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´Matches, buy my matches, ladies and gents!´ calls Luise Pogge, a.k.a. ´Dot´, evening after evening, standing on Weidendammer Bridge in the middle of Berlin. Of course, her wealthy parents have no idea of her whereabouts, believing her to be in the safe care of her nanny, Miss Andacht. But Miss Andacht is being blackmailed by her shady fiancé, which is where Dot comes in. Anton, on the other hand, has to beg because he and his mother are paupers, and desperate. When the two children make friends on the streets of Berlin, Dot, who is no fool, has a brilliant idea which is sure to solve both their problems, and in the process they even solve a dastardly crime...

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"An unlikely secret friendship leads to a scotched burglary and generous quantities of just deserts in this freshly translated caper from the author of Emil and the Detectives. . . First published in 1931 and last available in English in 1973, the tale is presented here in handsome packaging with its original fluent line drawings, and it wears its age reasonably well. . . A minor classic featuring a pair of intrepid protagonists, a comically suspenseful climax, and a mildly caricatured adult cast." - Kirkus Reviews

"Walter Trier´s deceptively innocent drawings are as classic as Kästner´s words; I never tire of them." - Quentin Blake

"Groundbreaking... quite remarkable. . . My favourite book as a child... funny, exciting and very atmospheric." - Michael Rosen on Emil

"A little masterpiece... Read it and you will be happy." - Maurice Sendak on Emil

"Marvellous´; ´A great political story: democracy in action." - Philip Pullman on Emil (in the Independent ´s ´The 50 books every child should read´)

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Erich Kästner, writer, poet and journalist, was born in Dresden in 1899. His first children´s book, Emil and the Detectives , was published in 1929 and has since sold millions of copies around the world and been translated into around 60 languages. After the Nazis took power in Germany, Kästner´s books were burnt and he was excluded from the writers´ guild. He won many awards, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1960. He died in 1974.

Translated from the German by Anthea Bell.

Walter Trier was an acclaimed cartoonist and illustrator, and Kästner´s collaborator on more than a dozen children´s books.

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