Struwwelpeter

Pauline knew not to play with matches, Philip's parents told him not to fidget, and Conrad wasduly warnedabout the tailor who snips off thumbsuckers' thumbs—a morbidly hilarious, much-lovedclassic volume of cautionary verses In December 1844, Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann, aGerman doctor, couldn't find a suitable book to give his three-year-old son as a Christmas present. Instead he bought a blank book and set out to write and draw what was to become his world-famous picture book. Hoffmann filled his book with dazzling and gruesome stories and pictures that he had invented to try to put his frightened young patients at their ease. After its publication in 1845, the book's popularity continued to grow and it has been published in thousands of editions throughout the world.