EPTDie schwarzen Brüder: A forgotten Classic
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/RomeoDVD1.jpg/220px-RomeoDVD1.jpg)
Growing up, Anime was a huge part of my childhood.
I initially wasn't aware it was called that, or that it was even Japanese, but hey I enjoyed it nonetheless. I would open up Spacetoon (an Arabic Animated series channel) and watch a number of Anime & cartoons (dubbed in Arabic) on a daily basis. That period of my childhood marks some of my favorite memories ever. It involved so many wonderful moments that didn't include an ounce of care about what was going on in the world around me.
It was just me in my own little world.
There was however one particular Anime that, to this day, remains among my favorites due to the emotions and lessons it was able to convey.
“Romeo’s Blue Skies”
The Arabic Opening Romeo's Blue Skies
The story tells the tale of Romeo, a young boy growing up in a poor family up in Switzerland. His life suddenly shifts from bad to worse as his mother becomes ill and his family is forced to sell him to slavery for money. He was then taken along a group of kids, all in similar situations, to Milan to work as Chimney Sweeps.
It’s a story of happiness, sadness, friendships, and hardships.
More importantly however, it portrayed a difficult period in time where lots of kids were being poised in the same position as little Romeo.
Years after watching that show as a little boy of 6 or 7, I finally did a bit of searching only to find out that the Anime was based on a novel titled “Die schwarzen Brüder”, which literally translated to “The Black Brothers”. Reading more about the novel, it seems that it's a popular children’s tale over in Germany, and is essentially considered a forgotten classic by many.
Though, despite my searches, I was unable to find an English translation of the novel.
That is, until now.
After a period where I completely forgot about the Anime & the novel, I finally came across an illustrated English translation of the book. This version, translated by Hannes Binder, presents an abridged version of the novel included with a set of illustrations that portray the events that took place.
Will we ever get a complete adaption of the original text?
I don’t know, but I certainly hope so.
But for now, I'll be ordering the book and checking out how this illustrated version fares compared to the its Anime counterpart.
Until next time.
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Link for the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Brothers-Lisa-Tetzner/dp/1932425047
