Middle Grade Fiction
Shafaq Khan Zeyna Lost and Found In 1970, twelve-year-old Zeyna has grown up in London but has never quite felt like she fits in. Her monotonous life is suddenly interrupted when Zeyna’s parents decide to visit their native Pakistan―where Zeyna feels she doesn’t fit in either. But then her parents disappear, leaving behind a string…
Anna Keller Keith & Jutta Wetzel Lila Flax – Colours are Fun! A turbulent story about school and friendship, diversity and creativity Lila had imagined the change to the comprehensive school differently! She and her best friend Benno are not in the same class, because Benno has to skip a year. And why has he…
Will Gmehling & Jens Rassmus The Star Lake When the four friends looked at the lake from the 11th floor of their tower block, they could see that it had jagged edges like a star. The ‘Star Lake’ made them proud of their neighbourhood, which was otherwise rather bleak. In January, the lake froze over…
Iris Genenz & Corinna Böckmann My Secret Life as a Monster Hunter – Why You Should Never Jump into a Monster Lake A wild ride through the Otherlands – super fun and fast-paced fantasy Charly and Martin are finally in the Otherworld – the magical parallel world that was founded thousands of years ago to…
Franziska Höllbacher Peggy’s Period Project – Paint It Red! What a nightmare: 13-year-old Peggy gets her period for the first time – during class! A reddish-brown stain is clearly visible in the centre of her chair and the whole class notices. Peggy would love to sink into the floor. But surely it can’t be true…
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…
Iris Genenz & Corinna Böckmann My Secret Life as a Monster Hunter – Why You Should Never Hang on to a Giant Worm As if it wasn’t bad enough that Charly has to dance with grumpy German teacher Mrs Schmidt-Habicht instead of his flame Dalia at the school party, he suddenly discovers a small hippo-like…
Iris Genenz My Secret Life as a Monster Hunter – Why You Should Never Fall into a Storm Drain 13-year-old Charly Hartnuss, a comic and fantasy fan, lives in the world’s most boring small town in the world – Darknest. He dreams of having superhero powers, then the others would surely stop bullying him and…
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…
Karin Koch Lina’s Secret Lina’s life is upside down. First her best friend moves away, then there’s the matter of the embarrassing video. Everyone at school has seen it on their cell phones and it will make her look ridiculous forever. And when things almost can’t get any worse, a horn grows on Lina’s forehead….
Nicole Mahne Forget Forever! Being in love is terribly beautiful – and terribly awful! 14-year-old Flora finds her puberty-induced physical changes creepy. She wraps herself in baggy jumpers and wears a cap to hide the pimples on her forehead. But that’s not Flora’s only problem: her mother is currently trying out a course in positive…
Christine Werner Silver Rain Does Not Glitter “Help, I need somebody!” Emely loves quiz shows and especially loves watching them with her mother. For her, her mother is the “Queen of the Silver Rain”, or was. Because instead of answering questions, she’s more likely to raise them at the moment. Why does she sleep so…
Birge Tetzner & Karl Uhlenbrock Fred in the Ice Age Fire Magic Fred has already travelled to many countries and past cultures. He would never have thought that his next adventure would be in Germany of all places. During a cave tour in the Swabian Alb, a spark of fire whisks him through time: to…
Birge Tetzner & Karl Uhlenbrock Fred among the Vikings Jarl Ragnald’s Legacy Somewhere on a fjord in Denmark, many, many years ago, lived the Viking boy Ivar. The day Fred comes to him is a sad day for Ivar: Odin has taken his father to Valhalla – and the village no longer has a leader….
Will Gmehling The Kiosk on Elser Corner – The Bukowskis Keep Going Here they are again, the Bukowskis: Alf, a real boxer by now and still in love with Joanna. Katinka, his annoying but ingenious sister, always busy with the fashion world. And the dreamy Robbie, who should never be underestimated. Things are going well…
Tino Schrödl When We Went to Catch a Panther and Found Something Much Bigger Three boys, a panther and the feeling of deep friendship 11-year-old Nico, a city kid and loner, finds his life complicated. His parents are on the verge of divorce and he himself has no friends at school. But now it’s the…
Julia Willmann & Jens Rassmus Rascha and the Door to Heaven For Rascha, Ima is the dearest person. There is always a smile on his grandma’s face, even when she looks serious. Ima doesn’t say many words – and when she does, they are sentences like boulders, so powerful that no one can get past…
Lena Hach Mission Hollercamp – The Missing Snake Let’s go: A new adventure at Holler Lake This can’t be true! A real tiger python at Holler Lake? At first, the three friends Emily, Jakub and Leon don’t believe the rumours. But when they discover the gigantic snake skin on the lakeshore, they panic. Where did…
New mission: Treasure hunt What the hell is going on in Hollercamp this autumn? What at first looks like an invasion of moles turns out to be digging holes by crazy treasure hunters. But what is it about the pirate treasure that is supposedly buried on the campsite? Does it really exist? The three friends…
Wieke is angry. She likes neither Xandra, her dad‘s new girlfriend, nor her annoying little daughter. And now she is supposed to spend her holiday in an Italian mountain village with them! When Ken comes along, the refugee boy from Nigeria for whom Xandra has taken over guardianship, Wieke has had enough. As it happens,…
Lua feels so alone since her father‘s heart has stopped beating. One day she finds a magic marble that shows her the way to a circus. When she enters this magical world and looks behind the life of the circus’ artists, she finds a way to get closer to her father‘s memory. He had given…
Out into nature! Into a new reading adventure! Peace, joy and happiness on the campsite? That was once upon a time. After Leon, Emily and Jakub successfully fought off the creeps from the village during the last holidays, they are now out for revenge. But the three of them have other worries: they have to…
A stowaway in the apartment building Grounded for four weeks for a warning letter from the school! What is he supposed to do with himself, wonders Roderich. He‘s not even allowed to go to his football training. But then he hears strange noises from behind the wall inside the elevator.—a ghost? Suddenly frightened, Roderich drops…
Summer holidays – time for Hollercamp! Each year, Leon, Emily and Jakub meet at the camping site. The prospect of heavenly weeks full of sun, swimming and icecream are spreading before them. But this time, the idyllic holidays are overshadowed by mysterious events. Who is the strange man sneaking around the campground? And what’s the…
Why do apples fall from the tree? That’s the simple opening question posed by world-famous physicist Isaac Newton. More than 300 years later it is Albert Einstein who lets us take on a different perspective on this question. 12-year-old Limbradur enters the famous Albert Einstein Museum at night. He meets Alby X3, a little quirky…
The land holds the truth … the maps will reveal it. Sal, Joe, Francie and Humphrey Santander are mapmakers looking for their father, a famous explorer who disappeared on his last expedition. Their search leads them to a curious new land and a township under siege. The all-powerful Grania Trading Company plans to uproot the…
On the edge of a small town, at the end of the very last street, there is a creepy house. No one knows anything about the resident. Mr. Pasternak is nothing more than a shadow behind tattered curtains. A little girl named Anabel lives just across the street. Of course, she would never dream of…
What is the Alpaca doing in the senior citizens‘ flat share? Mr. Rippel, one of the residents from the supervised senior citizens‘ flat in Mia‘s street, suddenly turns up with an alpaca in tow. Did he kidnap it? Or did it run to him? Carer Holger wants to get rid of the animal as quickly…
Deceptive wilderness—What lurks beneath the surface? 11-year-old Jorin dreams of an exciting life as an agent with undercover missions and surveillance assignments. But instead he is only bored in the allotment garden where he has gone into hiding with Agent Smuts. Things suddenly change when a mysterious video from the Arctic Circle emerges in which…
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…
Jack Lasenby Uncle Trev and his Whistling Bull It’s the 1930s. Our storyteller is crook in bed trying to get over a long sickness and wanting to go back to school, when Uncle Trev arrives to let Mum go out and do the shopping. Uncle Trev tells one story after another about the animals out…
“You haven’t been here, peanut. You don’t know what that means: Forest. You know nothing, but I’m gonna show you everything.“ Imagine a forest. Without beginning, without end. Imagine lakes, rocks, valleys, gorges. Imagine the wildest animals. Imagine a sea of trees, a continent of wood and green. Imagine the maximum forest. And now imagine…
The Bukowskis fight their way through The Bukowski siblings have had a long summer at the lido. The days are getting shorter – but no less exciting! For Alf, the narrator, who finally takes up boxing and still thinks about the beautiful Johanna. (So often that he drops his guard while boxing and that hurts!)…
An irresistible duo: An old-school gentleman and a smart dachshund following in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes and Watshon. Tricky cases for little detectives who like to use their own minds and take part in guessing. The Jewellery Heist (vol. 1) It is questionable whether life as a detective could be dangerous. Mr. Jaromir, endowed with…
A deceptive paradise—who can you trust? Ever since 11-year-old Jorin ran away from his foster family, he has struggled along. But then his life suddenly changes: A mysterious agent turns up and tries to win him over for an undercover mission. The billionaire Borax Dosch enrols Jorin in the Mimesis Project, a school for disadvantaged…
When Alice Littlebird, a girl from the people of the Cree, is separated from her family and taken to the Black Lake Residential School, she loses everything. The nuns take away her clothes and shave off her hair. She is not allowed to speak her language and is forced to pray to a God she…
Mia is in 3rd grade and is looking for her first case as a detective when she meets Mr. Rippel. He lives in No. 19, with the ‘odd birds‘. That‘s what everyone calls the crazy old people who live in Mia‘s street, but Mia doesn‘t mind them because she is to-le-rant. She learns from Mr….
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…
Fairytale, time travel and adventure Harsu has five droplets of god blood and a treasured cloak to remember his father by. Now his father is gone, he lives with his mother, his only friend an old onager donkey. And something is not right with Harsu’s mother. She has started kidnapping children, and sometimes her skin…
Lena-Frieda rides a skateboard and wants to become a biologist in order to examine fruit flies, just like her beloved granny. Since her best friend Nele has moved away she doesn’t enjoy going to school any longer: The predominant stroppy cows from the fifth grade are giving her a hard time because she prefers to…
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….
On silent paws A suspenseful children’s book prompting a fascination with wolves A wolf is trotting through the Mark of Brandenburg. He caught prey for his family, as the little ones are already in need of meat and show the urge to leave the cave. Only Blackear, the smallest whelp, appears still weak and mother…
Mum said she nearly died. That wasn’t true. But it was a shock for her. She and her sister didn’t get along, and here was Auntie Rosie West, Uncle Leo West and the five West children moving into the next street. Michael’s cousins, the West family, are everything he’s not allowed to be at home….
Holidays at last! Elli has been looking forward to the planned skiing holiday with her parents for so long. All her friends at school are also going away on holiday, in other words nobody at home to play with. But, as Elli might have expected, her parents cancel the whole journey just before departure. Typical!…
Lene and Pip are doing an internship with the English doll maker Mr. Smith when he receives a visit from rat boy Paolo, a living rag doll that can even speak! He comes from Mumford Village, a secret place in which the most fabulous and amazing stuffed creatures live. Paolo has bad news: toad Kalle…
The Mystery of Captain Triangle’s Treasure Map The wizard pupils Elmar, Clarissa and Marlon go to the wizards’ school Abracadabra. Here, lunch isn’t cooked, it is conjured! And the lessons don’t cover any trivial things, but broom riding, magic animals and magic spells. In this environment, the three wizard pupils have to solve tricky (but…
Lenny’s head is full of hodgepodge. So Hilda claims, who lives in the park through which Lenny passes through on his way home from school. That is to say that he always has funny and crazy ideas. When the school holidays begin Lenny is to go and stay with his grandparents who live in the…
Two cat brothers battle against a crazy scientist who wants to extract the 7-lives-serum out of 100 cats The two tomcats Giovanni and his twin brother Othello are bosom buddies. But then this strange man turns up and Othello doesn’t return from one of his excursion. Giovanni is forced to venture out into the big,…
A Story of Knights Deep in the dark woods, two most peculiar knights live in their castles—back in the old days of unicorns and fire-spitting dragons. The one, noble Sir Erik, is smart but weak. The other one, just as noble Sir Roderik, is furious and as strong as an ox. As different as they…
Lisa is a single child. She has a good time with her mum and dad. But all of a sudden she begins to experience most extraordinary things and her mum expects another baby after all. The oddities begin when Lisa’s teacher, Mrs. Fish, seems to be having a doppelgänger. With this look-alike, Lisa goes on…
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…
My name is Cosmo—Cosmo Morningstar and I am ten years old and a bit, as my friend Rafi would say. Rafi’s real name is Rafaelo, he is Italian and has about 150 Sicilian cousins. My favourite word is “cool”. Since we started learning English at school, Rafi and I try to use as many English…
Hot on the trappers’ trail—the fourth case for the Green Pirates Such cruelty to animals! In the forest, the Green Pirates Ben, Flora, Jannik, Lennart and Pauline come across a trapped bird of prey. They take it to a nearby bird rescue station, where the injured raptor is looked after. The rescue team has found…
In Pursuit of the Numbers through the Labyrinth All numbers have disappeared from the wizard’s school Abracadabra! From everywhere! From the classrooms, from the books and even out of the pupils’ heads. Teaching is impossible: the magic spells no longer work, the cook cannot read her recipes, no pupil can find the right classroom and…
Twelve-year old Joaquín lives on an island in Lake Nicaragua and thanks to his many jobs his family manages to survive. When he meets the fascinating German girl Rosa, daughter of an ethnologist, he delights in the opportunity to earn a little extra money with interviews given to Rosa’s dad. When Rosa discovers that he…
A fast-paced Christmas adventure about false Santas and flying reindeer Marek is angry! His mother is in New York, his uncle in the mountains and he is supposed to celebrate Christmas with his grandma. But then the freshly hewn Christmas tree turns out to be reindeer Oswald and Marek has got his work cut out…
With a father more interested in money than family, a brother in prison, a sister with a secret, and a mother in denial, it’s no wonder Jeff buries himself in the safe world of mathematics. When a storm hits Wellington, a strange old woman is blown into Jeff’s life, challenging everything he thinks is true. by Joy Cowley “A high-drama…
A brilliant story about two boys, their friendship and the power of the imagination. Milo and Jannis accidentally witness an assault on old Geronimo in his scrapyard. Before Geronimo lapses into a coma, he asks the boys to look after iX and the others. But who on earth is iX? And who are the others?…
Mrs. Beehive’s garden plot contains a treasure: three ripe “Queen-of-Sheba pears. But the valuable pieces of fruit are in danger! Sam Stripe and his colleagues, bat Shakira, bumblebee Fiffi, Mole, Fatspider, Ali and the Flipflops must guard the pears. This proves far from easy, as a circus has just pitched its tents nearby and to make…
Holidays at last! Sam Stripe is looking forward to some quiet and relaxing days in Mrs. Beehive’s garden. But just then uncle Benn, officiating church mouse at St. Pistor, needs help: a mysterious gold scraper is scraping the gold off the picture frames and figurines at the church. And so Sam Stripe, his friends the bat…
Strange things happen in Mrs. Beehive’s garden, the otherwise tranquil home of Sam Stripe: at first, the eggs of the breeding bird parents disappear and then the hatchlings are kidnapped! Sam Stripe is extremely worried. In the dive bar that is run by the shrew mouse behind the rain barrel, Sam Stripe and his friends Mole,…
Chaos at the Wizards’ School Clarissa, Marlon and Elmar have to learn the multiplication table spells. Sheer horror—for Marlon in particular until he finds an old stone tablet in the school library at Castle Adracabadra. This stone tablet releases a mysterious amplifying spell and causes utter confusion at the school. The class rooms are swarming…
Somewhere in an Indian village the earth begins to tremble in the middle of the night. The siblings Siri and Tissa run into the open. They watch the earth’s tremors with fascination and find out the reason for the earth quake from an old man on the following day: The death of the sublime Buddha…
Tales of Fontania – vol. 3 Dorrity is the only child in magic-free Owl Town. When she finds an enchanted book with dire predictions, she must face her enemies. And who is the strange boy who has appeared in the Beastly Dark? This stand-alone pre-teen adventure/fantasy novel is third book in the ‘Tale of Fontania’…
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…
Tales of Fontania – vol. 1 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 city, he gets left behind and finds refuge on The Travelling Restaurant, a sailing ship captained by old Dr Rocket and crewed by feisty Polly. Jasper…