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Kleiner König Kalle Wirsch
Der kleine König Kalle Wirsch muss sein Reich gegen den bösen Zoppo Trump behaupten. Zum Glück bekommt er Hilfe von Max und Jenny, die ihm in sein märchenhaftes Reich unter der Erde folgen. Eine fantasievolle Troll-Geschichte und ein unvergessliches Abenteuer à la Hobbit für kleine Leser und Fantasten.
169 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 29, 2017
A lovely little piece of fantasy adventure
Originally I wanted to read this, because the bad guy in this book, Zoppo Trump, reminds me in his character of a certain, US American politician, who is named after a duck: Just as sneaky, mean, and stupid. Even a phenotypical similarity between the two can't be denied, don't you think?
Zoppo Trump calls out the King of the Earth people, Kalle Wirsch, for a fight [a contest actually, since this is a book for children]. The Earth people, you have to know, consist of five different tribes, which include the Wirschs (Kalle) and the Trumps (Zoppo). They are living beneath the Earth – chthonic as I have learned – and usually have no contact with the Humans above. According to ancient custom, the winner of such a challenge automatically becomes the new King. Trump knows that he hardly stand a chance against Kalle. Therefore he is trying to prevent Kalle from showing up to the fight, because those who don't make an appearance will automatically loose. Trumps henchmen (a heinous rat among them) manage to overpower Kalle and leave him on the surface. There he meets two humans, the siblings Max and Jenny, who, after some consideration, accompany Kalle on his long way to the Earth people's castle where the fight is supposed to take place. As you can imagine there are quite a few obstacles to overcome. In addition, Trump had made sure to setup some dangerous traps for our three heroes to keep them from getting to the castle in time.
I knew this story from an old LP, that I listened to when I was a child, and from a puppet play of the Augsburger Puppenkiste from 1972. Even back then, the story of the small creatures living under the earth was fascinating for me. The prose in the book is appropriate for the recommended reading age of 9+. Nevertheless it blew me away, how many interesting topics this little book covers, and how much imagination the author apparently had. There is the usual struggle between good and evil, of course, but we find numerous other things taken from mythology (for instance a blind ferryman, who steers his boat across the sea of darkness), science (how exactly are stalactites formed?), sociology (the rules of the Earth people vs those of the Humans), the fallacy of wealth and obsession with power, and even linguistics (writing prompt: a story, as short as possible, that contains twenty words with the prefix so-).
The characters are also drawn excellently nuanced. First of all the eponymous King Kalle Wirsch. This is not an overall good character! He has his faults, is sometimes angry and indignant, scolds his fellow travelers, and is not always sure of how to proceed. A regular 3D Earth man I would say. Also the children Max and Jenny have quite their own individual and developing characters. Only Trump remains Trump: sneaky, mean, and stupid until the end.
A true reading recommendation for those who are thrilled by imagination, and for learners of the German language, because as far as I know this book isn't translated into other languages.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Originally I wanted to read this, because the bad guy in this book, Zoppo Trump, reminds me in his character of a certain, US American politician, who is named after a duck: Just as sneaky, mean, and stupid. Even a phenotypical similarity between the two can't be denied, don't you think?
Zoppo Trump calls out the King of the Earth people, Kalle Wirsch, for a fight [a contest actually, since this is a book for children]. The Earth people, you have to know, consist of five different tribes, which include the Wirschs (Kalle) and the Trumps (Zoppo). They are living beneath the Earth – chthonic as I have learned – and usually have no contact with the Humans above. According to ancient custom, the winner of such a challenge automatically becomes the new King. Trump knows that he hardly stand a chance against Kalle. Therefore he is trying to prevent Kalle from showing up to the fight, because those who don't make an appearance will automatically loose. Trumps henchmen (a heinous rat among them) manage to overpower Kalle and leave him on the surface. There he meets two humans, the siblings Max and Jenny, who, after some consideration, accompany Kalle on his long way to the Earth people's castle where the fight is supposed to take place. As you can imagine there are quite a few obstacles to overcome. In addition, Trump had made sure to setup some dangerous traps for our three heroes to keep them from getting to the castle in time.
I knew this story from an old LP, that I listened to when I was a child, and from a puppet play of the Augsburger Puppenkiste from 1972. Even back then, the story of the small creatures living under the earth was fascinating for me. The prose in the book is appropriate for the recommended reading age of 9+. Nevertheless it blew me away, how many interesting topics this little book covers, and how much imagination the author apparently had. There is the usual struggle between good and evil, of course, but we find numerous other things taken from mythology (for instance a blind ferryman, who steers his boat across the sea of darkness), science (how exactly are stalactites formed?), sociology (the rules of the Earth people vs those of the Humans), the fallacy of wealth and obsession with power, and even linguistics (writing prompt: a story, as short as possible, that contains twenty words with the prefix so-).
The characters are also drawn excellently nuanced. First of all the eponymous King Kalle Wirsch. This is not an overall good character! He has his faults, is sometimes angry and indignant, scolds his fellow travelers, and is not always sure of how to proceed. A regular 3D Earth man I would say. Also the children Max and Jenny have quite their own individual and developing characters. Only Trump remains Trump: sneaky, mean, and stupid until the end.
A true reading recommendation for those who are thrilled by imagination, and for learners of the German language, because as far as I know this book isn't translated into other languages.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
June 29, 2008
Dieses Buch muss man einfach gelesen haben. Es ist für Kinder (ab 9 Jahre) genauso spannend wie für Erwachsene. Die Geschichte der Erdmännchen, des Königs Kalle Wirsch und seinem Feind Zoppo ist so aufregend und auf einmal betrachtet man die Erde, auf der wir gehen mit ganz anderen Augen. Tilde Michels hat einen wunderschönen Roman geschaffen. Nur zu empfehlen!
January 3, 2026
Crazy Dinge die mir jetzt erst aufgefallen sind, nach hundert Mal hören als ich ein Kind war:
Der Bösewicht heißt einfach Trump.
Krasseste Waffe ist der Uranstein also einfach Atom, dass alles tötet was es mit seinen Strahlen trifft.
Voll Umweltkritisch gegenüber den Menschen.
Habs schon als Kind geliebt, ist einfach ein Banger Buch.
Der Bösewicht heißt einfach Trump.
Krasseste Waffe ist der Uranstein also einfach Atom, dass alles tötet was es mit seinen Strahlen trifft.
Voll Umweltkritisch gegenüber den Menschen.
Habs schon als Kind geliebt, ist einfach ein Banger Buch.
November 3, 2024
Must Read Buch aus meiner Jugend, ich sag’s euch wie es ist, spannend, dabei nicht zuuuu gruselig, fantasievoll, lustig und süß. Was will man mehr?
September 17, 2016
This was my favourite book as a child. My mom read it to me every night until I was 4 and ultimately, it was the book that made me want to learn to read. Even after all these years, it has not lost its charm and I re-read it every two years or so because I still love it just as much.
I highly recommend it for children at any age.
Dieses Buch war mein Lieblingsbuch als Kind. Meine Mutter las mir daraus jeden Abend vor bis ich 4 Jahre alt war, und es war das Buch das mich letztendlich dazu brachte lesen wollen zu lernen. Selbst nach all diesen Jahren hat es seinen Charme nicht verloren und ich lese es ungefähr alle zwei Jahre wieder, weil ich es immer noch liebe wie damals.
Ich empfehle sehr es für Kinder allen Alters.
I highly recommend it for children at any age.
Dieses Buch war mein Lieblingsbuch als Kind. Meine Mutter las mir daraus jeden Abend vor bis ich 4 Jahre alt war, und es war das Buch das mich letztendlich dazu brachte lesen wollen zu lernen. Selbst nach all diesen Jahren hat es seinen Charme nicht verloren und ich lese es ungefähr alle zwei Jahre wieder, weil ich es immer noch liebe wie damals.
Ich empfehle sehr es für Kinder allen Alters.
July 9, 2016
Zählt zu einen meiner Lieblingskinderbüchern, dass ich nach vielen Jahren auch meinen Kindern vorgelesen habe. Ich glaube, dass „Kleiner König Kalle Wirsch“ auch noch zukünftig wird Kinder faszinierenden können und mit auf ein Leseabenteuer nehmen wird, an das man sich als Kind noch lange erinnern wird.
January 18, 2010
This was the very first fantasy book I read - age 9. It was an eye-opener showing me a totally different world and for the longest time I believed it existed, the book was so good.
I still remember it well, even more than three decades later.
I still remember it well, even more than three decades later.
January 17, 2018
War eines meiner Lieblingsbücher als Kind, habe ich mindestens 10x gelesen
September 19, 2021
Ich war auf der Suche nach einem Hausarbeitsthema in Literaturwissenschaft (ging um Kinderliteratur) und da fiel mir aus meiner Kindheit die Augsburger Puppenkiste ein :D Hab zum Glück das Buch zu dem Stück gefunden und siehe da, das HA-Thema ist gesichert :D Freue mich schon, Kalle Wirsch mit dem Gurkenkönig zu vergleichen.
April 15, 2025
Ich liebe das Hörbuch von Wolfgang Völz dazu. Es ist das beste. Wunderschöne Sprache, liebevoll gestaltete Charaktere und eine einzigartige, spannende, gruselige Welt. Dieses Buch zu lesen fühlt sich immer wie nachhause kommen an
November 23, 2014
Es ist ein wunderbares Gefühl, wenn man ein Buch, das man als Kind geliebt hat, auch als Erwachsener wieder liebt. Herrlich.
August 24, 2014
I read this book a very long time ago when I was a kid and I loved it and the world it painted.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews