The Parent Trap Erich Kastner Translate by Anthea Bell
Paperback published by Pushkin Children’s Classics 3rd July 2025
ISBN 9781805331704
Luise has ringlets. Lottie has braids. Apart from that they look exactly the same. But they have never set eyes on each other before. When the two girls meet at a summer camp and discover the secret behind their similarity, they decide to switch places. Luise will go home as Lottie, and Lottie as Luise. Everyone is fooled apart from the dog and the plan seems to be working until a beautiful young woman sets her sights on Luise’s father. Will the girls come clean in order to avert disaster?
MY REVIEW
Today I’m shouting out loudly at this fantastic, new book version of The Parent Trap, translated by the late, Anthea Bell. Firstly this incredible story was written by the late Erich Kastner. It’s very funny, being quite moving at times. The Parent Trap has twice been adapted for film, and is now literally one of the great classics of children books. I have seen the film The Parent Trap, starring Lindsay Lohan, but I had forgotten about that movie and can only vaguely remember what the film was about. This children’s classic novel, from Pushkin Children’s publishers, not only refreshed my memory, but is brilliant, with the changes of characters names. Luise and Lottie meet at summer camp, when they meet up they begin to realise that they are in fact twins, that were separate at a very young age, living with each parent miles apart. Luise has ringlets, and Lottie has braids. They play tricks on the rest at the camp by swapping places, including hair styles. Then they hatch a plan to try to get their parents who live apart to be together again. In order for their plan to work they switch places to go home. Luise is going home as Lottie, and Lottie is going home as Luise. Will their parents discover the wrong twin has come home? Can Luise and Lottie get their parents back together again so the twins, can live together, and play together? I loved every page Finding things most funny what the twins, Luise and Lottie get up to. All children are in for a real treat, reading The Parent Trap.
About Writer Erich Kastner
Enrich Kastner, 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 has been translated into around 60 languages. After the Nazis took over in Germany, Enrich Kastner 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.
About Anthea Bell
Anthea Bell, the translator who brought classics from Asterix to WG Sebaldto an English readership, died at the age of 82. She opened up a world of literature to English readers, translating writers from Sigmund Freud to Cornelia Funke.
