Instead of gradually increasing comprehension, they attempt to read Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” after two weeks of half-hardheartedly studying vocabulary.

They may be well on their way to German fluency, but there is no real “fast lane” to master German literature. Sure, they may be feeling confident after learning German idioms, slang, and proverbs.

It is all too common to find language learners trying their skills out with material that is not made for their level. (Download) Why Children’s Books are Great for German Learners This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. 15 German Children’s Books for Beginners.Where to find children’s books in German.Why Children’s Books are Great for German Learners.Rather, dial down your expectations and give children’s books a chance! Newcomers to the German language should not expect to tackle the collected works of Goethe in the first weeks and months. Unreasonably high expectations about language progress lead to unnecessary disappointment and frustration. New language learners tend to try to run before they can crawl. Michael Ende's works have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 20 million copies, and have been adapted into motion pictures, stage plays, operas and audio books.Decem15 Great German Children’s Books for Beginners Other books include Momo and Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver). He was interested in and influenced by anthroposophy.ĭie unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story) is Ende's best known work. The reader is often invited to take a more interactive role in the story, and the worlds in his books often mirror our reality, using fantasy to bring light to the problems of an increasingly technological modern society.Įnde was also known as a proponent of economic reform, and claimed to have had the concept of aging money in mind when writing Momo.

Ende’s writing could be described as a surreal mixture of reality and fantasy. Ende claimed, 'It is for this child in me, and in all of us, that I tell my stories,' and that ' for any child between 80 and 8 years' (qtd. However, Ende was not strictly a children’s author, as he also wrote books for adults. He was the son of the surrealist painter Edgar Ende.Įnde was one of the most popular and famous German authors of the 20th century, mostly due to the enormous success of his children's books. Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende was a German writer of fantasy and children's literature.

Momo michael ende amazon