Kornel Makuszyński

Who he was

The writer who made all of Poland laugh

He was born in Stryj, studied Polish and French literature in Lwów and Paris, and first made his name as a columnist and poet. But he is remembered above all as an author for young readers. Together with the illustrator Marian Walentynowicz he created Koziołek Matołek (1933) — Poland's first picture story, a comic before the word existed, and a character every Polish child still recognises. Then came the novels: O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc (the two boys who stole the moon), Panna z mokrą głową (The Madcap Miss), Awantura o Basię and Szatan z siódmej klasy — The Devil from the Seventh Grade (1937).

What his books share is a rare mixture: humour that never mocks its heroes, an unshaken faith in kindness, and clever children who are wiser than the grown-ups suspect. Makuszyński was a member of the Polish Academy of Literature; after the war he lived in Zakopane, in the Tatra Mountains, where he died in 1953. The town keeps a museum in his name.

"Adam Cisowski, a seventh-grader, was a devil — but the kind of devil even the teachers forgave."paraphrased from The Devil from the Seventh Grade

Why The Devil from the Seventh Grade still works

Because it is a detective story in which the solution demands thinking: letters, dates, verses, a calendar. Adam Cisowski, the sharpest boy in his class, untangles a 124-year-old mystery — a treasure hidden by a French officer after Napoleon's 1812 campaign — with humour that has not aged a day, and with Professor Gąsowski, who knows everything about Napoleon and nothing about life. In Poland it is supplementary school reading, usually around ages 11–12, but it reads like an adventure, not like homework.

For a child growing up in English, or learning it, the English edition offers a classic plot in a new language: voice and text side by side, illustrations of fifteen characters, three scenes from the first chapter. For families with Polish roots, it is a bridge — the same book grandparents read at school, in the language the child speaks best.

Timeline

1. 1884Born in Stryj (today in Ukraine).
2. 1928O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc — the two boys who stole the moon.
3. 1933Koziołek Matołek and The Madcap Miss.
4. 1937The Devil from the Seventh Grade and Awantura o Basię.
5. 1953Dies in Zakopane; a museum in his name is open there to this day.
6. 2026The Devil from the Seventh Grade as an illustrated audiobook in English at Audio Opowieści; Polish and German editions on the way.

Questions

What people ask

See also: Janusz Korczak — King Matt the First · Polish children's classics in English · why we make Audio Opowieści · guide for parents