Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver [Hardcover]

Michael Ende (Author)

Book Description

Having turned their railroad engine into a boat and set sail for adventure because their island has become too crowded, Jim Button and Luke try to rescue the kidnapped Princess of China from Dragontown.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8-- Despite the appeal of Ende's Momo and The Neverending Story to Disney Studios--they made a movie of both-- Jim Button is standard fare for its fantasy type. Emma, an antique, anthropomorphic steam engine, carries Luke, the engineer; and Jim Button, a small black boy, on a fairy-tale search and rescue mission for a Chinese princess. The three travel from Morrowland, an island nation so small its king thinks one more subject (Jim) will crowd the place, through China to find Princess Li Si in Dragontown of Sorrowland. Emma, who may well be mother of "The Little Engine That Could," is the best drawn character. Overmuch description and cutesy comment make pages--but not much interest. Of course, some readers will throw their hats in the air and shout with joy--as do many characters in this story; others will bless the relief given by the many inserted drawings. --George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Juvenile (July 27, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879513918
• ISBN-13: 978-0879513917
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,772,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic journey for all children, October 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (Hardcover)

I read this book as a child several times (in German) and later I read it to my children (now 13 + 16). It is just wonderful, the journey of Jim and Lukas. Traveling through the desert, the Dragon City, their dragon friend. Have you ever tried the Tur-Tur The Giant's recipe for fried bananas? I did when I was 12 and I still love it. I have not found the book in its English version yet but I hope to get it soon to read it to my son in the US (7 years).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, fun and deeper than it seems, January 20, 2006

By 

WG "avid reader" (Kulmbach, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (Hardcover)

I love this book, I mean, my little daughter, 6, loves it :-)

Michael Ende was a master, perhaps "the" master would be more accurate, at crafting children's books that give the parents something to think about as well.

The most important thing about Jim Knopf (I've only read it in the original German) is of course that it's FUN. I can't imagine any kid not being totally engrossed in the story once it starts. Chapter for chapter, the story moves very quickly from one adventure to the next, always building up just the right amount of tension and suspense without ever becomming gratuitously shocking.

The story itself is about as original possible, it's all Michael Ende's imagination and there are no clichés, no "been there, done that" material. Of course, I can't speak for the english translation, but the language used by Ende in the original is a little advanced for really small kids. Personally, I see it a chance to "smarten up" as opposed to the usual "dumbing down" found in most (all?) modern children's books.

Like I said above, there's more to Jim Button than is first apparent. One example, among many: the Dragon City. I don't know how it's expressed in the English version but in the original, the dragons are mean and cruel and dirty and... UNHAPPY. Their secret wish is to be "saved" from the evil of their city and to become re-born as the "Golden Drangon of Wisdom". They are literally awaiting a "Saviour" and Frau Mahlzahn (the dragon that held the children captive, don't know her english name) is not so much "captured" in the way a superficial reading of the book would suggest but rather saved. She is transported through the cleansing waters of the Yellow River where her fire goes out and her evil spirit is extinguished. This is a baptism, and on a very grand scale.

Another: The "Scheinriese", the Giant who apears bigger and scarier the further away you are from him. When I read this part to my daughter, she said, "It's sort of like my swimming class". I thought, "Huh, how'd you get so smart?". She made the connection herself. Her first two swimming lesson have been horrifying for her, even though they're really completely harmless fun and the instructors are wonderfully gentle and patient. So, she recognized that sometimes things seem a lot scarier before we actually confront them and that most fear exists in our imagination and it can overcome. Rarely is anything as bad as we think it's going to be.

Michael Ende was in a class by himself. He wrote serious literature that also appeals to children. He invented a genre and he was the master. Although his other books are more "mature" than this one, Jim Button and Luke remain my, yes, my :-) favorite.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best dragon in literary history!, December 15, 2009

By 

H. Schneider "Hamlet" (Pandistan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (Hardcover)

My kids grew up with this. Or rather, they spent a substantial slice of their childhood with characters from Michael Ende's Jim Knopf series, translated as Jim Button. Much of this exposure was not so much by reading the books but listening to audio tapes and watching TV versions, in a puppet show. That's how I shared a lot of it, eg on car trips.
Unfortunately, since the girls moved out of the house in the meantime, their best books from childhood have been boxed, so I could not pick Jim up and refresh my memory better.
I remember I was particularly fond of the dragon in the first book of the series, where Jim and his friend Luke the locomotive engine driver went to China on some mission.
The best volume in the series, as I recall it, is the Wild Thirteen, an encounter with a pirate gang of 12. If you want to have an explanation for this arithmetical contradiction, you will have to read the book or listen to the tape!
Another fond memory is of the character 'der Scheinriese', translatable as the Illusionary Giant. That giant looks huge from a distance, but shrinks to normal size when in proximity. I forgot all about the problems that this difficulty causes for the poor giant, but the basic concept has stuck in my active memory of stereotypes. I run into Scheinriesen all the time!

Ende is better known for his 'larger' books, mainly the Neverending Story, which I personally don't like half as much as Jim Knopf.
So, if you are in need of a dragon, go to China with Jim and Luke!

P.S. in case that you wonder why I posted the review without access to the actual book or tape, it is all Judy's fault! she forced me to review a children's book!