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 cubs at the zoo. How she hates that!
Finally the time has come for Molly to take action: She locks her parents in the basement, without a mobile phone of course. It’s called detoxification. Molly has prepared everything perfectly, takes care of mum and dad through the cat flap and otherwise goes about her business. Lying in the grass, looking up at the clouds, thinking about the boy with the gap in his teeth, the untamed cat next door, about God and the world.
Will Gmehling has endowed his 9-year-old heroine with a strong sense of real life. Anna Schilling has congenially portrayed the amazing girl with lively coloured pencil drawings: wide awake, self-determined, wild and funny.
Peter Hammer Verlag
Children’s Fiction
Original title: Molly Blume
Age 8+
68 pp | € 14
hc | 140 x 229 mm
Publication: February 2024
Author: Will Gmehling
Illustrator: Anna Schilling
All rights available
- Topic: Dependence on mobile phones
- Self-determined female protagonist
- Congenially illustrated
Awards
- 7 Best Books for Young Readers, April 2024
- Leselotse, March/April 2024
“What an imaginative child she [Molly] is is also made clear by the wonderful coloured pencil drawings by Anna Schilling, which bring Molly and her world to paper in a gaudy, inaccurate way, almost as if drawn by the nine-year-old herself. A book for all children from the third grade upwards who enjoy discovering the world.” – Eselsohr, February 2024
“I’ve also seen it when adults don’t listen because they’re on their mobile phones. But it’s actually usually the case that parents take their children’s mobile phones away if they’re overdoing it. I thought it was really funny that Molly did it the other way round.” – Emma, Team Timster / KiKa from ARD and ZDF
“We love Molly because she takes unusual measures to separate her parents from their mobile phones.” – Katrin Rüger / Buchpalast
“Humorous, critical examination of excessive media consumption. Best for the whole family.” – Jana Kühn / Büchermagazin
“Extremely funny.” –Philippa Schindler / Stadtrevue
“Will Gmehling tells the story of this family with a wink, a smile and yet with a very important message.” – Janett Cernohuby / Bücherkarussell
“A very funny story with insanely beautiful drawings.” – Nadine Kegeler / Augustin
“Molly is a strong girl and illustrated by Anna Schilling with a coloured pencil that easily surpasses Molly’s boldness.” – Hans ten Doornkaat / Neue Zürcher Zeitung
“You can see what surrounds the family, what the characters value and how they act. This creates potential for identification and reflection, both for children and adults.” –Andrea Kromoser / 1001 Book
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