Deutsch 102: AMD-Bücher
Graded German Reader
A systematic introduction to reading German. A wide variety of texts arranged in increasing order of difficulty, ranging from a text on the metric system intended for beginning 101 students to some readable and amusing pieces of fiction and folklore.
Münchhausens Abenteuer
Easy reader version of the stories of Baron Münchhausen, the “lying baron” [“Lügenbaron”] who tells tales of such adventures as his ride on a cannonball, or a visit to the moon. Terry Gilliam made a movie loosely based on these stories, and an older German movie based on these tales is on reserve at the LRC for part of this semester–see the list of movies on reserve at the LRC.
An der Arche um Acht
Cute children’s book based on the story of Noah’s Ark. When the exhausted dove arrives in Antarctica to tell three penguins that a great flood is coming and that two tickets are reserved for them to get onto an Ark that will save them, they are faced with the dilemma of how to smuggle the third penguin onto the Ark. Meanwhile, the third penguin feels responsible for causing the Flood, as he’s just accidentally killed a butterfly by sitting on it (at first, he had wanted to kill the butterfly, but the other two penguins remind him that God has told us we should not kill). The book is an attempt to tell a story that parents of any religion and non-religious parents would be equally happy for their kids to read. You may want to occasionally meet with me (Hartmut) or your instructor to ask any questions you have as you read. “Abmurksen” at the beginning is slang for “to kill”: something like “to do X in.”
Asterix
This comic book series is actually translated from the French, but is very popular in Germany (Hartmut read it as a kid…). It’s about a single village in Gaul that has continued to withstand and infuriate Julius Caesar by virtue of its inhabitants’ resourcefulness, stubbornness, and a strength-giving magic potion whose secret is known only to the village druid. Only Obelix, who fell into a vat of the potion as a baby, permanently possesses the strength it gives. We’ve ordered the first in the series. Worksheets are available to help you through it if you want them–just ask Hartmut.