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Emil and the Detectives is a children’s novel by Erich Kastner, set in Berlin. Summary of the Book A young boy leaves his German hometown to journey to Berlin. He travels with 140 marks, a modest sum for a family such as his. His mother raised him since his father’s death and she sends him to Berlin to give this amount to his grandmother. She also gives him 20 marks for himself, and Emil is constantly vigilant about this sum, using a needle to pin it to the lining of his jacket. However, he is robbed by a seemingly kind gentleman on the train to Berlin, and he finds himself alone and penniless in the large city. He dares not go to the police because he is scared that they’ve heard about his minor vandalism of a local monument. Instead, he follows a young boy called Gustav who leads him to “the detectives”, a group of 24 local children who promise to help him. The detectives prove worthy of their name and discover where the man lives, showing keen intellect and a tenacity for working together in this timeless story of friendship and honesty. About Erich Kastner Emil Erich Kastner was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist who is remembered for his comic poems and children’s books. He is also known for Anna Louise and Anton and The Little Man. Kastner was the recipient of the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1960 for his autobiography.