You know, for kids!
January 10, 2018 1:20 PM Subscribe
Kafka for children is a selection of short stories by Franz Kafka, with illustrations.
About the Book
"Introduce your children to the whimsical existential surrealism of everyone's favourite German modernist writer! For real, though - Kafka's writing is surprisingly well suited for young children..."
So, The Trial. Perhaps change the knives to sticks and indifference to clerical errors from a CPU.
posted by clavdivs at 1:34 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Introduce your children to the whimsical existential surrealism of everyone's favourite German modernist writer! For real, though - Kafka's writing is surprisingly well suited for young children..."
So, The Trial. Perhaps change the knives to sticks and indifference to clerical errors from a CPU.
posted by clavdivs at 1:34 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Any ideas if this is appropriate for a 3.5 year old? The category on their website vaguely says "children." I'm due to bring my nephew new books. Also, I'm curious to see how The Cage That Went In Search of a Bird turns out...
posted by perrouno at 1:34 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by perrouno at 1:34 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
perrouno: The Cage That Went In Search Of a Bird is one of the stories in the preview you can access from the site actually.
I posted this because Kafka's short stories are actually very simple and fable-like, it isn't all depressing and barbaric stuff.
posted by idiopath at 1:37 PM on January 10, 2018
I posted this because Kafka's short stories are actually very simple and fable-like, it isn't all depressing and barbaric stuff.
posted by idiopath at 1:37 PM on January 10, 2018
Any ideas if this is appropriate for a 3.5 year old?
Maybe start them off with a comic, see how that goes
posted by thelonius at 1:43 PM on January 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
Maybe start them off with a comic, see how that goes
posted by thelonius at 1:43 PM on January 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
When I was a kid, I read a book called Mail-Order Wings featuring a girl who read a comic about this poor guy who woke up as a cockroach one day. At the end of the comic was an ad for mail-order wings, which she ordered and which turned out to then cause to to sprout *real* wings. Shenanigans, of course, ensue.
The protagonist and her wings are the focus of the book's narrative, but I never forgot the brief story-within-a-story of that poor cockroach. Imagine my surprise years later when I recognized the tale as a simplification of Kafka's Metamorphosis. Kafka, even in simplified form, makes a hell of an impression.
(Thelonius, I really wish there were an ad for mail-order wings at the end of your linked comic as an homage to the book...)
posted by dendritejungle at 1:56 PM on January 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
The protagonist and her wings are the focus of the book's narrative, but I never forgot the brief story-within-a-story of that poor cockroach. Imagine my surprise years later when I recognized the tale as a simplification of Kafka's Metamorphosis. Kafka, even in simplified form, makes a hell of an impression.
(Thelonius, I really wish there were an ad for mail-order wings at the end of your linked comic as an homage to the book...)
posted by dendritejungle at 1:56 PM on January 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Most of Kafka's short stories are poignant and playful and weird and I would have loved them as a child, but probably more in the 8-12 range.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:13 PM on January 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 4:13 PM on January 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Children love decentralized message brokers. In fact, just the other day, a child was telling me, "panama joe, I would love to compute streaming analytics in a scalable fashion, but I'm just not sure how to do it!" And I was like, "Boom! Kafka! Done!"
You'd be surprised how much the average child cares about exactly-once message delivery. It's literally all kids talk about anymore.
posted by panama joe at 4:22 PM on January 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
You'd be surprised how much the average child cares about exactly-once message delivery. It's literally all kids talk about anymore.
posted by panama joe at 4:22 PM on January 10, 2018 [10 favorites]
I approve of this post title.
posted by ovenmitt at 4:45 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ovenmitt at 4:45 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
What a weird concept! Not to miss the point, but to me Kafka is the ultimate adolescent author. The overnight transition by seeming magic, that isn't conceptualized as magic, into a monster/insect... that to me says puberty all over. Fine for teens. But Kafka for children, I don't understand and I don't like it.
posted by karmachameleon at 7:01 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by karmachameleon at 7:01 PM on January 10, 2018
http://machall.com/view.php?date=2005-11-08
"Mrs Stahl, can you tell me how to spell a word?"
"Look it up in the dictionary."
"But... I don't know how to spell it."
"So look it up in the dictionary."
"..."
posted by AlSweigart at 10:35 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Mrs Stahl, can you tell me how to spell a word?"
"Look it up in the dictionary."
"But... I don't know how to spell it."
"So look it up in the dictionary."
"..."
posted by AlSweigart at 10:35 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
My First Kafka covers much of the same ground, with beautifully stark black and white art. It is in no way suitable for small children, unless they are into rotting apples festering in one's carapace.
posted by benzenedream at 12:51 AM on January 11, 2018
posted by benzenedream at 12:51 AM on January 11, 2018
Thanks idiopath, I saw the preview but didn't realize it was the entire story.
posted by perrouno at 3:25 AM on January 11, 2018
posted by perrouno at 3:25 AM on January 11, 2018
Oh, now that you mention it might not be the entire.
posted by idiopath at 8:51 AM on January 11, 2018
posted by idiopath at 8:51 AM on January 11, 2018
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posted by OverlappingElvis at 1:22 PM on January 10, 2018 [3 favorites]