The groundbreaking children's book classic
Lisa Tetzner’s great ‘Odyssey Of A Youth’ begins in 1931 with the children of a huge Berlin apartment block who always stick together, even though they often argue, and love to play tricks. First and foremost is Erwin Brackmann, known as ‘Starryface’ because of the freckles on his nose, and his friend Paul Richter, the one responsible for the terrible thing with the bread rolls - which then luckily had a happy ending. We learn how the gang work hard for their football and nearly land in jail and how the boys, against their principles, let an elegant girl from the front house join the gang. The girl is called Mirjam and with her and Erwin as leaders the gang experience their best times in the yard from no. 67…
“The only contemporary, realistic and deeply pacifistically spirited depiction of historic events in a children’s book written in the Third Reich.” Die Zeit
