Erich Kästner (1899–1974) was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature. A stout pacifist and democrat, he was expelled from the national writers' guild during the Nazi era, with many of his books being burned in public. Today, he is widely regarded as one of Germany's most prolific and beloved children's book authors.
Помня първият път, когато държах тази книга в ръце. Беше ми заета от приятелка, която пък от своя страна е бе намерила в чувал под леглото на баба си. И до ден днешен, тя е на полицата у нас и макар, че не се чувам вече със същата тази приятелка, сама по себе си тази книга представлява нещо повече от стари листи без корица. Тя има нещо скъпо и лично за мен. С нея се роди любовта ми към литературата, с нея се оформиха и основите на моят морален outlook към света. Ако трябва да запазя една единствена книга от детството си, то това ще е тя.
So yes, I absolutely adore Kästner für Kinder, I really both massively love and appreciate this extensive and inclusive (not to mention handy) two volume German language omnibus of Erich Kästner's literature for children.
And of course, like with anthologies in general, I have not yet perused all of the included Kästner prose, and once I have done so, I will more than likely review each piece individually and separately. But indeed, Kästner für Kinder truly is wonderful and delightfully handy, especially since I own so many books already that having to obtain all of the books included Erich Kästener children’s novels and stories individually would not only be a costly undertaking, but also take up far too much of my at this time rather limited bookshelf space. And really, the one and only rather minor drawback with regard to Kästner für Kinder is that the font size is by necessity rather minuscule and narrow/cramped in scope, which does potentially make using Kästner für Kinder with and for children problematic and frustrating (both for reading aloud to children and also for having children reading the stories on their own, in particular if they are just learning to read or have any type of visual tracking issues). However and that being all said, Kästner für Kinder is still and definitely most highly recommended (but with the necessary caveat that Kästner für Kinder is presented in German and thus, a decent level of language, of reading fluency is definitely quite strongly suggested). And for those of you perchance also interested in Erich Kästner's literature for adults, there exists an identical omnibus titled Kästner für Erwachsene (which I have not yet obtained, but would love to purchase for my personal library sometime in the hopefully not too distant future).