Beautifully written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans (same illustrator to the Madeline series). Pages are more on the fragile side, but fully intact with binding. No tears, rips, creases. In wonderful shape despite being published in 1945. Unlike much of Bemelmans' work, The Blue Danube is not a typical children's book. It is set in Regensburg, Germany just before the full brunt of the allies might hit it. The story involves an old farmer, his two sisters, and a niece, who occupy an island in the Danube that pops up once the river goes down in late spring. They grow radishes in the rich soil and sell them to locals. They live in a house the farmer built himself. One day he humiliates a local Nazi bureaucrat, who begins to plot against him with the aide of an underling. He disappears for a while, and the local bishop enlists a young French POW to help the women. The farmer returns on the QT, and the situation eventually comes to a head.