Rating: 
Summary: Struwwelpeter
Review: Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter) is one of the most imaginitive picture books I have read in a long time. The grotesque, bizzare artwork in this book illustrates its "This is what happens to bad children" style of poetry. The book illustrates the opinion of older society on the subject of child raising.
Struwwelpeter includes:
The New Version Of Struwwelpeter (w/ freaky pictures)
The Old Version Of Struwwelpeter (w/ more cartoony pictures, but it's the original)
The Struwwelhitler (An anti-Nazi parody of Struwwelpeter)
The slightly to very disturbed (and even not disturbed at all... maybe) will enjoy the... um, we'll call it humor (however sick and twisted it may be), in this book.
All in all, Struwwelpeter: Fearful Stories And Vile Pictures To Instruct Good Little Folks is a great buy if you enjoy gruesome, perverse poems with nasty, gory pictures to go along.
Rating:
Summary: Struwwelpeter
Review: Although this was historically a popular book for children in the 19th century, I was not familiar with it until it was referenced in Grant Morrison's _Doom Patrol_. I don't necessarily recommend this for kids of today, however. Adults who enjoy quirky rhymes and disturbing pictures like Edward Gorey's should get a kick out of this. What struck me about this edition was the additional material -- a brief discussion of changing attitudes toward child-rearing and how children were viewed by society, a review of some of the work that Struwwelpeter inspired, and even the inclusion of the anti-Nazi work Struwwelhitler. It's a well-rounded volume.
Rating: 
Summary: Curious, twisted, with an interesting history...
Review: Although this was historically a popular book for children in the 19th century, I was not familiar with it until it was referenced in Grant Morrison's _Doom Patrol_. I don't necessarily recommend this for kids of today, however. Adults who enjoy quirky rhymes and disturbing pictures like Edward Gorey's should get a kick out of this. What struck me about this edition was the additional material -- a brief discussion of changing attitudes toward child-rearing and how children were viewed by society, a review of some of the work that Struwwelpeter inspired, and even the inclusion of the anti-Nazi work Struwwelhitler. It's a well-rounded volume.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual and rare art contains humor and artistic genius
Review: Feral House, the Loompanics of history/art publishers, here publishesa title that is destined to become a rare collectible. In thispaperback, you will find more than just the reproduced works of author Heinrich Hoffmann. This is perhaps the only opportunity so far for collectors to purchase prints of the work of reclusive artist Sarita Vendetta. The only other printed examples of her work are contained in "Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs," another Feral House publication which is now out of print. That book had only a few of her drawings, while Struwwelpeter contains dozens. Vendetta's disturbing and shocking artwork will always provoke controversy, dealing as it does with issues of sexual deviance, child abuse and religious mania. For collectors of the insane and macabre, this book is a must-have. I would recommend two copies: one for your bookshelf and one to extract the art for framing. The quality of the prints (color, size, paper) is quite good considering the cost of this book. The prints include muted drawings, which appear to be out of our time, and the paintings are revoltingly representational, colorful, and graphic. Besides purchasing her original art directly from La Luz de Jesus Gallery in California. . . there is no other way to collect the works of this elusive American artist. Only fools and villians (of which there are many) would view Vendetta's work and not see the inherent social criticism in her depictions of evil. I will leave the text for others to review, but I want to also mention that the other historical illustrations contained in this book are charming and add to the value of this unusual publication.
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Summary: Hilarious! No sugar-coated kids poems these.
Review: I only know the German version, but if the translation is at all faithful, it should be a hilarious book of morals for those who are not squeamish! This book is in the old style of "scare 'em out of doing it" didactic tales and details the traumas that ensue when youngsters fail to follow the wise instructions of their elders. From the boy who wouldn't eat his soup and shrivelled away to the tot who wouldn't stop sucking his thumb until a pair of scissors had something to say to him, these twisted poems are the perfect antidote to today's politically "correct" and sugar-coated moral works for children
Rating: 
Summary: too literal,doesn't get it
Review: I'm glad to see that this book is being shown as a paperback. It had been shown as a hardcover for the longest time (and still is by other booksellers). I don't recommend this book. This take on Hoffmann's classic is more documentary than a straightforward re-release of one of the former editions. (For a straight reprint of an original see the Dover paperback of the original English translation.) This edition is more an observation of Struwwelpeter as a kind of historic anomoly than an enjoyment of the stories in the humorous spirit in which they were written. The illustrations fail because they are too literal (a painting is included which belongs among this century's most perverse) and don't have any of the charm of the more symbolic and childlike illustrations from the original English editions (reprinted by Dover). Ironically, they betray a darker and more puerile fascination on the editors' parts. There are lots of good articles about the various editions this book has been through, with some Freud thrown in of course. While trying to take a seemingly appreciative and scholarly (read stand-offish) stance, though, the authors still manage to miss the point by forcing modern day sensitivities and a surprising lack of decorum on what is a collection of stories never meant to bear the weight of literary criticism now being heaped upon it. Even Dover includes a short caveat on the inside front cover of its edition apologizing for one of the tales! Better use your sense.
Rating:
Summary: most perverse painting of this century
Review: Responding to A Reader, who identified one of the book's illustrations as one of the most perverse of this century: Possibly true! Especially considering the review was written when this century was only a week old. Give it time, give it time.... To the curious: The work in question is easily found by fanning the book. It is on the only black page. Quel apropos. The Scissor-man is one of Ms. Vendetta's more sucessful illustrations, and avoids iffy anatomy that subvert the impact of some of her pen & ink drawing for this book. One can only hope this exposure will prompt the printing and wider exposure of some of her *really* averse work from the previous century. A table of contents would have been welcome.
Rating:
Summary: most perverse painting of this century
Review: Responding to A Reader, who identified one of the book's illustrations as one of the most perverse of this century: Possibly true! Especially considering the review was written when this century was only a week old. Give it time, give it time.... To the curious: The work in question is easily found by fanning the book. It is on the only black page. Quel apropos. The Scissor-man is one of Ms. Vendetta's more sucessful illustrations, and avoids iffy anatomy that subvert the impact of some of her pen & ink drawing for this book. One can only hope this exposure will prompt the printing and wider exposure of some of her *really* averse work from the previous century. A table of contents would have been welcome.
Rating: 
Summary: Go for the Original, Not This
Review: The original is a neat classic. This is a modern re-make (new drawings, "corrected" for a more modern audience), and strays from the quality of the original. To it's credit, it has a copy of the original tacked on as an appendage. Skip this version, and just get the original, and you'll have all you need, for less money.
Rating:
Summary: Bad things always happen to bad children
Review: This edition is definitely NOT for children--the gruesome pictures in the beginning are wonderfully drawn, but would probably disturb young children. Having said that, this is a great book. Dr. Zipes' introduction, which adds immense value, discusses the intended use of this book as an instructor of morality and how 150 years of middle-class Euro-American families have used different approaches to teach socially "correct" behavior to their children. At the end of the introduction is part of a review left on Amazon in 1997 by a reader of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (a book compared by some to "Struwwelpeter"). The reviewer attacked the book as glorifying the murder and debasement of children, and even talked about being unable to eat any blue-colored foods for years as a result of trauma caused by the blueberry scene. I think this reader, like many readers of "Struwwelpeter", has kind of missed the point. This book is not about being cruel to children. It's about warning children that if they are horrid, horrid things will happen to them. If you play with matches even though mother tells you not to, you'll get burnt up. If you're dirty and smelly, no one will like you. The bluntness of the consequences of bad behavior just serves to ram the message home. I found it fascinating that the author originally wrote this for his THREE-year-old son, when he decided that all the available books on correct behavior were either too didactic or too sentimental. This is hardly the 19th century equivalent of a slasher film, with blood and guts randomly strewn about--all the bad things in this book could have been avoided, if only the victims would have listened to people who were wiser than them. Whether or not you agree with the social message, it's still a fascinating read.
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