Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures is the English-language edition of Heinrich Hoffmann’s 1845 German classic, which presents cautionary tales for children with gleeful dark humor — naughty children burned to ashes, thumbs snipped off, boys who mock others punished by fate. Hoffmann originally created the book as a Christmas gift for his three-year-old son, and its combination of lively verse and vivid illustration proved immediately irresistible.
The English translation made Shock-Headed Peter a fixture of Victorian and Edwardian nurseries, and the book’s perverse charm has never faded. Download this free public-domain EPUB to enjoy the English version of one of children’s literature’s most enduringly controversial classics.