I. About the Novel: Emil and the Detectives
Emil Fisher is a small boy from Newton, a small town in England. He is going to the city for the first time on his own, to stay with his aunt. He is carrying quite a lot of money which is stolen from him on the train, despite the fact that he pinned the notes to his pocket. In desperation, Emil gets off the train one stop early and looks for the man he suspects. He sees him leaving the station and follows him. He tracks the thief to a café, where the man sits down to have a meal. Emil doesn’t feel he can go to the police, because he committed a crime in his village – he put red paint on the nose of the statue in Newton. While Emil is trying to decide what to do, he is joined by Paul, a city boy with a lot of friends. When Paul hears Emil’s story, he and his friends follow the thief to a hotel and stake it out, while they make plans to get Emil’s money back. After a couple of setbacks, the boys decide to surround the thief when he leaves the hotel and embarrass him into giving back the money. The first part of the plan works well, but then the thief goes into a bank and tries to get the stolen notes changed. Emil and his friends enter, and Emil is able to prove that the notes belong to him because they have pin marks in them. The next day the story is in the newspapers and it turns out that Emil’s thief is a wanted bank robber with a price on his head. Emil gets a reward of £50
Chapter1: Emil Fisher, a small boy from Newton, is going to the city on his own for the first time. He is carrying quite a lot of money that his mother has given him. His mother tells him he has to be very careful with the money, which she had managed to save after hard work.
Chapters 2–3: Emil talks with the other passengers on his carriage. All but a man in a black hat get off the train. Emil falls asleep against his will, and when he wakes up the man and the money are gone, though he had pinned the notes to his pocket. Emil gets off the train one stop early and looks for the man he suspects. He sees him leaving the station and follows him. Meanwhile, his grandmother and cousin are waiting for him at the station. They think that something has happened but do not want to phone Emil’s mother so as not to make her worry.
Chapters 4–5: Emil tracks the thief to a café. While he is trying to decide what to do, he is joined by Paul, a city boy with a lot of friends. When Paul hears Emil’s story, he and his friends decide to help Emil. They follow the thief to a hotel and make plans to get Emil’s money back.
Chapters 6–7: The boys decide to surround the thief when he leaves the hotel and embarrass him into giving back the money. The first part of the plan works well, but the thief goes into a bank and tries to change the stolen notes. Emil and his friends enter, and Emil is able to prove that the notes belong to him.
Chapters 8–9: The next day Emil is in the newspapers: Emil’s thief is a wanted bank robber with a price on his head. Emil gets a £50 reward.
<Works Cited>"Graded Readers Level 3 - Emil and the Detectives." Pearson Japan. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2016. <http://www.pearson.co.jp/catalog/product.php?item=403026&lang=ja>.
II. About the Author: Erich Kastner
Kästner began his literary career as a journalist. He then produced light but ultimately serious poetry against the backdrop of the rise of Nazism in Germany of the interwar years. Kästner was opposed to Hitler and his inexorable rise to supreme power. Kästner’s 1931 novel, Fabian, charts the collapse of one man’s world at a time when the world of the Weimar Republic was collapsing. The novel was eventually publicly burned by the Nazis. Kästner himself was lucky to escape with only an interdiction on his publishing until after the war. His writings for children are characterized by a willingness to see children as thinking creatures. Indeed, he appeared to equate childlike qualities with basic humanity. He is quoted as saying: ‘Only the one who becomes a grown-up and keeps on being a child is a human being.’ For more information, see the Introduction.
<Works Cited>
"Graded Readers Level 3 - Emil and the Detectives" ピアソン・ジャパン株式会社. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2016.
<http://www.pearson.co.jp/catalog/product.phpi?item=403026&lang=ja>.
Emil Fisher is a small boy from Newton, a small town in England. He is going to the city for the first time on his own, to stay with his aunt. He is carrying quite a lot of money which is stolen from him on the train, despite the fact that he pinned the notes to his pocket. In desperation, Emil gets off the train one stop early and looks for the man he suspects. He sees him leaving the station and follows him. He tracks the thief to a café, where the man sits down to have a meal. Emil doesn’t feel he can go to the police, because he committed a crime in his village – he put red paint on the nose of the statue in Newton. While Emil is trying to decide what to do, he is joined by Paul, a city boy with a lot of friends. When Paul hears Emil’s story, he and his friends follow the thief to a hotel and stake it out, while they make plans to get Emil’s money back. After a couple of setbacks, the boys decide to surround the thief when he leaves the hotel and embarrass him into giving back the money. The first part of the plan works well, but then the thief goes into a bank and tries to get the stolen notes changed. Emil and his friends enter, and Emil is able to prove that the notes belong to him because they have pin marks in them. The next day the story is in the newspapers and it turns out that Emil’s thief is a wanted bank robber with a price on his head. Emil gets a reward of £50
Chapter1: Emil Fisher, a small boy from Newton, is going to the city on his own for the first time. He is carrying quite a lot of money that his mother has given him. His mother tells him he has to be very careful with the money, which she had managed to save after hard work.
Chapters 2–3: Emil talks with the other passengers on his carriage. All but a man in a black hat get off the train. Emil falls asleep against his will, and when he wakes up the man and the money are gone, though he had pinned the notes to his pocket. Emil gets off the train one stop early and looks for the man he suspects. He sees him leaving the station and follows him. Meanwhile, his grandmother and cousin are waiting for him at the station. They think that something has happened but do not want to phone Emil’s mother so as not to make her worry.
Chapters 4–5: Emil tracks the thief to a café. While he is trying to decide what to do, he is joined by Paul, a city boy with a lot of friends. When Paul hears Emil’s story, he and his friends decide to help Emil. They follow the thief to a hotel and make plans to get Emil’s money back.
Chapters 6–7: The boys decide to surround the thief when he leaves the hotel and embarrass him into giving back the money. The first part of the plan works well, but the thief goes into a bank and tries to change the stolen notes. Emil and his friends enter, and Emil is able to prove that the notes belong to him.
Chapters 8–9: The next day Emil is in the newspapers: Emil’s thief is a wanted bank robber with a price on his head. Emil gets a £50 reward.
III. Versions of the Novel in the Mass Media
Movie Version (Walt Disney)
Since the first movie by Director Gerhardt Lamprecht in 1931, it has been converted into a movie nine times in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Brazil, and it has been frequently performed as a theater and musical. Among them, the Walt Disney version, which was produced in 1964, is an undisclosed Disney movie, so it is not circulating in the world and it is hard to obtain.
IV. My Reaction to Emil and the Detectives
A.Reaction Point- Character
・The person or things that are the focus of the plot
・Gustav
・Gustaf is a celebrity of Wilmersdorf. It is famous like a monster in town to raise friends by ringing a horn carried by Gustav. He is a leader of everyone, Gustaf 's desire is also among children.
・
B.Reaction Point- Protagonist・Main character
・Ahmile Tishvin
・It is a character like Author Kestner's boyhood as it is. The family environment of Emir depicts Kestner himself, such as the mother being a hairdresser, the fact that his father was lucky, and being poor. The name of Emir is the same as the real father.
C.Reaction Point- Theme
・The central message or moral of a story
・Without the power of adults, children solve incidents with their own power.
・They teach me how to regret when I hit the wall, the importance of friendship, the pleasure to pay attention.
D.My General Opinion
I was touched by the efforts of the children to work hard as the author wished to say most. It was my first time to read English novels and to investigate its purpose and authors in detail, so it took time and had some difficulties, but it became a good experience to know more about this novel. The movie version is a little different from the novel setting, so I thought that I would definitely appreciate it and compare it.
