rekindled spirit

language development is interesting and amusing to observe in children.  it is even more so when raising children in a bilingual family.  my husband and I call it “fulltime entertainment“.  as many parents do, we foster this fascinating process by reading to them(in both languages).  we truly enjoy searching for and  collecting fairy tales and classics then  revel in the magic they create for our children. many popular fairy tales were originally written in german by the authors bruder grimm . they were two brothers that traveled  around the country asking people to tell them stories. they collected hundreds of stories which they re-wrote and published.  here are some familiar tales:  little red riding hood, rapunzel, the hare and the hedgehog, rumpelstiltskin , snow white, sleeping beauty, hansel and gretel, the elves and the shoemaker, cinderella and many more.  almost all of your childhood favorites!  

most on that list really surprised me  and left me wondering are there any that are originally written in english?  one beautiful sunny day, I stopped at a flea market in überlingen just because i was driving by and stumbled upon  a vintage copy of the wonderful american classic, walt disney’s dumbo the flying elephant  in german (originally written in english by helen aberson). it was a pleasant surprise to find it  in german!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 7:57 pm and is filed under books.