Der ganz normale Wahnsinn

Erich Kästner’s *The 35th of May* is no ordinary children’s book—it is a wild, cheeky, and timeless invitation to question the world through imagination and humor. The German counterpart to *Alice in Wonderland*, it brims with ideas and eccentricity—yet holds a serious core:

In the Land of Cockaigne, people waste away in idleness; children rule over adults; generals measure their might against one another; and a “perfect” high-tech city demonstrates how progress and automation shape our lives—then as now. Kästner wrote the novel in 1931—during the “Golden Twenties,” a period caught between artistic freedom and the rise of fascism. His work stands as a counter-narrative to the militarism, technological fanaticism, and drab daily routines of the 1920s. And today?

It is more relevant than ever!