Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver)

Jim Button is a little black boy living on the tiny island of Morrowland. When Jim grows bigger, there is simply no longer enough space for everybody. Someone has to go, decides King Alfons the Quarter-to-Twelfth. But should that someone really be Emma, the locomotive of Jim’s best friend Luke? Jim cannot allow that. Together with the engine driver and Emma he leaves the island and sets off on the great adventure: Transparent trees, stripy mountains, apparent giants and dragons cross their way. In the end, however, Jim is not only able to solve the enigma of his birth; he also manages to free the beautiful princess Li Si. And even for their return to Morrowland a solution is found.
Today, Michael Ende’s first great success belongs into every child’s bookcase. Jim Button and his friend Luke the engine driver have been loved by countless children and by the young of hearts.

Original Edition

  • Format: Hardcover
  • Pages: 244
  • Illustrations: F. J. Tripp
  • Year of publication: 1960
  • Publisher: Thienemann
  • Translations:
    Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Swiss German, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish

Current Editions

  • Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer
    Hardcover, 272 pages, black-and-white illustrations by F. J. Tripp, coloured by Mathias Weber, Thienemann 2015.
  • Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer
    Hardcover, 256 pages, black-and-white illustrations by F. J. Tripp, Thienemann 2004.
  • Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer
    E-book, Thienemann 2017.