Matt listens at the door of the ministers’ council — an illustration for chapter one. Image: Audio Opowieści

The boy king returns to America: Korczak’s “King Matt the First” can now be heard in English

The first English edition of Janusz Korczak’s novel was published in New York in 1945, three years after its author died at Treblinka. Eighty-one years later, the story of a nine-year-old king who wanted to rule more fairly than the grown-ups reaches Polish American homes in a new form: as an illustrated audiobook in English.

King Matt the First opens with the death of the old king. The throne passes to his son, who cannot yet write properly. The ministers intend to rule in his name, so Matt slips out of the palace and goes to war as an ordinary soldier under a false name and, on his return, tries to run the country his own way: he gives children a parliament and a newspaper, invites the African princess Klu-Klu to his capital, and trusts that good intentions will be enough. They are not — and that is what sets the book apart from a fairy tale. Korczak lets his hero make the mistakes of power and live with the consequences.

The author knew his subject. Janusz Korczak (1878–1942), a doctor and educator, ran an orphanage in Warsaw from 1912 in which the children had their own parliament, a court of peers and a newspaper. The novel, published in 1922, is a literary version of that experiment: a question about what happens when a child is taken seriously. The same idea runs through the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations in 1989 on Poland’s initiative.

From New York to an app on a phone

American readers met Matt early. In 1945, the New York house Roy Publishers issued a translation by Edith and Sidney Sulkin under the title Matthew the Young King. In 1986 Farrar, Straus and Giroux published Richard Lourie’s translation with an introduction by Bruno Bettelheim, which is still in print. The book therefore has a long history in English print. What the publisher of the new edition could not find was any commercially available audiobook in the language.

That gap is now filled by Audio Opowieści, a small Polish publisher that made its own translation of King Matt the First and its sequel, King Matt on the Desert Island, from the Polish original, which is in the public domain. Both volumes were released in 2026 as an app for iPhone and Android. As the story plays, illustrations of the scenes appear on screen; each character has a portrait and a short description, and the full text can be followed alongside the narration.

“A child who hears Polish at home and thinks in English at school often no longer has a way into the books their parents grew up with. We wanted that child to meet Matt in the language they read in — and then have something to talk about with their grandparents,” says Marcin Grynienko, founder of Audio Opowieści.

Open about the voice

The publisher is candid about how the recording was made. The narrator is a licensed synthetic voice that does not imitate any living narrator, and this is stated on every title. The translation and illustrations were prepared by the publisher. A three-minute sample of each book can be heard on the publisher’s website without creating an account, so listeners can judge the result for themselves.

A lesson for Saturday schools

For Polish Saturday schools and teachers of English there is a free 45-minute lesson plan for ages 9–12. It is built on chapter one: pupils listen to an excerpt, read the scene of the ministers’ council, learn ten words and discuss who should have a say when decisions are made. A short biographical note connects Korczak with children’s rights. The same chapter, characters, and illustrations are available in Polish on the book’s Polish page, so the lesson can be taught in two languages. The materials may be printed and copied without restriction.

The release coincides with Polish American Heritage Month in October.

FACT SHEET

LINKS

For Polish-heritage families: https://audio-opowiesci.com/en/polish-books-for-bilingual-kids/

The book and a free sample: https://audio-opowiesci.com/en/books/king-matt-the-first/

Lesson plan: https://audio-opowiesci.com/en/for-schools/lesson-plan-king-matt-the-first/

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6779298189

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.audioopowiesci.app

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Audio Opowieści publishes Polish classics for children and young readers in English as audiobooks with illustrations, a character gallery and the full text. The imprint is run by Bril Brothers Innovation Labs sp. z o.o., based in Jaroszów in Lower Silesia, Poland.

SHORT VERSION (ABOUT 90 WORDS)

Janusz Korczak’s King Matt the First, first published in English in New York in 1945, is now available as an illustrated audiobook in English, together with its sequel, King Matt on the Desert Island. The edition was prepared by the Polish publisher Audio Opowieści for Polish American children who understand Polish but read in English. The books play in an app for iPhone and Android, with illustrations, a character gallery, and the full text alongside the audio. A free lesson plan is available for Saturday schools. More: audio-opowiesci.com/en/polish-books-for-bilingual-kids

Audio Opowieści

www.audio-opowiesci.com