Nadia Budde
The Band Nobody Knows
Wrong tones, great atmosphere!
Nadia Budde gets young and old on their feet
Who are they? Four figures with patent leather ankle boots, rings and chains, hard to understand – never seen here before.
Hair like grass, customised suit, fur on their faces – we don’t know them.
While the locals are still pondering, the strangers unpack their suitcases, put together some strange stuff and suddenly it’s clear: nobody here knows them, they’re a band!
Off-key tones, a tricky tempo, no one in time, lyrics that make no sense – everyone wants to go!
A clear message to every band that nobody knows (yet): just get going and have fun with the people you meet!
Peter Hammer Verlag
Picture Book
Original title: Die Band, die keiner kennt
Age 4+
32 pp | € 16
hc | 260 x 220 mm
Publication: July 2024
Author & Illustrator: Nadia Budde
Rights sold: Basque, Catalan, Galician, Spanish
- For all fans of electric and air guitar!
- Encourages you to make music and have fun
- Humorously rhymed and illustrated
Awards
- Uwe Lüders Prize for Illustration Art in Children’s and Young Adult Books 2025
- Poetry Recommendation for Children 2025
“Children and childish people our age will enjoy it.” – Fridtjof Küchemann / F.A.Z. Bücher – The Podcast
“The Band Nobody Knows has the makings of a classic.” – Lena Bopp / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Thanks to a great feel for language and a bold line, Nadia Budde once again impresses with bizarre characters, quirky humour and unexpected rhymes that fit perfectly.” – Jana Kühn / BÜCHER-Magazin
“Quirky, unconventional and funny to look at.” – Main-Echo
“Nadia Budde has been shining with anarchic picture book art for over 25 years. It all started with One Two Three Me (Eins zwei drei Tier) (Peter Hammer Verlag 1999) and continued with Sad Tiger Toasting Tomatoes (Trauriger Tiger toastet Tomaten) – since then, the Berlin illustrator has been making one trenchant precision landing after another with rhymes and picture drum rolls of Dadaist proportions. This is also the case with The Band Nobody Knows. Wacky musicians meet pompous provincials, they are eyed suspiciously, eye contact or rather avoidance of eye contact reflects the mood, eyes become motifs, body language says: ‘We don’t know each other!’. This goes right down to the tips of the hair, because in Budde’s cosmos, hair quiffs are as style-defining as graphic reduction and intense colour. In the end, a fabulous party with ruckus, clamour and racket ensues. The always memorable characters are as flat as the hairstyles, the band moves on, but now the motto is: ‘We know them!’. After all, that’s what it’s all about: openness, curiosity, tolerance. This is stunning reinterpretation art. The picture book: a smash hit with depth, the overall work: once again excellent.” – The Jury – Uwe Lüders Prize
“The good-humored illustrations and rhyming texts are a great pleasure!” – Susanne Baller / stern.de
“On and in front of the stage, the artist has a whimsical ensemble perform and skillfully plays a fun humorous game with original visual ideas and rhyming words.” – Verena Weigl / 1001 Book
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