King Matt the First (Vintage Originals) [Paperback]

Janusz Korczak (Author), Richard Lourie (Translator), Esme Raji Codell (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2005 | Series: Vintage Originals

This moving fable follows the adventures of Matt who becomes king when just a child and decides to reform his country according to his own priorities. Ignoring his grown-up ministers, he decrees that children should be given chocolate every day and builds the best zoo in the world. He fights in battles, braves the jungle, and crosses the desert, but perhaps the most life-altering thing of all is that the lonely boy king finds true friends. This timeless book shows us not only what children's literature can be, but what children can be.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Janusz Korczak was born in 1878 and died in 1942. He was a Polish physician and educator who wrote over twenty books - his fiction was in his time as well known as Peter Pan, and his non-fiction works bore passionate messages of child advocacy. During World War II, the Jewish orphanage he directed was relocated to the Warsaw ghetto. Although Korczak's celebrity afforded him many chances to escape, he refused to abandon the children. He was killed at Treblinka along with the children. His works have not been forgotten, especially by teachers: there are Janusz Korczak societies in over a dozen countries

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Books USA; New edition edition (August 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099488868
• ISBN-13: 978-0099488866
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,499,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Children's Classic, August 27, 2000

By 

Robin Boone (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: King Matt the First (Hardcover)

Janusz Korczak (pseudonym for Henryk Goldszmit) is one of Poland's most beloved children's authors. There is not only this story, but also a sequel... . (One can see why an American publisher might not have wanted to publish the translation.) I am only sorry that neither of these stories are always in print in English. If you can read German you can get both it and its sequel in German from Amazon.de.

The first English translation, brought out by Roy Publishing, was one of the joys of my childhood. I was lucky - a decade or so later I wrote to the librarian at the library where I had checked it out so often in childhood - I wanted the publishing information so I could look for it - and she sent me the book! It is one of my cherished possessions, and I bless that dear librarian always. I like to write, and Januzs Korczak is one of my primary influences, others being C.S. Lewis and Francis Hodgson Burnett (for stories about children who become kings or queens). If you can't read King Matt's story, I recommend those authors, and also E. Nesbit, Connie Willis, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, R.A. MacAvoy, James Blaylock... This list could go on forever, but I will always think it imperfect as long as Korczak cannot be at the top because his stories are unavailable in English.

Lourie's translation gives more of a European flavor to the story; the earlier translation is softer, and it appears that some detail was omitted. My guess is that the earlier translators wanted to present an impression of the story that did not show as much of the sad, or the tongue-in-cheek, quality of the original, because the Polish people were then under occupation by the Nazis. I rather wish Lourie would translate the sequel, and that both books would stay in print in English FOREVER.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, unique, funny, wise; how do I get a copy?, August 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: King Matt the First (Hardcover)

This is a truly unique book. The author has a great understanding of the way a kid thinks. The main character is a young boy who is crowned king. He has various adventures as he learns about the world of grownups: going to war, starting a parliament for kids, traveling, etc. My only regret is that I read a library copy and I want to own my own but it is out of print.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need to bring this book back, August 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: King Matt the First (Hardcover)

In Esme Raji Codell's new book, How to Get your Child to Love Reading, she devotes a page to this book and refers to it as "the greatest read-aloud of all time". Her book will result in a lot of demand for King Matt the First, so I hope it will be republished in the US>