Erich Kaestner (1899-1974) was already an established journalist and poet when he penned Emil and the Detectives in 1929.
The book features numerous personal references to Kaestner. The author's real first name is Emil, and the book is set in Berlin, where Kaestner was living at the time. The character Emil's mother is a hairdresser, as Kaestner's own mother was. Finally, near the conclusion of the novel, Emil is interviewed by a kind journalist named Mr. Kaestner.
The Plot of Emil and the Detectives
Emil Tischbein and his widowed mother live in the fictitious town of Neustadt, where she supports them on her meager income as a hairdresser.
His mother decides he should spend part of the school vacation in Berlin with her mother and sister's family, and she sends him there alone on the train for the first time. She gives him a large amount of money (140 Deutschmarks) to give to her mother and to pay his expenses along the way.
In the train, Emil meets a strange man in a bowler hat named Mr. Grundeis. As Grundeis snoozes on the train, Emil secures the money from his mother inside his jacket pocket with a safety pin, and promptly dozes off too.
When he awakens, Grundeis is gone, the train has passed the station at which he had wanted to get out, and he discovers that the money in his pocket is missing. Emil quickly gets off the train and spots Grundeis in the crowd heading out of the station. He follows him on foot and by streetcar until Grundeis stops in a cafe.
Emil does not want to notify the police because he is afraid of getting in trouble – back in Neustadt, he painted a red nose and a black beard on a city statue of the Grand Duke and thinks he is wanted by the town police.
Watching Grundeis from a hiding spot outside, Emil encounters a local boy named Gustav and explains his predicament. Gustav then enlists the help of a band of boys from the city, and they organize themselves into a kind of detective force to follow and catch the thief.
They eventually follow Grundeis into a bank, where Emil confronts him. At Emil's request, the bank personnel examine the bills that Grundeis is trying to change and notice that they have small holes in them from the safety pin Emil used to fasten them in his jacket. The thief is caught.
Emil and his new friends become local heroes when it is discovered that Grundeis is also a most-wanted bank robber. Emil is reunited with his grandmother and family and receives a police reward of 1,000 Deutschmarks.
Special Elements of Emil and the Detectives
One of the novel's great appeals is its every-day realism. Plain dialogue, down-to-earth humor and realistic descriptions of the city and its people (both good and bad) combine to give the story an authenticity that lends itself well to a crime story for kids.
Though told in the third person, the novel does not moralize from an adult perspective. Rather, it is straightforward storytelling and respects the child's strong sense of right and wrong. The book does tackle simple moral issues, however; in a charming scene in Chapter 9, several boys discuss if it is wrong to steal something back that has been stolen from you.
The book also stresses the general goodness in people, while gently teaching tolerance and respect. A stranger pays Emil's fare on the streetcar. The Berlin boys rush to Emil's aid, although he's a newcomer. The police and journalist who interview Emil after he's caught the thief take him seriously. And, Emil, in turn, spends part of his reward on his friends and family.
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