“It is strange when you have to start off with a lie. Well: I am not the richest boy in the world. My friends just call me that.”

Jakob’s Dad is rich in terms of money but he is poor in terms of time. Too often, Jakob is all alone in the big new house near the forest’s edge that just doesn’t feel like home yet. He is much more comfortable in the small apartment his Grandma has lived in all her life and she doesn’t want to move into the big house under any circumstances. It is not just her grandson, who visits her regularly: Ayasha and her son also love to come over. They had to flee from their homeland and the new home that has been assigned to them is nothing but a small space in a school gym.

Then comes a day that changes everything: When Jakob and his Dad return home from a party, the house has been emptied out. Burglars removed everything—really everything. They left nothing in the house! That night, Dad and son have only each other to hold onto and an old soccer ball that the burglars missed…

by Markus Orths & Kerstin Meyer

“Warm-hearted family novel.”Antje Scherer, Märkische Oderzeitung

“Great children’s novel with a dedicated, kind-hearted hero.”Beate Schräder, Westfälische Nachrichten


Moritz Verlag | hc | 80 pp | 2018 | 6+

Rights sold: Spanish

[original title: Der reichste Junge der Welt]

By the same author:

The Zebra Under the Bed