This is one in a large series by Hargreaves called the "Mr. Men and Little Miss" books. They are originally in English (Mr. Kitzel = Mr. Tickle), but most have been translated into German. Each book features a character who is a personification of some trait of the personality or character or body, and the stories involve the silly messes they get into while embodying the trait.
We discovered these stories over the summer and have read about half of them. J finds them totally hilarious, and they are very fun to read. For L2 purposes they are brilliant; learning words and concepts is fun when each has a personality and a story, and they really stick in the mind. After we read Mr. Umgekehrt (Mr. Opposite), for example,
who of course does everything opposite or backwards, J loved to play a game where we imitate his "opposite speech" patterns.
J: "Nacht gute, Papa!"
A: "Nacht Jamie gute!"
A: "Morgen guten!"
J: "Morgen Papa guten!"
A: "Hunger Kleiner du hast?"
J: "keinen ich Hunger habe, nein."
Sometimes they took a bit of work to get wrong in the right way.
Some of the stories are also useful parenting tools. After we read stories like Miss Sturkopf (Little Miss Stubborn), Mr. Pingelig (Mr. Fussy) and Mr. Unverschämt (Mr. Rude), we could have discussions about avoiding those behaviors without J becoming upset. I simply would say something like: "Now, I think you're acting a little bit like Little Miss Stubborn here." J could better accept the criticism when it came associated with some laughs.
Age 5.1.14
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