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Shock-Headed Peter
These wonderfully nasty poems by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann are about all those naughty children who DON’T deserve any presents this Christmas. We’ve chosen four from the collection of little horrors – Shock-Headed Peter, Cruel Frederick, Dreadful Harriet, and Flying Robert.
Natasha gives a wonderfully lively and amusing performance, but these stories are rather horrid by modern standards. Some small children might find them a bit scary
Struwwelpeter first appeared in English in 1848, three years after the German original, but who translated it is unknown.
As a special treat we present the original pictures and text including other poems from the collection.
Read with great verve by Natasha.
We draw on the Victorian poets whose verse is still fresh and packed with nonsense, morals, and atmospherics.
I have recommended school children learning English in my neighborhood to access Storynory which is indeed extremely valuable as the stories are read by native British speakers.
Shock-headed Peter read out loud by Natasha with such vivacity is particularly effective for learners to grasp the essence of spoken English, as to its rhythm,intonation, accentuation, etc.
Incidentally, I have failed to download ‘the original pictures and text’ included in the passage:
“As a special treat we present the original pictures and text including other poems from the collection. ”
The following shows up:
“Not Found Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here.”
Could you fix it?
Sincerely,
Katsu
Dear Rebekah, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to read Shockheaded Peter to their children except in a spirit of fun… and I hope Natasha’s rendition makes it clear that you shouldn’t take it too seriously.
Shock Headed Peter was read to me as a “nursery rhyme” most nights or a “bed time” story if u like. and I must say I was the best behaved child one would find as I was that scared of being naughty because of the conquence that I believed would occur. Terrible!
I really didn’t get the whole point of that story it really didn’t make any sence 2 me and how come it didn’t have any words it would have been a whole lot easier 2 understand and it wasn’t really that enteresting and it waz a weird poem <3
Great little tale. I used it for my homework on the Victorians. I agree some more pictures would be nice. The first bit of poetry I assume is by the same author?
I love this story its scray and cool.
what this story i dont loke
i wish there were some pictures to look at…
that would be nice.
pleaz?
[...] you’re the read-aloud type, click here to have it read to you. Here’s a ‘tween the wars version, with more 20th-century misbehaviors, and a much [...]
the story was very good
BOY those kids are BAD BAD BAD BAD BBBBBAAAADDD.
VERY CATCHY
i loved this story, those children desserved what happened to them, i wondeer what happened to flying robbert??
oh, i did not know that roald dahl’s stories were still in copyright. Thank you for taking time to answe.
Its .OK. bertie, i can sleep well now,never the less thanks to you this night i will sleep even better, because i listen to the other storynorys at night. And you are right the poems are more silly then scary, i just felt a little sad when harriet died, and mean crule frederick through the poor kitten down the stairs.
I think you are a very nice prince, even if you are a frog.
Tina, very sorry you couldn’t sleep at night. You do have a good point about one or two of the pictures which are rather horrid. On the whole, we think these poems are more silly than scary, but in consideration of what you are saying, I’ll beef up the warning for small children.
Sally – as you mention, Roald Dahl is great at scary stories but unfortunately, he’s still in copyright, and although we love his stories, we can’t use them for another 60 years or so! Thank you for the suggestion all the same.
My big sister worned me not to listen to this story but i thought, A big girl like me can listen to a silly story called shock hedded Peter. But OH NO I did not listen to her and i could not sleep at night! But in the morning, i went on story to see illustrations of shock headed peter, i shouldent of this, beacaus seeing a boy getting his finger chopped off and a boy as thin as a stick, i was very frightend.
All in all it is a good story for big boys.
i am only 8.
p.s i am glad storynory did not put “little suck-a-thumb”, and “Agustus the boy that would not have any soup”
i am scared of this story, i dont like the horrid hariet, i was wondering if you considered roald dahl stories, like: esio trot, the magic finger, charlie and the chocolate factory, witches etc.
please answer me
visit http://www.roalddahl.com if necessary
i was very short and little fun.
where are longer stories
hgrf
Oh, thank you for including these. I never knew the story names as I only saw the pictures from my mothers primary school reader (in German). What a wonderful surprise to come across the stories!
Scary stuff!!
I don’t think we are going to include any of these stories in our similar podcast http://childrensbookradio.com/
thanks for going out on a leap and sharing these..
thanks Natasha u r good
[...] That’s not to say that we aren’t creative. A lot thought goes into each story. Even the out-of-copyright ones are carefully edited. I enjoy the role of producer, trying to bring out the best in a creative talent, and it’s new and interesting for me to work with an actor, rather than a broadcast journalist. It’s important to keep Natasha stretched to keep her interested. She’s enjoying Alice In Wonderland, which is a demanding text, and she throws herself into the poems like Shock-Headed Peter. [...]
I like this story very much.
Does somebody now where can I find the story
“Cinderella”?
Because I looked for it and I haven’t found it on this site.
Thanks!
Hello Roy,
We have something for everyone. Here’s Cinderella as requested.
http://storynory.com/2006/04/08/cinderella/
I think the story is quite boring, but, yes, it is a sweet story, it’s just that I don’t like her so much…
Does somebody know where can I find Cinderella? ‘Cause I looked for it but I haven’t found it anywhere…
Thanks a lot!
Great job, Natasha! We love your acting.
Shock-headed peter is very spooky and wicked!
Scary but Wonderful! My daughter loves it.
[...] By the way, emails suggest that Storynory has quite a few adults among its listeners. If you want to sample our wears, I suggest our latest offering, Shock-Headed Peter. podcasting storynory [...]
Yes, I do