Emil? Why Emil?

Did you know why I renamed Garribald and called him Emil? Because of the Emil Gustav chocolate from Riga? Nice guess.
It's because of "Emil und die Detektive", one of my favourite books by Erich Kästner, the author who saw his books being burned by the nazis 1933. It's a children's book, and I read it about ten times when I was a kid.
Emil is a boy from Dresden, travelling on his own to Berlin to visit his aunt, living in Berlin-Mitte. He's supposed to meet them at Friedrichstraße station and give them 140 Mark his mother has saved for months, but since all this money is stolen, he leaves at Zoo station and follows the thieve by tram through Berlin to Motzstraße and Nollendorfplatz. There he meets Gustav, who becomes a friend and great help with all the boys from the neighbourhood. They spy on the thieve, to get back Emil's money. Read on for yourself...
The story and characters are done wonderfully, and now I found it's all playing around the corner from my place, I have to read it again.
Check more on the book, it's history and Berlin here. Enjoy the first 40 pages online here! And then buy the book in your local bookstore. If in Düsseldorf, do it at the main station bookstore and say hello to my niece Cathy.