Customer Reviews

Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver

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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).

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.

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!

Ask readers what they connect with fantasy books for children, and most will come up with the answer Harry Potter. But there were fantasy books before Harry came. The German writer Michael Ende is one of the many writers who have written wonderful stories, both for children and for grown ups. The story about Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver is one of them.

Luke lives on a tiny, tiny island together with just a handful of other people. One day the postman arrives with a very special delivery, a small packet containing an even smaller little boy. The boy remains at the island and gets the name Jim Button.

Everybody loves Jim, but when he growns bigger the island becomes too small for the people living there. Luke decides that he is the one who has to go, toether with his tank engine. Jim goes with him, in secret, and from here on the adventures of the two friends starts.

The book is a wonderful tale of friendship and love, and also a story to teach children to overcome their fears, to believe in their own strength, and still be allowed to show your weakness. I have read the book together with my six years old daughter, and it has given us many great reading hours. Actually we are still enjoying being together with Jim and Luke, now reading the sequel to the book.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

This maybe the finest story for children ever created, the events in this story are fictions indeed, but they are no complicated which demand you to think hard. Michael Ende created a "light" fiction story, because of that this story flies easily to your heart. And he also created all of his characters totally very humanly especially the two main characters: Jim and Lukas, ther are truly uniques: every person they meet, they help him, every bad situation they fix it in one way or another. All of these features, made this magnifient book a book of a life time! Michael Ende - your book is delightful - Bravo!

I read this book when I was 7. I loved it! Buy it for your kids and read it yourself, too! I'm so glad I read that book. It is about two friends, Jim & Luke, who live in this teeny tiny island. It was so tiny, that one of the people that lived there (i think there were 5 people, including Jim & Luke) would have to leave the place. Luke felt bad and he took his little train and left. Jim went along with him, and they had so many fun adventures together (in one of their adventures, i learned what a mirage really was). In the end, they came back home, with a little surprise. Read the book to find out.

I've read this book as a boy and it stuck with me - I remembered it fondly enough to track it down and re-read it as an adult. I am not a big fan of Ende's work, but this is really a charming little tale and a fine example of children's literature - full of imagination, adventure, and with two (actually three if you count the train) very sympathetic main characters. I warmly recommend it.

This book was read to me 25 years ago, and I have never forgotten it. Written for children (perhaps) but full of magical realist touches and a strong and profoundly human central relationship, the book can be read and reread and reread. The plot concerns the travels of an engine driver and his yooung friend, as they leave behind their ordered homeland and travel off into the unknown. Illustrated with stylish line drawings (as far as I can remember), I just hope I can locate a copy agin soon of this out of print and underexposed classic.

I read this book because of it's writer,and I can't put it down because of the story.You can never know before you read the next words,you can never think of the plot because there's always one new and amazing one coming.As I know,this book is Michael Ende's early writing,and I think it's the most international one.He didn't mention where the story really happened,but accroding to the discribing of people and culture,you always know where you are.He explained the most usual things in the most unusual way,but you'll always believe him.Although it's good that the story line can't be sketched before you read it,you will feel that it's not as attractive as his other books.Maybe it's because of his early wrting.But as to the whole story line,it's really full of imagination as his other books