The First School Year: A Story for Children from 7 to 12 Years

Sapper, Agnes, 1852-1929Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4
Word count
238K words
Chapters
24

Tags

Foreign Language Books Children's Literature German EducationCampus LifeComing of AgeHeartwarming NarrativeParent-Child Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Das erste Schuljahr: Eine Erzählung für Kinder von 7-12 Jahren by Agnes SapperAuthor: Sapper, Agnes, 1852-1929,Language: German, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Nov 17, 2018

Editor's review

This is a German children's story by Agnes Sapper for children aged seven to twelve, centered on "the first school year" and belonging to late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century German children's literature about family and school. Its value lies in its gentle narrative presentation of early adjustment to school, teacher-student relationships, and peer interactions. The language is relatively simple and the chapters are short, making it suitable as beginner extensive reading material for German learners; it also allows readers to glimpse the educational interests and emotional expression of children's books of the time. As a public-domain e-book, it has no modern illustrations or notes, and the reading experience is plain. It is best treated as a language-practice and historical children's-literature sample rather than a contemporary educational guide; parents or teachers using it for shared reading can explain differences in school norms and family concepts in light of the period background.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter, and after each chapter retell the plot in your own words to practice German expression.
  2. When encountering old-fashioned expressions or culturally specific words, mark them first and look them up later to avoid frequent interruptions.
  3. Read alongside other children's stories by the same author to observe continuity in narrative style and educational stance.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24

FAQ

What level of German is needed to read it? The language is aimed at children and the sentences are short, but there are still old-fashioned expressions and period vocabulary. German learners at A2 to B1 level who can read with a dictionary are better suited; readers with no German should first look for a bilingual edition or translation.
Is this book suitable to read directly to children as a bedtime story? It can be read together, but two points need attention: the original is in German, and the book dates from an earlier period, so school norms and family concepts differ from today. Parents should look through it first, explain the period background to children when necessary, and then decide whether it suits their child's reading habits.
Does the electronic edition have illustrations or notes? According to available information, this is a public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, mainly text, with no indication of illustrations or modern notes. If you need help understanding it, you can prepare a German dictionary or relevant period background materials yourself.

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About the author

Sapper, Agnes, 1852-1929 Author

Agnes Sapper (1852–1929) was a German writer of children's literature and family stories, with six of her works held in this collection. Public information about her is limited, and the details of her life are difficult to set out fully; her surviving works nonetheless show that she consistently drew on family life, children's education, and everyday experience in wartime. Her representative work, Die Familie Pfäffling: Eine deutsche Wintergeschichte, portrays family life with warmth and realism. Das erste Schuljahr: Eine Erzählung für Kinder von 7-12 Jahren and Das kleine Dummerle und andere Erzählungen zum Vorlesen im Familienkreise are clearly addressed to child readers and to family read-aloud settings, with simple language and attention to everyday detail. Ohne den Vater: Erzählung aus dem Kriege and Kriegsbüchlein für unsere Kinder show her concern with the effects of war on families and children. Frau Pauline Brater: Lebensbild einer deutschen Frau is closer in form to biography. Overall, she is known for plain, affectionate narration, and her works long circulated in German family reading.