Struwwelpeter - Thoughts

I'm reading Struwwelpeter, a German children's book from 1845, written by Henrich Hoffman. Though you probably know it as that book with the story in which the punishment for sucking your thumb too much results in a creepy guy cutting your thumbs off with a giant pair of scissors. of the creepy guy with a giant pair of scissors who cuts off your thumbs if you suck them too much.

That's the main theme with the stories, someone does something wrong, refuses to fix it, and then terrible consequences occur. Unlike modern kids books, where misbehaving results in an inconvenient or embarrassing situation, the punishments in Struwwelpeter range from getting sick, losing your thumbs, or death. It's worth noting that despite the book being a product of it's time, the lessons have generally aged well. Lessons that revolve around, "don't bully others, don't play with matches, take care of yourself."

An excellent example is the tale of Shock Headed Peter (page 4), the boy who appears on the cover. The premise is simple, Peter is a boy who's incredibly unkept, he refuses to cut his hair or his nails. The story is only one page, and the only illustration shown of peter portrays him as looking like a monster, his nails are so long they look like claws, his hair is bushy like forest grew on his head.

A modern book would visualized Peter's appearance with a softer artstyle, portraying him as messy but cute. While the meaning for both interpretations are equally effective, one could argue that creepy illustration highly visualizes how others see people with a messy appearance. It almost says, "If you don't take care of yourself, people will see you as a monster like Peter, don't be like him". Though only could argue against this and claim that the creepy illustration alone wouldn't appeal to children due to it likely frightening them. The nightmare-inducing visuals and especially the horrifying punishments wouldn't be seen in books today. Though stories today still preach similar themes of actions and consequences in a more realistic but family friendly manor.

Take for example, the 1997 book Captain Underpants. The main characters, George and Harold pull many mean but mostly harmless pranks at their school.