Struwwelpeter Persists To This Day
Struwwelpeter terrified off-Broadway audiences in a musical than ran in the early 2000s. Shockheaded Peter became a musical geared for adults, however, ramping up gore and terror. Its showcase of puppetry, music, and melodrama earned it the 2002 Olivier Award. And Struwwelpeter continues to terrify. Artist Bob Staake most recently published an updated version of Struwwelpeter with modern illustrations in 2006 as a reaction to how watered-down children’s literature had become.
Staake’s editors expected either a tame version of the stories, softened for today’s child audiences, or a tongue-in-cheek version for adults that played to an audience who loved horror. Staake refused both directions. In an interview with NPR, Stakke recalls, “…they said, Now, remember, you know, this is a children’s book that’s aimed for adults. And I said, No, absolutely not. This is a children’s book.”
Where Did We Find This Stuff? Here Are Our Sources:
5 facts about the Brothers Grimm. B. Myint, Biography.com, 11 June 2020.
Meet Krampus, the Christmas devil who punishes naughty children. Becky Little, 18 December 2020.
Struwwelpeter: Merry stories and funny pictures. Heinrich Hoffman (1845), Frederick Warne & Co, Inc. New York (English version). Public domain via Project Gutenberg.org.
The 19th-century book of horrors that scared German kids into behaving. Sarah Laskow, 14 June 2017.
The true stories behind classic fairy tales. Valerie Ogden, Huffington Post, 5 November 2014.
he twisted history of Snow White. Adam Gidwitz, International Literacy Association, 24 October 2013.
