Die dumme Augustine
(Stupid Augustine) Book not yet available in English
Summary:
Silly Augustine, the wife of Silly August who performs in the circus and mother of Guggo, Gugga and Guggilein, dreams of performing as a clown in the circus one day. Instead, she has to run this stressful household. Her suggestion to share both the job in the circus, the housework and the children is met with incomprehension and contempt by her husband. When Silly August suffers from a toothache and misses his performance, Augustine takes her chance. She steps in, and promptly masters this task with flying colours. From then on, they share the housework and the circus work, because Silly August immediately realises that he has severely underestimated his wife. [Source: Wikipedia]
Edited by: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord
Comment:
In this picture book, children are taught that women have just as many skills as men and that tradition does not mean that their place is in the kitchen, but that they are also allowed to have a profession. In the year that this book was first published (1972), this topic was even more revelant than it is today, as emancipation has advanced and families with traditional roles are no longer the norm. The pedagogical intention therefore seems a bit dated. The story also allows girls and boys to think about their abilities. A classic translated into Arabic, American, Australian and British English, Basque, Chinese, Danish, French (Auguste et Augustine (1984), no longer available), Galician, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Slovenian and Spanish. [Source: Wikipedia]