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The Flying Classroom

By Erich Kästner
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Flying Classroom by Erich Kästner is a heartwarming children's book set in a boarding school during the Christmas season. It follows a group of schoolboys as they prepare for a Christmas play and navigate the ups and downs of friendship, courage, and understanding. The story beautifully captures the essence of camaraderie and the spirit of childhood adventures.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this heartwarming tale if you appreciate stories of friendship, adventure, and imagination among schoolchildren. With its engaging narrative and charming characters, this children's book provides a delightful exploration of youthful camaraderie and creativity.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A delightful and moving story of boyhood adventures, friendships and anxieties, set in a 1930s boarding school.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Five boys are preparing for their school Christmas play: conscientious Martin, too poor to pay for his train fare home at the end of term; Johnny, whose parents have left him and who'll have to stay at school over the holidays; Matthew, strong, thick-skinned and good-natured, looking forward to the punching ball he's been promised for Christmas; sensitive and fearful Uli; and intelligent, complicated Sebastian, who thinks that Christmas is overrated but is happy to play along.

Meanwhile, a rival boys' school is threatening their peace, and their housemaster's mysterious falling-out with an old friend, who lives in a (non-smoking) railway carriage, demands to be explained and rectified.

Both quietly melancholic and very funny, this is a story about the fun, adventure and worries, both small and serious, that are the reality of childhood days.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Flying Classroom has been praised for its combination of author, illustrator, and translator, with Walter Trier's illustrations adding a special charm. The story of schoolboys' friendships and adventures is seen as perfect for Christmas, delivering a timeless exploration of bravery, boyhood, and friendship. Critics commend it as a warm, witty, and inventive portrayal of childhood and it's often compared favourably to the author's more famous work, "Emil and the Detectives".

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781782690566

Publisher: Pushkin Children's Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 November 2014

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Pushkin Children's Books

Edition: 3rd edition

Contributors:

  • Translated by Anthea Bell
  • Illustrated by Walter Trier
  • Translated by Anthea Bell

Audience: Children

DIMENSIONS

Width: 148.0mm

Height: 200.0mm

Weight: 300g

Pages: 160

Collections

Children's Books Children’s, Teenage and Educational Classic Fiction Erich Kästner

About the Author

Erich Kastner, writer, poet and journalist, was born in Dresden in 1899. His first children's book, Emil and the Detectives, was published in 1929 and has since sold millions of copies around the world and been translated into around 60 languages. After the Nazis took power in Germany, Kastner's books were burnt and he was excluded from the writers' guild. He won many awards, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1960. He died in 1974.

Walter Trier was born in Prague in 1890, but moved to Berlin in 1910. An acclaimed cartoonist and illustrator, he collaborated with Kastner on more than a dozen children's books and produced covers for Lilliput and The New Yorker, among others. He fled Germany in 1936, and eventually settled in Canada, where he died in 1951.

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  • Emil and the Detectives
    Emil and the Detectives - the original super-sleuth! Emil is robbed on his first real railway journey of money entrusted to him by his hard-working mother for the relatives he is to stay with in Berlin. A gang of boys about his own age come to his aid, and a thrilling adventure full of surprises ensues as they use their...
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  • The Parent Trap
    Luise has ringlets. Lottie has braids. Apart from that they look exactly the same. But they are sure that they have never set eyes on each other in their lives.When the two girls meet at a summer camp and discover the secret behind their similarity, they decide to switch places. Everyone is fooled (apart from the dog) and, despite a...
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    Dot and Anton is a whimsical tale of friendship and adventure. Dot loves play-acting, dressing up her pet dachshund Piefke, and making up words like 'splentastic'. Her best friend, Anton, lives in a little apartment and looks after his mother. They share a secret—each night, when their parents think they are asleep, they sell matches and shoelaces on the streets...
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    'Walter Trier's deceptively innocent drawings are as classic as Kästner's words; I never tire of them' Quentin Blake 'Atmospheric... bittersweet... a memorable exploration of bravery, boyhood and friendships' Wall Street Journal Martin's school is not the ordinary kind. There are snowball fights, kidnappings, cakes, a parachute jump, a mysterious man who lives in a railway carriage, and a play about...
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