which I won't give away, that is only speculated at by Neumann, but what she does choose to speculate is a highly probably scenario. The book is written in a way that suggests it is being told to the reader, as well as Egisto's son and his wife, through flashbacks from Bianca in her 80's.  We know this because the font and boldness of these sections gives personal reflection from Bianca and foreshadows what she will eventually reveal.  She takes you back to the beginning of what changed the course for this family, mainly one brother of the Bertozzi family moving to A...
Read more

Top Ten Tuesday: FREEBIE

Image
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  FREEBIE .  Yay!  So, because I missed last week's Top Ten, I am going to go with that topic... Top Ten Complete Series I Have Yet to Finish . Here they are: Inkworld   by Cornelia Funke Finishing School  by Gail Carriger The Chemical Garden by Lauren DeStefano Contours of the Heart by Tammara Webber The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman Edilean by Jude Deveraux The Tudor Court by Philippa Gregory Wildwood Chronicles  by Colin Meloy The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff Some of these I've only read one book in, while others are nearly complete!  What are some series you need to finish? Also, look for next week's top ten:...
Read more