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…
Award-winners
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…
It was an ordinary day when God turned up. A place like many others, between the tower blocks, where the bins are placed. The boy on the swings immediately saw that it was God; this bloke in the old jacket and weird hat. When the boy joined God for a walk, he wasn’t afraid of…
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…
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…
Mama Sambona, the wise old queen, lives in the heart of Africa. One day an elegant gentleman comes to see her. He wants to bring Mama Sambona to her forefathers: He is Death. But Mama Sambona is still loving life and has got a lot of plans: She is not at all willing to go…
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,…