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Maps and Mapping in Children's Literature: Landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes
Edited by Nina Goga and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 7] 2017
► pp. 95–111

Chapter 5
Mapping a city – Berlin in a contemporary detective novel

In the novel Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner, published in 1929, the contemporary city of Berlin is set as an urban topos in which children navigate in an independent and self-confident way. Also more recent detective novels choose Berlin as the scene and make use of its cultural and geographical diversity. This chapter focuses on Andreas Steinhöfel’s Rico, Oskar und die Tieferschatten (2008) and examines which urban spaces in Berlin are presented, how the protagonist orients himself in the city, and what function the mapping has. The analysis focuses on how the psychological learning process of orientation in a city can be supported by children’s literature.

Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Place, space, and children’s literature
  • Overcoming obstacles
  • Rico follows in Emil’s footsteps
  • Rico’s home is his castle
  • Mastering the next step
  • Leaving the comfort zone
  • Mapping a city – Concluding remarks
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 August 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/clcc.7.06low
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