Status: 17.08.2024 06:00
Children love to be read to. And once they have fallen in love with a story, it often has to be read over and over again. We present three new releases.
“The Cucumber Squad” by Leslie Niemöller
“The Cucumber Troop” by Leslie Niemöller, illustrated by Liliane Oser, is published by Moritz Verlag and costs 12 euros.
Hans the pig was sometimes a little lonely in his little house in the forest.
A very shy bear – fortunately very poorly hidden behind a tree that is too thin – becomes his new roommate. And while the door to the shared apartment is already open: A rabbit who is obsessed with order and who likes to play “asshole” also moves in. Yes! Pig and bear were shocked at first, but of course the “asshole” is about a card game. A homesick zebra who is also looking for a home soon joins in. And a beaver who just can’t sit still joins in:
He stood up a lot, (…) talked all the time, (…) always wiggled one leg, (…) when he rolled the dice, the dice often fell under the table. “What’s wrong with you?” asked Tayo. “Nothing’s wrong, I just can’t concentrate very well.” “Oh, I see,” said Tayo.
Reading sample
Leslie Niemöller’s forest shared apartment, accompanied by loving drawings by Liliane Oser, shows in a very warm-hearted way how enriching differences and peculiarities can be.
“Let’s catch a cook!” by Kristina Anders
Greti and Jocke are really bad robbers. Luckily they live in their robber’s house with a cat who can bake pancakes really well. And sometimes she can even outsmart a bad robber like Greti and a bad robber like Jocke.
“Good night! And don’t you brush your teeth and go to bed!” cried the cat. Then Greti and Jocke went to sleep. And before they did so they scrubbed their big yellow robber teeth with lots of soap foam. But only because it was forbidden.
Reading sample
“Let’s catch a cook” by Kristina Anders was published by Moritz Verlag and costs 16 euros.
Greti and Jocke have birthdays four or five times a year, want to catch a cook who will cook them radish soup and occasionally have “really stupid ideas”. With lots of wordplay, the two little thieves, who only sleep in one bed to push each other out, turn all parenting hierarchies on their head. Children listening and adults reading aloud can laugh heartily together about it.
“How Tomcat Simon became a sailor” by Jessica Liedtke
Tomcat Simon is actually a real hero, with an official medal and all. By chance, he becomes the official ship’s cat on a cruiser of the British Royal Navy in Hong Kong in the late 1940s. He takes his job seriously:
There is little to do on board. The boredom is getting worse. (…) And so is the hunger. Especially hunger. The supplies on board are dwindling (…) and the few supplies they still have are being plundered by rats.
Reading sample
“How Tomcat Simon became a sailor” by Jessica Liedtke, illustrated by Ulrike König, is published by Woow Books and costs 14 euros.
Since Simon, with his good hunting instinct, makes sure that this comes to an end, the ship and crew eventually arrive back in their homeland of England, not least thanks to Simon.
The circumstances of the story seem to be heavy stuff and not everything may have happened exactly as it is, but Jessica Liedtke tells the story so gently and lovingly from the perspective of the cat Simon that even young listeners can draw a lot of courage from the story. Incidentally, Simon the cat is the only cat to ever receive the highest award of the British Navy. And that’s actually true.
This topic in the program:
NDR Info | Culture | 17.08.2024 | 08:50 a.m.
