Young City Reads
Erich Kästner’s Emil and the Detectives
Project Duration: 7 March – 24 May 2013
In Spring 2013 Michael Rosen, Brighton Festival and Collected Works CIC invited schools, parents and younger readers to join us in reading, sharing, discussing and celebrating Erich Kästner’s, Emil and the Detectives (one of Michael Rosen’s favourite books). Over 40 primary school classes and after school reading groups took part in our ‘Big Read’, culminating in a fantastic event led by Michael at the Theatre Royal as part of Brighton Festival 2013.
‘Emil and the Detectives flowers with inventiveness, excitement, humour, originality and tension. I think it’s wonderful that a whole city is going to read the book at the same time. I think this will build up a great sense of everyone exploring the book together.’
Password Emil!
Other YCR highlights included fabulous Emil themed class visits with Brighton & Hove City Libraries and brilliant World Book Day workshops with Emil illustrator Salvatore Rubbino. Here’s a selection of the best snaps we took of the project in action…
Write a review of Emil and the Detectives
Salvatore Rubbino - The Illustrator
A word from the illustrator on where to begin, 1930s Berlin and giving Emil a new cover…
Reading ‘Emil and the Detectives’ was a great pleasure.
If time allows I like to let the story settle in my imagination for a few days afterwards. Sometimes whilst on a walk I might find visual equivalents that help to make my visual response to the story more tangible, for example, a face, a gesture or a colour palette. I will also source particular reference, in this case, 1930s Berlin, trams, architecture and the style of clothes people would have worn. I then begin to draw quite freely, thinking about interesting moments from the book.
The challenge is finding an essence or graphic identity that will introduce the main themes and characters. I thought Grundeis had lots of visual potential but then villains are always good to draw. I was also taken by 1930s Berlin (much of it now tragically gone) and how beautiful it looked.
But then in the end it had to be Emil and his detective friends spying on the villain Grundeis. Sometimes suggestion can have more impact so I have them hidden behind a wall. And the wall in turn was a good place for the title. A lucky break!
- Salvatore
