Christoph von Schmid (15 August 1768

Dinkelsbühl Dinkelsbühl () is a historic town in Central Franconia, a region of Germany that is now part of the state of Bavaria, in southern Germany. Dinkelsbühl is a former free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. In local government terms, Dinkelsb� ...

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– 3 September 1854

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) was a writer of children's stories and an educator. His stories were very popular and translated into many languages. His best known work in the English-speaking world is ''The Basket of Flowers'' (''Das Blumenkörbchen''). In this work, fifteen-year-old Mary is taught all the principles of godliness through the flowers planted and cared for by her father, James, who is the king's gardener. When she is falsely accused of stealing and temporarily banished, her friends try to find some evidence in order to prove that Mary didn't do anything wrong until it's too late. In recent years, ''The Basket of Flowers'' has been published in the United States as part of the Lamplighter Family Collection.

Biography

Christoph von Schmid studied theology and was ordained priest in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

in 1791. He then served as assistant in several parishes until 1796, when he was placed at the head of a large school in

Thannhausen Thannhausen () is a town in the district of Günzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Mindel, southeast of Günzburg, and west of Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_Germ ...

, where he taught for many years. From 1816 to 1826, he was parish priest at

Oberstadion Oberstadion is a town in the district of Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's we ...

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. In 1826, Christoph von Schmid was appointed canon of the

Cathedral, where he died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

at the age of eighty-seven. Schmid began writing books for children, teaching Christian values, shortly after being placed at the school in Thannhausen. His first work was a Bible history for children (1801). Schmid's original purpose for writing was to reward his students after school by reading his books to them. Schmid continued with his calling as a writer of children's books throughout his long life. Schmid's writings have been translated into 24 languages. His principal juvenile works are ''Biblische Geschichte für Kinder'', ''Der Weihnachtsabend'', ''Genovefa'', ''Die Ostereier'', ''Das Blumenkörbchen'', and ''Erzählungen für Kinder und Kinderfreunde'' (1823–1829). ''Die Ostereier'' (''Easter Eggs'', 1816) became so popular that he started signing himself as "author of ''Easter Eggs''."Binder, "Schmid, Christoph von" in ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Ac ...

'', Band 31 (Leipzig, 1890), S. 657-659. Many say that he was the pioneer of books for youths. His stories usually center around a disturbance to the happiness of good people, which God's righteousness finally fixes, the goal of the writer being to awaken a practical piety in his youthful readers. He also wrote poems which are scattered here and there in his work. His autobiography, ''Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben'', was published in 1853–1857.

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* * * * * People from Dinkelsbühl German autobiographers German poets German children's writers 1768 births 1854 deaths German male poets German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-writer-stub