Julia Willmann & Alexandra Junge

Lili Flies at the Top

When the little fly Lili tries to get out of the room into the light, she hits the window so hard that she loses her “L”. As “itte fy ii” she finds her way out into the open and sets off on a long journey. For as soon as she hatched, ii knew exactly where she belongs: in the Alps!

On the way, ii meets many animals who laugh at her speech impediment and her foolhardy plan. And they keep confusing her: As a hoverfly, ii has  yellow stripes and no matter how much she claims to be a “fy”, no one wants to eat her. But ii gets into other dangers and goes astray. How she nevertheless comes closer and closer to her longed-for goal and in the end becomes Lili again, Julia Willmann tells in an exciting, emotional and unbelievably funny story that is much more than just made-up:

The author has meticulously researched the nature and life of the hoverfly, which was recently recognised as an important pollinator and the smallest commuter on our planet. A wealth of astonishing facts about the tiny insect has been
incorporated into the book, which, as if in passing, raises awareness of an important  topic of our time: The value of biodiversity and how humans are a threat to it.

Peter Hammer Verlag

Children’s Fiction

Original title: Ganz oben fliegt Lili
Age 8+
144 pp | € 15
hc | 150 x 225 mm
Publication: Feb 2023


Author: Julia Willmann
Illustrator: Alexandra Junge

All rights available

Awards

“Exciting, full of linguistic wit and close to the facts, Julia Willmann succeeds in adapting Nature Writing for a younger audience, sensitizing them to biodiversity as well as its threats.“ – The Jury, Korbinian Paul Maar Newcomer Award 2023

“Willmann narrates with linguistic wit and imagination, there are great settings and very funny dialogues. Alexandra Junge illustrates expressively, with thick brushwork and bright colours. So the book is also an impressive environmental novel about an intrepid globetrotter.” – Marion Klötzer, Badische Zeitung

“In a way that is as exciting as it is humorous, even very young schoolchildren learn a lot about the life of hoverflies.” – Margit Lesemann, Buchmarkt

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