So German!
May 31, 2018 - Elena Ricarda Fellner for SoGerman
Part 2 of our new series on German books to cross off your bucket list. Each post will feature a themed list of books of one genre or for a specific occasion that we highly recommend you read or give to someone else as a present. Spoiler-free – I promise.
There’s a dazzling number of German books written for children of various ages, both classics and new releases, and it doesn’t get better once you include picture books – which is why I didn’t. So this is my highly subjective list of great German children’s books that will make most Germans go all heart-eyed with nostalgia. And let me tell you, it was hard to only pick a few.
English title: The Rainbow Fish
First published: 1992
Age: Kindergarten
You may have heard of this one, or seen its main character on merchandise and children’s fashion almost twenty years ago, without realizing that it all started with a single 32-pages book. It even had its own movie adaptation and TV show, which, I might mention, was a German-Canadian-US co-production. It’s about a fish with beautiful, glittering scales that make him the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean – and he knows it. As the story often goes, this doesn’t make him a particularly good companion to spend one’s time with, which is why no one wants to play with him and he becomes not only the most beautiful, but also the loneliest creature in the sea. He learns his lesson when a wise octopus advises him to give his glittering scales to the other fish as gifts to make them happy – which in turn makes him happy as well.
The message of this book is twofold: First, it teaches children that friendship is more important for personal happiness than beauty or material wealth. Second, it shows that arrogance and good looks get you nowhere. Sometimes you just have to take advice from others, even though you might not like it, because no one knows everything and we have a lot of blind spots, especially with regards to ourselves. Apart from the lovely story, this book also has colorful full page illustrations, and the Rainbow Fish is always easy to make out because its scales are made of glittering plastic. It’s also great for kids to touch, which is why this one was the most worn out of all the books we had when I was in kindergarten. So if you want something to read to your kid for bedtime, or simply to look at and make up the story yourselves, this is the one you should get.
English title: The trip to Panama
First published: 1978
Age: Kindergarten
Another one that generated a lot of spin-off material is Oh wie schön ist Panama, whose German title sounds a lot better, but sadly doesn’t translate so well. It revolves around a pair of friends, the Little Bear and the Little Tiger, who live together in a house by the river. One day, the Little Bear finds an empty banana box stamped “Panama” and, bewitched by the smell, he decides that he simply has to find this magical place. The problem is, he has no idea where Panama might be, so the Little Bear and the Little Tiger fashion a road sign out of the box, randomly stick it into the ground and simply go in the direction it points. Obviously, things aren’t as simple as that, not even in a children’s book, and the Little Bear and the Little Tiger wander around in circles for quite a while until they finally arrive at their old house. But time has passed, the weather has worn their old home down, and tipped over the Panama sign so that it now lies on the ground, pointing directly at the house. Not recognizing it, the Little Bear and the Little Tiger fall in love with it at once and live out the rest of their days there, in the belief that they’ve finally found their paradise.
My sister and I loved this book when we were in kindergarten. We used to pretend to be the Little Bear and the Little Tiger, off on a great adventure, every time our family took a trip – which made our parents happy because it kept us from nagging. But apart from the opportunities of play pretend that this book offers it also contains a very nice message. It teaches you about the importance of home and of finding happiness in what you’ve got, but without the bitterness that is usually required to reach this stage. It’s also a very sweet portrayal of friendship between to characters with vastly different personalities who nevertheless support each other through every misfortune and find happiness in each other’s company. Plus, if your kid liked this book, there’s plenty more: the author wrote more than 150 books for both children and adults that have been translated into more than 30 languages.
English title: Little I-am-me
First published: 1972
Age: Kindergarten
I know I keep gushing, but this one really is one of my favorites, and it helped me a lot when I was a kid. It’s about a little undefinable animal that’s got a bit of everything: a horse’s tail, a fish’s eyes, a dachshund’s ears, a hippo’s legs, and a parrot’s colors. It wanders the world happily, until one day a frog asks it what kind of animal it is, and accuses it of being stupid because it doesn’t know the answer. Shocked, the little animal tries to find out what species it belongs to by asking others if it may belong to them. Some of the other animals are sympathetic to the little one’s quest and try to give advice; some are indifferent, and some even mock it or take offense at being compared to the little animal – but not one of them can help. Close to despair, and doubting its own existence, it suddenly comes to the realization: It doesn’t have to be exactly like other animals to exist and be appreciated. It can simply be what it is, an I-am-me, in all its misfit glory.
Like the other two, this book features beautiful illustrations that alternate between colorful and black-and-white according to the story’s atmosphere. Since the narration is done in the form of a poem, it flows beautifully and makes reading it aloud a real pleasure. The book also comes with instructions to make your own little I-am-me. As I mentioned, this book helped me a lot when I was younger because back then I had a hard time fitting in, but I think it’s especially valuable for children with immigrant parents, children of color in a predominantly white society, disabled children, non-Christian children, or children with any other feature that makes them stick out and doubt their own sense of self. I don’t belong to any of those groups, so I can’t speak from experience, but I have a few friends who can, and they still sometimes struggle with people calling them out on not looking European enough. They’re in their twenties now. Obviously, one single book won’t make this go away, but it teaches children that it’s okay to be different, be it themselves or others, and that’s a start. This book has been translated into many languages, but as of two years ago, there is also a trilingual edition in German, Arabic, and Persian, which will hopefully help a few refugee children feel a little less out of place.
English title: The Robber Hotzenplotz
First published: 1962
Age: Primary school
The following two books have a lot more text, although they’re still accompanied by illustrations every now and then, and can, therefore, be given to children who are learning how to read. Otfried Preußler is a classic for this age group who has written so many books that it physically hurts me to pick one. I decided on The Robber Hotzenplotz for the simple reason that I remember it best, but if you like this one, be sure to also check out The Little Witch and The Little Ghost, they’re just as great. The Robber Hotzenplotz is – not about a robber named Hotzenplotz, at least not directly. The main characters are two friends called Kasperl and Sepperl, and it is their mission to get back the coffee grinder that once belonged to Kasperl’s grandmother and that the rude robber stole. This proves to be harder than expected when the robber sees through the trap they set for him, takes them captive and sells one of them to his good friend, the wicked wizard Petrosilius Zwackelmann. They both have to overcome numerous obstacles, such as peeling a mountain of potatoes, shining the robber’s muddy boots, and gathering magical herbs for a captive fairy, who in the end defeats the robber, kills the wizard and helps the two friends get back grandma’s coffee grinder.
Dressing up as Hotzenplotz for Southern Germany’s carnival season (February and March) was a bit of a fashion trend when I was in primary school, especially among the boys. This book, and its sequels was a true classic that everyone in my class had read. The language is simple, which makes sense since it’s aimed at children, but the story is fun to read and a great adventure with – from an adult’s perspective – a cute amount of suspense. That’s why I’d also recommend it to adult non-native German speakers who want to polish their reading skills: It’s relatively easy to understand, but I promise that you won’t be bored.
English title: The Slurb
First published: 1973
Age: Primary school
To be honest, I was a bit irritated when I read the English title for Das Sams, because it makes absolutely no sense to me, and now that I’ve mentioned it once I refuse to use it again. Let me try to explain why the German title is a million times better, and teach you some German on the way. The Sams is a speckled, redheaded, childlike being that can fulfill wishes, a bit like a genie. There is a special ritual to summon it, and it goes like this: On Sunday the sun has to shine. On Monday, you get a visit by Mr. Mon who brings poppies (poppies = Mohn in German). On Tuesday (Dienstag in German = duty day) you have the duty to go to work. On Wednesday (Mittwoch = middle of the week) you don’t have to do anything because it’s the middle of the week. On Thursday (Donnerstag = thunder day) there has to be a thunderstorm. On Friday (Freitag = free day) you can’t work. And then, on Saturday (Samstag in German; no specific meaning) the Sams will appear.
Das Sams, and the seven sequels (so far) is an incredibly sweet story about the bond that forms between a lonely man and a good-natured not-quite-child that, for all its extroverted behavior, just wants to be loved. It’s about found families and blood families, about adventures and everyday life, and if you make it through the first few parts you can see some character development that is rare in children’s books. And the best part is that I just made it sound way heavier than it actually is. The author manages to wrap some very emotional issues into a lighthearted, funny packaging that makes you want to try the ritual for summoning the Sams for yourself.
About the author: Elena Fellner is the current intern at the German Consulate General in Vancouver. With this series, she has managed to sneak her passion for books into a serious job – a feat she’s still proud of. When she’s not trying to get everyone to read the books she likes, she’s a student of Islamic Studies at the University of Freiburg in Southwest Germany.
