Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures (Illustrated, with audiobook link)

"This book is the antidote to Disney. It is the opposite of all those nasty, sugar-sweet versions of Cinderella, the Little Mermaid and worst of all Winnie-the-Pooh." -- Goodreads Review

Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter) is an illustrated collection of humorous children’s poems describing ludicrous and usually violent punishments for naughty behavior. Hoffmann, a Frankfurt physician, wanted to buy a picture book for his son for Christmas in 1844. Not impressed by what the stores had to offer, he instead bought a notebook and wrote his own stories and pictures. While Struwwelpeter is somewhat notorious for its perceived brutal treatment of the erring children, it has been influential on many later children’s books, most notably Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

(Struwwelpeter ist der Titel eines Werkes des Frankfurter Arztes Heinrich Hoffmann aus dem Jahr 1845 und zugleich die Titelfigur des Buches. Das Bilderbuch enthält mehrere Geschichten, in denen Kinder nach (angeblichem) Fehlverhalten drastische Folgen erleiden, die von einem Sturz ins Wasser bis zum Tod reichen.)