Award-winners
Jürg Schubiger & Rotraut Susanne Berner When Death Came Calling Jürg Schubiger and Rotraut Susanne Berner tell us the story about a village somewhere back in time when Death was still completely unknown. Nobody had ever encountered him and everything that existed remained safe and sound. But then one day Death walks into the village…
Jutta Degenhardt & Lars Baus The Magical Word Lottery The biggest prize is words Helene’s grandma collects magical words in a little box. Helene is delighted with this treasure and has an idea: what if they raffled off the most beautiful words in a lottery? Grandma and Helene build a street stall and the first…
Saša Stanišić & Katja Spitzer Hey, hey, hey, Taxi! For a child, a taxi is a magic vehicle. A four-wheeled witches’ broom. As you enter it, a taxi can bring you anywhere you want to. But what if it’s magic was even bigger? What if taxis would allure stories, fantastic and absurd stories, funny stories…
Birgit Schössow Burying Grandma Siblings Mina, Paul and Annie now only have their neighbour, Mrs Mattuschke. From one day to the next, they are orphaned and the shock is followed by a wild decision not to go to a home. Fortunately, a grandmother turns up, albeit an unknown one. She had been travelling the world…
Ondřej Buddeus & Jindřich Janíček On Yer Bike! “When it’s alone, it waits and acts like a sleeping animal. But when you saddle up, it suddenly has the power and lust for life that you give it.” The bicycle has been man’s humble companion for more than 200 years, serving both young and old on…
Volker Surmann Leon Hertz and the Thing about Sadness Is this still normal, or already depri light? Leon Hertz is 13 3/4 years old and the third Leon in his class – pretty normal and unremarkable, in his opinion. But Rouven has noticed him, and not only that. He even helps Leon with his ethics…
Franz Suess In the Pockets of the Handsome Mr Day When handsome Mr Day gets tired, Mrs Night wakes up and it slowly gets dark everywhere. Mr Day quickly pockets various things that are left of him: a fish that didn’t find its way home, the last ray of sunshine that no longer warmed him…
Will Gmehling & Anna Schilling Molly Blume It buzzes and it beeps and goes pling About parents, mobile phones and a daughter who takes action Molly is really annoyed, her parents are addicted! Addicted to their smartphones. They stare at the screen all the time, never really listen to Molly and even miss the leopard…
Leslie Niemöller & Liliane Oser The Cucumber Squad Hans the pig lives alone in a pretty little house in the forest. But little by little, one animal flatmate after another joins him. They all have special characteristics: a shy bear who only dares to walk as far as the garden gate. A rabbit with an…
Jens Rassmus Rainy Day Heavy rain outside the window, the whole world black and white. Two children sit helplessly in the room, but then they push open other, fantastic windows! “Imagine…” is the magic formula they use to transform the world and themselves. Jens Rassmus swaps ink for acrylic colours and creates wide, bright spaces…
Jörg Mühle Tomorrow, I am the Boss! When the weasel comes home, he can hardly believe his eyes: Bear and Badger are playing with each other. The weasel is furious. Because Badger is his friend! “Why don’t you play with us?” suggests the badger, but Bear and Weasel can’t agree, not on football, not on…
Jörg Mühle Two for Me, One for You Bear finds three tasty mushrooms on her way home through the woods. Her friend Weasel cooks them up in the frying pan. But the friends have a problem: how to share three between two? Bear and Weasel come up with one argument after another for why they…
Jörg Mühle Bathtime for Little Rabbit Who enjoys having their ears washed? Little Rabbit doesn’t like the idea, but it turns out to be not so bad after all. But he does need your young reader’s help. When the blow-dryer breaks, we must blow his ears dry. Wfffff! Keep blowing! Now wrap him in the…
Jörg Mühle Tickle My Ears The worldwide bestselling interactive bedtime book for toddlers. This sweet and simple boardbook invites children to take part in Little Rabbit’s charming new bedtime ritual by helping to put bunny to bed with a fun activity on each page. It’s getting late and Little Rabbit must go to sleep. Can…
David Böhm Now. By the time you’ve finished reading this sentence, another 24 children will have come into this world. How long does the now last? What is time? Why do people think they can have time? How do you measure time? When the display shows that the next bus will arrive in three minutes,…
Arne Rautenberg & Wolf Erlbruch Courage is a Good Thing For those who take their courage in both hands and overcome procrastination, real elation awaits! Wolf Erlbruch has captured this special moment in ravishing images. Arne Rautenberg has been inspired by them to write enjoyable poems. Peter Hammer Verlag Poems | Picture Book Original title:…
Kathrin Schrocke White Tears Is that racist already, or what? Lenni and Serkan are best friends. Until the new classmate Benjamin shows up, almost breaks up the theatre group, criticises a popular teacher and openly denounces racism. Lenni’s world turns upside down. Suddenly he has to take a stand. But for whom? Who is actually…
Lena Hach Wanda’s Game Fast-paced coup with brains and teamwork Wanda only wants one thing: Mr. B’s signed and insanely valuable tennis ball. Too bad it’s in a display case that is strictly secured. What to do? She finds five comrades-in-arms among her classmates. Together they form a team of six, each with at least…
Sascha Mamczak, Martina Vogl & Katrin Stangl Life Everywhere – The amazing coexistence of species on our planet After their highly acclaimed book A New World, the dedicated duo Sascha Mamczak and Martina Vogl now turn their attention to another ecological topic: biodiversity. Preserving it is one of the greatest tasks facing humanity. Exciting, clear…
Joy Cowley & Hilary Jean Tapper Good Night, Good Beach An evocative bedtime picture book that distils the essence of a family summer at the bach. Summer holidays by the sea have a rhythm all their own. With a few resonant images Cowley takes us straight to the end of a long hot day with…
Dr. Johanna Klement & Stephanie Marian Rebel Cells – A wild journey through the body An adventurous journey through the body with three little rebel cells The little body cells Mio, Nea and Fago are desperate to know what the world outside looks like. So they plan a daring journey through the human body to…
Susanne Straßer So Light So Heavy 12 o’clock – time for soup! Everyone can swing and slide, but seesawing is the ultimate discipline at the playground, because there are only two options: utter frustration or huge fun! Susanne Straßer puts an elephant onto the seesaw and it is immediately clear that an entire menagerie of…
Susanne Straßer The Whale Takes a Bath Today is bath day. The whale takes a bath. Lovely! But what the whale enjoys is also craved by the others—as is to be expected. Here they are already and keen to join the whale amidst the bubbles: The tortoise, because her back hurts, the beaver, because he…
Susanne Straßer Fox Goes For A Ride Fox drives a car. Tap tap, with his feet. Slow at first, then faster and faster. Over gravel – helter-skelter! Through puddles – splash! The fox whizzes through the pictures so fast that he doesn’t even notice others hopping on on every double page: mouse and mole, beetle…
Susanne Straßer So Tired and Wide Awake Tired, yet wide awake; the eternal bedtime issue! And there are many characters in this perky board book who cannot with all the will in the world fall asleep. Hedgehog, Fox, Donkey, Pelican and Crocodile are so tired. Only Seal is wide awake. He skips out of bed—he…
Guridi & Fran Pintadera Cannibal Child Cannibal child, like the rest of his merry tribe, is always on the lookout to see who he can sink his teeth into. From the outset, no one is safe from these voracious but friendly people, accustomed to solving their problems at the table: not the travelling merchants, nor…
Tessa Sima If Responsibility Were a Hat What if responsibility were a hat, which one(s) would suit me best? One suits you particularly well, but for me it is unbearable. And for others it’s probably the other way round. How much responsibility does a crown bear, and what if I don’t want to wear responsibility?…
Giselle Clarkson The Observologist: A handbook for mounting very small scientific expeditions A highly illustrated creative guide to the small creatures and the natural wonders we find when we take time to open our eyes to the world around us—and ode to the power of quiet observation. Try to imagine the weirdest and most impossibly…
Sascha Reh & Adrian Wylezol How We Once Kidnapped Dirk Nowitzki Thirteen-year-old Billie is a huge fan of Dirk Nowitzki. Together with her friends, she is looking for a training place to emulate her idol. The four “Mavericks” have already torn up the backyard, and the bullies in the public square are severely lacking in…
Antje Damm Ask Me! 118 questions for children to get into conversation with each other. Revised new edition In this new edition of Ask Me!, which was first published in 2002, Antje Damm has revised and rethought questions, illustrations and photographs. With this type of book, which was new at the time of its first…
Maurèen Poignonec & Sandra Le Guen The Pack The pack is proud, fearless, fast, playful, joyful, funny. The pack is long-haired, long-nosed, long neck, long body. The pack is Azzuro, Babeth, Cassia, Marie-Sophie and Nestor; five inseparable dogs until the day when … Marie-Sophie is missing! Maison Eliza Picture Book Original title: La meute Age…
Fabienne Meyer, Sibylle Wulff & Martina Leykamm How to Rescue Art? Art is known to save the world. But who saves art? Works of art are unique and irreplaceable. No copy is as good as the original, for it usually remains soulless. Yet works of art are exposed to dangers from all sides: ravenous mites,…
Antje Damm & Will Gmehling Pizza Cat Here’s comes Pia the pizza cat, nimble and nippy – MAMMA MIA! She whizzes through this picture book on her yellow Vespa, loaded with pizza that is so delicious that you won’t forget it. Will Gmehling gives the pizza cat a boost, in fast-paced verses he lets her…
Nils Mohl & Halina Kirschner Wild Bike Ride with Velociraptor Wait a minute – velociraptors? Those were very fast dinos, weren’t they? The narrator, a writer with a rusty talent for storytelling and a great passion for bicycles, is astonished when suddenly such a feathered prehistoric reptile stands in front of him. The quick-witted and…
Joy Cowley Dunger Dunger is a highly readable novel from New Zealand’s beloved Joy Cowley. William and Melissa have been roped into helping their old hippie grandparents fix up their holiday home in the middle of the Sounds. They’ll have no electricity, no cellphone reception, and only each other for company. As far as they’re…
Tàssies Stolen Names Bullying in schools is often a taboo. Stolen Names makes the topic tangible and wants to encourage people to take a stand. In a school, all the people are depicted with apples as heads. There is a lively hustle and bustle in the schoolyard and in the classroom. Only one boy is…
Franz Suess Paul Two Paul’s First SummerIt’s Paul’s first summer in the big city, and expectations are high. He has finally escaped the religious-moral care of his grandmother, he hopes for freedom and – above all – horny adventures. He needs a cool pair of sunglasses and sexy underwear, then things will work out. Paul…
Nicolas Gorny & David Füleki Detective Agency Creep & Co.: Danger! Space Goo Secret Service … Aliens … Highest Alert Level—This is serious stuff! Rocko Grusel and Luis Zack—experts in spooky matters of all kinds—one evening observe how a large meteorite hurtles down to earth and shortly afterwards a glistening column of fire shoots up….
Tàssies The Lost Child Children experience flight and new beginnings, migration and integration. This book inspires confidence through children’s eyes and children’s ears. A Christmas story about migration, flight and new beginnings. Sensitive and clear images evoke dialogue in viewers of all ages without being frightening or trivialising. A Christmas story with special potential for…
Nele Brönner & Melanie Laibl Super Glitter Where does nature end? And where does technology begin? And what happens when the two worlds collide? A magpie with a sense of beauty finds a shimmering something in the forest. What might it be? Plant or animal? Magpie, fox and mole disagree. Then – luckily? – a…
Nils Mohl Henny & Ponger Is it coincidence or just an extraterrestrially good love story? Henny and Ponger meet in the urban railway. Both are reading the same book. And then everything happens very quickly. Emergency braking, pursuit, journey by Buick and caravan to the island of Amrum. Ponger thinks this is a love story….
Sarah Davis & Juliette MacIver The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist! An exuberant rhyming picture book about a school trip to the hills, where no one sees the danger—apart from quiet Liam, who pays attention and saves the day with his particular skill of hiding. It’s the class trip to Dismal Hills wilderness. The children…
Jörg Mühle When Dad’s Hair Took Off “Stop! Stay here!“, Dad shouts, but it‘s too late. His hair is up and gone. Out of the bathroom, through the hallway into the living room and then through the open kitchen window into freedom! But Dad doesn‘t give up that easily. Quickly puts on his coat, grabs…
The garden: It is fun, it is work and at the same time it can be an exciting adventure playground Anna and Benjamin’s family have just moved to a new house and can’t wait to turn their messy grass into a beautiful garden, but first they must plan, plant and learn how to care for…
Sensitively told, luminously staged The little story by Jürg Schubiger—discovered in the great Swiss author‘s estate—looks into a distant night. Into a time in which everything is still intact and lasts forever.Adam and Eve lie on a cushion of moss and look up at the stars, dense as snowflakes. Surrounded by everything they need and…
A mysterious and compelling literary fantasy that weaves magic, mathematics, love, family—and riddles within riddles. Sixteen-year-old Canny Mochrie has always been different; she has a calculating, mathematical mind and she sees something extra. When she begrudgingly joins her stepbrother on a trip to research a 30-year-old coal mine disaster, she meets the alluring Ghislain Zarene,…
One moment—one disaster—one love Tara and Alún are attractd to each other. But an argument tears them apart. And before they can reconcile, a devastating chemical accident catapults them into a different life. Alún stays in the safely distant big city, risking his neck with his street art. Tara returns to the contaminated area and…
Patrick Bonato Toubab in Senegal A white man travels for the first time to Senegal, a country he knows almost nothing about. His inner images and diffuse fears, shaped by a generalized Africa, travel with him. In West Africa, people like him are called “Toubab“, white bread. The young man is a comic artist and…
Little Sophie can hardly wait for her visit to the zoo today. Full of anticipation, she walks through the city and already discovers animals everywhere. Aren‘t those two pandas sitting at the table in the café over there? Or is the lady with the sunglasses sitting there all alone? Sophie‘s fantasy world and reality merge…
Einar Turkowski The Night Wanderer It began with a low squeal … The Night Wanderer is a wonderful picture book for art lovers of all ages. Award-winning illustrator Einar Turkowski tells the story of a summer with atmospheric images and tender words: enigmatic, poetic and tremendously inspiring. Sometimes things seem simple and clear. But doesn’t…
What is time? Each day, Sören, the little green stone, gazes longingly out at the ocean. He yearns to feel the sea and fathom its secrets. But it takes the sea forever to reach him. He waits for days, for years, for centuries. Until one day a little girl finds Sören – her lucky stone….
Berlin, in the middle of Kreuzberg: Lotte, new girl in town, exceptionally clumsy, wonderfully self-deprecating, averagely talented but crushing hard on Vincent of Green Gherkins. Which is probably not his name. Anyway, she has a crush on the guy who always shows up at the kiosk opposite her house on Mondays, buying exactly ten green…
Waaaaah?! Big commotion in the henhouse! A hawk! Danger! And what does the rooster do? He helps the bird of prey out of the hatch and looks dreamily after it? What‘s going on here? The hawk and the rooster are actually enemies by nature, everone knows that. Yes, normally they are—but the two have discovered…
It‘s not every day that a horse rings the doorbell and comes to a child‘s birthday party. But today is that day! The guests are thrilled because Robin, the horse, takes them on his back and gallops with them through the wide prairie, past fertile oases up to highest vantage point and to a bubbling…
The Extinction and Survival of the Species “Larger than a swan, with the body of an ostrich and the talons of an eagle.“ At the end of the 16th Century, the Dodo was discovered on the island of Mauritius, a flightless bird that lived peacefully among exotic plants and animals. Just a hundred years later,…
The girl on the book was me A middle grade novel about the power of language and literature When Lama’s mother leaves for Morocco to trace her roots, the eleven-year-old girl feels abandoned. Even more so because her best friend has also moved away. If that hadn’t been the case, the stupid thing wouldn’t have…
Did you ever kill a rabbit when you were young? Or did you study something that doesn’t interest you? There’s a second chance! Henning Wagenbreth turns back the time in Land in Reverse and you can do all those things again and better. In panels, full-page illustrations and with spot-on rhymes, the Berlin-based illustrator…
The world-famous fairytale by the Brothers Grimm has fascinated readers for centuries and has firmly rooted the image of the bad wolf and the innocennt human child in our heads.. This new, artistic interpretation by Katharina Naimer surprises and at the same time invites the reader the discover the complexity of the fairy tale in…
“Dad, there‘s a big cat in the meadow!“ The little girl is very excited. It‘s a nice day to walk and run around in the park. Unfortunately, Dad is more interested in his mobile phone than her and any big cats. “How nice! Then you have someone to play with“, he simply says, turning towards…
Come and enter the Turnips‘ cave, where the Turnip family tries to kip, doze off, slide into beddybies every night. But before they can sleep, there are a hundred little things to be taken care of – and all of which are not supposed to be mixed up! So it’s kind of a crazy adventure…
A scrumptious collection for anyone who loves good healthy food— and an occasional indulgence. Here are after-school snacks, breakfast on a stick, cakes, slices and dinners. Egg and Spoon is for children learning to cook independently and families to enjoy cooking together. Much of the food is naturally gluten-free or vegan. Alexandra Tylee is the…
The Day Saida Arrived by Susana Gomez Redondo, illustrated by Sonja Wimmer, translated into English by Lawrence Schimel is one of the finalists for the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, which is awarded in January 2021. It is the only book among the 12 finalists that has been translated from another language. The annual Jane Addams…
A large family of fuzz leads a quiet life on a scratchy old wool blanket. The days go by uneventfully—and the fuzz family is quite happy about that. Only one tiny bit of lint gets bored and dreams of the big wide world. But the other family members are afraid of anything beyond the wool…
It is a stormy morning in November when her mother takes Emma to a big, chunky house. Above the entrance it says “School“ and inside the grey giants that sometimes assign really tricky puzzles keep watch. “You, hammer nose, this calculation is very easy. No witchcraft. So do try a bit harder!“ So Emma is…
Antje Damm‘s picture book comes along as a soft-footed and comprehensible book dedicated to the subject of dying, death and mourning. A fox comes into the forest. He‘s carrying a large box filled with cans of tomato soup, because he‘s toothless and old. The rabbits, initally scared of him, soon understand and thus animals who…
Monster hunt above the rooftops of Ravenbrück – dark, exciting and action packed! Moritz’s worst nightmare comes true when his sister Konstanze is abducted by a ghastly monster in the middle of the night. When the monster returns to Ravenbrück to carry off more girls, Moritz follows the monster hard on its heels. But he…
Miro and Zia live in Aurora, a fishing town nestled in the shadow of a mysterious castle. Miro lives in the world of books; Zia is never without her camera. The day they meet, they stumble on a secret. With Zia determined to discover more, a reluctant Miro is pulled into a real-life adventure. The…
Melin had actually been looking forward to school. And it wasn’t noticeable at the beginning, because everyone makes mistakes then. It was only noticed a little later, when the kids were all a bit older. No matter how hard Melin tried: whether a word is written with i or ie, with h or without h,…
Fleech, the leech, is no ordinary bloodsucker. On the contrary, he conscientiously pursues his work at a veterinary practice. He does his gymnastic exercises in the mornings, treats patients in the afternoon and takes care of the river sand at the bottom of his jar in the evenings. He is aware that much depends on…
The awe-inspiring southernmost place on our Earth Who discovered the Antarctic? How cold is it there, and do polar bears live at the South Pole? Everyone knows it, but hardly anyone can say more than three sentences about it: the continent that belongs to no one, but to all of us, which may only be…
An whole summer in the sunshine Because the Bukowski siblings have saved a toddler from drowning at the indoor pool, they are famous for a few days. But the entrance card for the outdoor pool, which they receive as a reward for their heroic deed, is far better than the glory: free entry throughout a…
In this resonant story from Joy Cowley, Cam the mountain boy follows the river from its trickling source in the snow all the way to the sea. The river leads him through forest, farms and towns to the salty wind of the sea. The dramatic landscapes are packed with detail to discover in the world…
When the bear wakes up one day, the forest seems strangely empty to him. Where are the other animals? “They’ve all moved into town”, explains the hawk. “There are heated caves, delicious food and, above all, no hunters!” The bear likes the sound of this and he sets off to roam the streets in town….
A sheet of paper blown about by a sandstorm ends up in the hands of Moussa. He immediately thinks about using it to make a drawing of his village Thille Boubacar for his father, who lives abroad. But the whole village does not fit on one page. Moussa undertakes a tour through different typical scenes…
A new delightful picture book by Antje Damm The wolf is sooo hungry. And what could be more natural than eating all his toys? Accompanied by Antje Damm’s usual witty and cheeky language, the wolf feasts from one page to the next, grows bigger and bigger and more and more excessive. First the apple disappears…
1 garden, 3 children, 1 cat, 1 red ball, some birds… 4 seasons and a multitude of stories to be invented. by Irene Penazzi Selected as one of “100 Outstanding Picture Books” for the exhibition at Frankfurt Book Fair 2019, curated by dPICTUS IBBY Honour List 2020 “This large-format picture book without text…
How I Suddenly Became Rich and Thought Everyting’s Going to be Cool by Stephanie Polák has been nominated for the Book Summer Readers’ Prize 2018. The Book Summer Readers’ Prize is part of the Saxony-wide holiday reading campaign “Buchsommer Sachsen”. The participating readers choose their favourite book. It is an award that focuses on the…
Five children have 28 days to map a rail route through the mountains in this exciting adventure-race for middle readers. Sal, Joe, Francie and Humphrey misplace their mother as they begin the Great Race to map a rail route through an uncharted wilderness. Their money is gone and their father didn’t come back from his last adventure….
Contemplating Nature Is nature of equal importance to all people?, asks Antje Damm and places the photograph of three children in India right next to this question. To her, nature is of such great significance that she raises more than 60 questions which can be the basis for a long and deep conversation with children:…
Two very different creatures learn about the give-and-take of friendship in these warm and funny stories set in the desert. Snake is elegant and calm, and a little self-centred; Lizard is exuberant and irrepressible. With its wisdom, acceptance and good humour, Snake and Lizard captures the essence of friendship. The stories are beautifully illustrated by…
From now on, it will all be different A story about bullying with a liberating ending Finn feels queasy with fear on his way to school – every morning. This has been going on for weeks because of the three boys from his class, who wait for him in the schoolyard to make his life…
The baby wants breakfast so Malcolm gets out of bed to get started. Then in comes Toby. And Una and Toto, then Alice—they’re hungry too. And Conrad from next door and his sister Ruby! Everyone has a request for breakfast. But who is taking notice of the baby? The Longest Breakfast is a fun stroy…
King will come! – this sentence, spoken by the mother, bathes everything in a new light. The boy, his parents and the baby have been in this new country for three days. Only King isn’t here, his dog and best friend. But King will follow and find them! But how is King to find the…
from the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Website: Wolf Erlbruch, born in 1948, is a German illustrator and picturebook author. He has written some ten books of his own and illustrated nearly fifty titles by other authors. He is best known for his illustrations of The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was…
Who Am I, Really? An enchanting poetic diary in cartoon style Viola—no longer a child, but not yet an adult—ponders life’s big and small questions. Her thoughts and emotions evolve around friendship and the fear of being ostracised. Around the trouble with her family, love and the support that comes with it. Around boys, looks…
One morning there is a zebra under Hanna’s bed. A living zebra! Just like that. Hanna has only recently moved into the area with her two dads, so she is happy when Brownlee—that’s the zebra’s name—comes along to school with her. A zebra in the classroom? Impossible! But as Brownlee is darned good at writing,…
Scary Poems for Brave Children What could be more enjoyable than to get the creeps? Arne Rautenberg revives the undead and has them rattle, slime and screech through his poems. Skeletons, cyclops, zombies and frops. He rhymes with wonderfully disgusting ingredients and has huge fun with syllables, words and their sound. And as creeps and…
A deft and delightful tale, packed with word play and madcap energy A class trip to the zoo descents into a chaotic hunt for the missing hippopotamus. Teacher, zookeeper and all the children join the search. The noise and drama reach a pitch, and no one thinks to listen to quiet Liam, who really might…
Nadia Budde’s hero is no longer the master in his own house, because he has a permanent resident: the rat. Day after day he finds the rat on his doormat when he gets home; huge and in good humour. Once she’s inside the house, she puts on his slippers and makes herself at home: on…
Little Mehrnousch and her three siblings, children of a surgeon, have a privileged childhood in the lovely city of Isfahan in Iran in the 70s. Like most others, the family celebrates the eviction of the Shah as a fortunate event—little do they expect that the new ruler Ayatollah Chomeini would establish a despotic rule and…
Noah’s teacher, Mrs. Hasenohr, is perfect. She loves planet ball and pizza slices and knows nearly everything. Noah doesn’t understand why she is about to retire. He must give her a farewell gift, preferably … a memorial. But Noah is not a sculptor and he doesn’t have enough play dough—it would just be enough to…
A family of rats is forced to leave their home, so sets out to find the fabled city of Ratenburg. Along the way they outwit vicious dogs, tricky rat traps, and sharp-beaked hawks, and make some very dangerous crossings. The rat family’s adventures test their character and grow bonds between sisters and brothers, father and…
An assured and exciting debut picture book from a top emerging talent, about a small boy and his elephant playing an absurd game of hide and seek. Elephant wants to play hide and seek. But you’ll need to try your best—he’s very good! Have You Seen Elephant is perfect for sharing with children, who will…
Berlin based comic artist Henning Wagenbreth has discovered a number of ballads in Robert Louis Stevenson’s work that are entirely unknown. Fascinated by the power of these stories, he has translated one of them into German and has illustrated it: The Pirate and the Apothecary—”a jewel filled with colourful facets of good and bad, honour…
Chemistry and Alchemy for the Unafraid When we think of chemistry, we envisage scientists in white lab coats that handle conical flasks and raw chemicals over Bunsen burners in their laboratory. Or we think of complicated formulae which we already failed to understand in school. Who would have thought that today’s white-lab-coats’ chemistry has a…
No less than 33 different vehicles are racing past the reader in this funny board book. A bicycle, a fire engine, a taxi, a digger, a snowplow, a coach, a police car, a limousine, a gangster car, a delivery van, a motorbike with a side car, a fuel tanker … you name it! – they…
52 Opportunities to Talk About Lies and the Truth Does everyone lie every now and again? Is it allowed to tell white lies? Why do we want to know the truth? Is there always just one truth? Can animals lie? Lies can have far-reaching consequences. But they can also be a last resort. When do…
Arne Rautenberg’s poems are fun! Even more so when he rhymes for children. He juggles sounds, words and crazy ideas until they form something new that encourages laughter and even reflection. This book contains 40 refreshingly unpedagogical poems that don’t care a straw what is supposed to belong into a proper poem. Embarrassing and decent…
Elise is lonely and fearful. She never leaves her flat. But one day, a strange object flies in through the open window. And the following day, Elise has an unexpected visitor. This is to be a visit that will change everything … A beautiful, gentle and sympathetic story about how an inquisitive and self-confident child…
The little girl is lying in her bed, her eyes wide open. The night is black and you can get lost in the dark room like in a dark forest. But thank God, there is the white bear! He is sitting at the little girl’s bedside every night, slightly shimmering in the darkness. One day…
What do philosophers do when they philosophise? Books that deal with philosophy tell of great thinkers, their views and their lives. Philosophising itself remains in the dark. How it works, how it fosters creative and independent thinking, is now demonstrated by Jens Soentgen. He introduces the most popular and effective practices of philosophy, not abstract,…
Occasions to Think About Nothingness Are we nothing before we are born? Is it possible that nothingness is a hole? Where does a journey into nothingness lead? It is questions such as these that Antje Damm asks in this book and she thus takes children absolutely seriously. Her unique composition of succinct phrases with often…
One fine day, the bees called for a grand assembly in the beehive. The purpose of the meeting? To discuss why it was that they were always all squashed together in cramped working conditions. After many complex computations, equations and calculations, they realized that there was one bee too many in their beehive! The bees…
A tale about a silent encounter: one day, Saída arrives at school – but she doesn’t speak! She comes from another country far away, and it seems as if she lost all her words during the journey. But Saída and her friend don’t give up, even though they lack a common language. They discover new ways…
The Travelling Restaurant (vol. 1) The Queen and the Nobody Boy (vol. 2) The Volume of Possible Endings (vol. 3) The Knot Impossible (vol. 4) by Barbara Else The Travelling Restaurant In the reign of Lady Gall (Provisional Monarch of Fontania), the word ‘magic’ is forbidden… When 12 year old Jasper Ludlow’s parents flee the…
A Voyage of Discovery through the Natural World Jens Soentgen’s voyage through nature stretches right through, from top to bottom, from macrocosm to microcosm. In doing so, the natural scientist and philosopher accomplishes something rare: he describes the phenomena he encounters with impressive subject-specific knowledge and romantic enthusiasm. Unearthing magnificent stories from the scientific findings…
Granddad Hansel is coming to visit! Antje can hardly wait. Mum is already spending the whole day cleaning the house and Antje is putting together those things that she wants to show Granddad: her school report, for example, but also her new leather gloves. Then she will play her favourite games with him and listen…
Tales of Fontania – vol. 2 Hodie is the unpaid odd-job boy at the Grand Palace in the Kingdom of Fontania. Fed-up, he decides to leave and better himself. The young Queen, 12-year-old Sibilla, is fed-up too, because of gossip about her lack of magical ability. She decides to run away with Hodie, whether he…
Opportunities to Talk About Time Summertime, wintertime, spare time, timeout, best-before-dates – everything has its own time. Antje Damm renders time both visible and tangible – with photos, pictures and thought-provoking impulses. A book that not only children can spend a great deal of time with! It is rather strange with time: sometimes we have…
Jutta Bauer has transformed the well-known children’s rhyme that can also be enacted as a pantomime into a wonderful warm-hearted story about trust and (unlikely) friendships. Expect the unexpected! Marvellous illustrations, this is a true gem! by Jutta Bauer Bücherbüffet Prize 2012 “In her very simple illustrations, Jutta Bauer captures every emotion wonderfully…
Eye-catching, funky art and unexpected rhymes come together in this little book to show just how silly everyday words can be. Kids will crack up at the outrageous cartoon illustrations. by Nadia Budde “Ingeniously simple, but yet with a striking impact. […] a piece of art, derived from utter intellectual independence and the sheer delight…
Little Gwendolin is ill, she is running a temperature. And her tongue is bright red – children know what that’s like. Also dad saying “I will give you a cuddle. Drink your tea and sleep a little” will be familiar to children. With the tabs they can help Gwendolin to get well again: they can…
In this funny picture book we come across many little boys, there is one more on every new page. Accompanied by amusing and simple rhymes the tots do what little boys always do: they are running and shouting, laughing and teasing each other, playing and eating – to cut it short: they are having a…
Mrs Meier worries all the time. Worries about all and everything and mostly without any reason. But one morning there is one: Mrs Meier finds a young blackbird that has fallen from its nest. She picks it up, feeds it and brings it up with great patience. Finally, when the little blackbird is fledged, she…
When the little mole discovers a pile of, well, pooh, on his head, he is absolutely certain that it doesn’t belong to him, but sets out on a mission to discover who exactly the culprit really is. His investigation takes him into the world of many animals as he wanders and compares the pile on…
The bear is tired of being alone. He yearns to have a child, but does not know what to do. So he starts wandering around asking everybody what he has to do to become a father. The rabbit tells him that children grow on the field like turnips. The magpie advises him to lay an…
Rodolfo, one of the Designers of All Things and grandson of the esteemed inventor of the rainbow, dreams of creating a creature that flies like a bird has the beauty of a flower. Whilst sitting by the lake and wondering how to do this he finally has a great idea. A delightful tale about an…
Leonard loves dogs and he knows everything about them. But at the same time he fears nothing as much as dogs. Until one day a little fairy appears on his bed cover and fulfills his biggest wish: she transforms him into a dog. But now something unexpected happens: Leonard the dog fears nothing as much…
Together with her big brother Jando and her little sister Teya, Jeanne is well looked after as she grows up in Rwanda. Her parents—both teachers and members of the Tutsi—educate their children with affectionate rigour. But shortly after Jeanne’s eighth birthday her carefree childhood comes to a sudden end: in April 1994 the Rwandan genocide…