Die Bürgschaft

For some (adults), Goethe, Schiller and Rilke are profound poets of world renown, indispensable to the literary canon, and they consider their works – ranging from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice to The Pledge and The Panther – poetry of the highest order. For others (namely children), the exciting stories come first, that the pieces rhyme in the best sense of the word comes second – at least when such pieces come along without any down-weighing effects and as wonderfully presented as in this series of books. The Berlin-based Kindermann Verlag accompanies the classic verses (in the original wording) with colourful illustrations and uses a spacious layout to the effect that the individual passages on the books’ pages seem pretty natural. Young readers (or a young audience, since you’ll find these poems particularly suited for reading aloud) come into contact with rhymed language – and in a playful and quite casual way.