'Walter Trier's deceptively innocent drawings are as classic as Kastner's words; I never tire of them' Quentin Blake Martin's school is no ordinary school. There are snowball fights, kidnappings, cakes, a parachute jump, a mysterious man called 'No-Smoking' who lives in a railway carriage and a play about a flying classroom. As the Christmas holidays draw near, Martin and his friends - nervous Uli, cynical Sebastian, Johnny, who was rescued by a sea captain, and Matthias, who is always hungry (particularly after a meal) - are preparing for the end-of-term festivities. But there are surprises, sadness and trouble on the way - and a secret that changes everything. The Flying Classroom is a magical, thrilling and bittersweet story about friendship, fun and being brave when you are at your most scared. (It also features a calf called Eduard, but you will have to read it to find out why.) Erich Kastner, writer, poet and journalist, was born in Dresden in 1899. His first children's book, Emil and the Detectives, was published in 1929 and has since sold millions of copies around the world and been translated into around 60 languages. After the Nazis took power in Germany, Kastner's books were burnt and he was excluded from the writers' guild. He won many awards, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1960. He died in 1974. Walter Trier was born in Prague in 1880. In 1910 he moved to Berlin, where he would later be introduced to Kastner, and began his career drawing cartoons for the Berliner Illustrated. He also contributed to the satirical weekly Simplicissimus, where during the 1920s, despite great personal risk, he ridiculed Hitler and the Nazi Party in a series of cartoons. In 1936 he fled to London, where he was involved in producing anti-Nazi leaflets and political propaganda drawings. He would go on to have a rich career, producing around 150 covers for the humorous magazine Lilliput. He died in 1951 in Ontario, Canada. Anthea Bell is an award-winning translator. Having studied English at Oxford University, she has had a long and successful career, translating works from French, German and Danish. She is best known for her translations of the much-loved Asterix books, Stefan Zweig and W.G. Sebald.

In the book that spawned the beloved movie "The Parent Trap," nine-year-old Lisa from Vienna--bold, with a head of curls--meets Munich's buttoned-up Lottie at summer camp. Soon, a newspaper clipping tells the tale: they're identical twins, Lisa living a colorful, big-city life with her father while Lottie keeps house with their gentle mother. Why have their parents separated? And how can they get to the bottom of the mystery? They decide to switch hairstyles, manners, and addresses--and that is where the adventure begins.

Erich Kastner (1899-1974), a German author, was well known for his poetry and prose. He received wide acclaim for his much-loved books for children, "Emil and the Detectives" and "Lisa and Lottie."

'Gadzooks!' said Dot ... 'The things that boy can do!' Dot loves play-acting, dressing up her pet dachshund Piefke and making up words like 'splentastic'. Her best friend is Anton, who lives in a little apartment and looks after his mother. They share a secret - every night, when their parents think they are asleep, they sell matches and shoelaces on the streets of Berlin with Dot's grumpy governess. But why? The answers involve a villain called 'Robert the Devil', a club-wielding maid, a wobbly tooth, a pair of silver shoes and a policeman dancing the tango, as Dot and Anton get into all sorts of scrapes and even solve a crime in this delightful, touching and hilarious adventure story.

EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES by Erich Kastner has been in print ever since it was first published in 1928. Young Emil is robbed on his first real railway journey of money entrusted to him by his hard-working mother for the relatives he is to stay with in Berlin. A gang of boys about his own age come to his aid, and a thrilling adventure full of surprises ensues as they use their wits to devise a wonderfully simple but practical trick to capture the thief. With every detail clearly drawn - from the tiresome business of getting into best clothes for the journey, down to the final anxiety as to what shall be done with a gloriously unexpected reward - this is a story all young readers will enjoy. Reissued in the 'A Puffin Book' series of children's modern classics.

Classic / British English Emil is travelling alone to his grandmother's house in the city. He is carrying money toher from his mother. Then a man on the train steals the money. Emil follows the thief and an exciting adventure begins, with lots of detectives, a lift boy, and a fight in a bank!

'Password Emil!' Emil and the detectives are on holiday by the seaside when they meet the three Byrons. One Byron is the father and the other two are the sons, Mackie and Jackie. Jackie is bigger than Mackie and Byron Senior is very annoyed about it. But what is Jackie to do? When Emil and the detectives discover that the father is planning to desert poor Jackie they are determined to come to the rescue but not before they've been cast away on a desert island... BACKSTORY: Test your knowledge of Emil and his friends and discover some fun seaside activities!

'Password Emil!' Emil is excited to be taking the train on his own for the first time. He doesn't like the look of his fellow passenger, the man in the bowler hat. Emil will just have to keep his wits about him and his money in his pocket. But Emil falls asleep and when he wakes up the man in the bowler hat is gone - and so is the money! Emil is determined to get it back. He teams up with a gang of young detectives and so begins a hair-raising chase across Berlin to catch the dirty rotten thief... BACKSTORY: Learn all about the book's brave author and find out just how good a sleuth you would be.

If Mrs Tischbein had known the amazing adventures her son Emil would have in Berlin, she'd never have let him go. Unfortunately, when his seven pounds goes missing on the train, Emil is determined to get it back - and when he teams up with the detectives he meets in Berlin, it's just the start of a marvellous money-retrieving adventure