Jim Button celebrated his birthday – and 25,000 children sent their congratulations

Last year, Michael Ende’s children’s book hero „Jim Button“ had a special birthday – the novel „Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver“ was first published exactly 50 years ago.
The publishers, Thienemann Verlag, as well as Stiftung Lesen (Foundation for reading) launched a nationwide primary school competition, resulting in a true flooding of enthusiastic birthday letters. Under the motto “Best wishes for your birthday, Jim Button”, accompanied by teaching material and reading recommendations, schools could write fanciful birthday cards to the loveable hero, and illustrate and decorate them with artwork. Therefore, the 50th anniversary of Michael Ende’s children’s classic had a fantastic resonance: 25,000 children in primary schools and more than 1,000 libraries and nurseries took part. Some of the results that are really worth seeing will now be shown during the Stuttgarter Kinder + Jugendbuchwochen 2011 (Stuttgart book weeks for children and young readers). This way the beautiful cards and homemade Jim Button silhouettes will be appreciated once more.

The Stuttgarter Kinder + Jugendbuchwochen will be opened today and will last from 17-27 February 2011.