[wlancaster3]

An Austrian friend of my parents gave this to us. My reaction, even as a small child, was, "THIS is supposed to be merry and funny?" The version you've posted looks to be a poor copy of the one I have, which is also found at Gutenberg, at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12116/12116-h/12116-h.htm.
In any event, thank you very much for posting this grim little reminder of what was once considered appropriate for children.

Link to the book: Slovenly Peter

[Robb_K]

An Austrian friend of my parents gave this to us. My reaction, even as a small child, was, "THIS is supposed to be merry and funny?" The version you've posted looks to be a poor copy of the one I have, which is also found at Gutenberg, at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12116/12116-h/12116-h.htm.<br />
In any event, thank you very much for posting this grim little reminder of what was once considered appropriate for children.

Link to the book: Slovenly Peter

The author, Heinrich Hoffman, was a psychiatrist who had been lazy, distracted, and poor at his studies as a child, probably partly due to his loss of his mother to an early death when he was a baby.  His father raised him strictly.  Eventually, Hoffman picked up the discipline his father tried to instill in him, through seeing that failure was not pleasant for him, and that sticking to his goals and putting in a full, unwavering effort. brought success.  He originally wrote "Der Struwwelpeter" a handmade storybook, as a Christmas gift for his son.  It was mainly for entertainment, but, I can't help but think that Heinrich also felt the book would help teach his son the value of discipline, and sticking to his tasks, and walking the "straight and narrow path in life", rather than being distracted by frivolous pursuits, and wandering into sloth, mischief and bad behaviour (as he, himself had done, and knows well its folly).  I am certain that Hoffman's eventual publisher picked up Hoffman's book to market to parents, who would buy it for their mischievous or potentially badly-behaved children about the ramifications of bad behaviour, and the rewards of discipline, hard work, and good behaviour.  The nice and often funny illustrations and the accompanying witty verse help to take the boredom out of being lectured to, and provide some fun in reading it.  Furthermore, familiarity with the verses, after having had it read to the children hundreds of times by their parents, grandparents, or nanny/nurse, gives it a friendly introduction, as the reader will try to make the reading as entertaining as possible.  This book would have been too expensive for a young teen to buy it on his own, and in any case, a teen wouldn't have been interested in reading such a book for the first time at such a late age.

A few of the verses could, potentially, be somewhat scary to some children.  But, a loving parent or care-taker would try to read it and explain it in such a way that it would be funny and entertaining to the child, rather than scary.

[Robb_K]

It is interesting that some of Wilhelm Busch's work, especially "Max und Moritz", was inspired, at least in part, by Hoffman's use of blending text with copious illustrations, to tell children an entertaining story, and yet to also teach them lessons that can help them in their later life, in a "sneaky" way, providing some fun, and disguising the lecturing and preachiness.  However, in Busch's case. I think he had more fun with creating his stories, living vicariously in Max and Moritz's mischievous adventures, because he was a rather timid boy, who had avoided that type of behaviour and trying to test his bounds.  Certainly Rudolph Dirks' "Katzenjammer Kids" and the derivitive "The Captain and The Kids" were heavily inspired by "Max und Moritz".  I'd bet that Busch had had "Struwwelpeter" read to hom as a young child.