Robber Hotzenplotz - Softcover

Otfried Preussler (1923–2013) was born into a family of teachers in Reichenberg, Czechoslovakia, and as a boy loved listening to the folktales of the region. Drafted into the army during World War II, Preussler was captured in 1944 and spent the next five years as a prisoner of war in the Tatar Republic. After his release, he moved to Bavaria and became a primary-­school teacher and principal, supplementing his income by working as a reporter for a local newspaper and by writing scripts for children’s radio. One of the most popular authors for children in Germany, Preussler was twice awarded the German Children’s Book Prize. His many books have been translated into fifty-five languages and have sold over fifty million copies. New York Review Books also publishes Preussler’s Krabat & the Sorcerer’s Mill, The Little Water Sprite, and The Little Witch. 

Anthea Bell is a translator from the German, French, and Danish, and the winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize, and, three times over, the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation. She has translated Asterix, Hans Christian Andersen, Cornelia Funke, Kerstin Gier, W.G. Sebald, Sigmund Freud, and several novels by Otfried Preussler.  

Franz Josef Tripp (1915–1978) illustrated, among many other books, Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver by Michael Ende, as well as The Little Ghost and the two sequels to The Robber Hotzenplotz by Otfried Preussler. His son is the artist Jan Peter Tripp.

Gr 2–5—When the infamous robber Hotzenplotz makes off with Grandmother's coffee mill, clever Kasperl and his best friend Seppel must use all their cunning, along with a little help from the frog-fairy Amaryllis, to retrieve the mill and bring the rapscallion to justice. This new translation of this work, originally published in 1962, positively crackles with the quirky energy and sparkling humor that made it a classic of German children's literature. Kasperl traces his origins to the eponymous hero character of traditional German puppet theater, who in turn has his roots in the commedia dell'arte character Pulcinella. This foundation provides a strong archetypal resonance that elementary-aged readers will connect to. Kids will especially enjoy reading about good-hearted Kasperl and Seppel, who deftly overcome nasty villains and comically ineffectual authority figures, emerging victorious in the end. Fairy-tale and fantasy elements stay true to the story's Kasperle puppet theater genre roots, from the wicked magician Petrosilius Zackleman to the wishing ring bestowed on the protagonists by the frog-fairy Amaryllis. Preussler's razor-sharp humor and wordplay shine throughout, and the episodic chapters, usually no more than four or five pages long, practically beg to be read aloud. Tripp's pen-and-ink illustrations complement, expand on, and deepen the story. VERDICT Both wonderfully timeless and quirky, this unconventional adventure will delight its audience and belongs in most collections.—Ted McCoy, Springfield City Library, MA