As of: 31.08.2024 06:00 a.m.
Older people know that the world used to be very different – for children it is more of a surprise. The Klett children’s book publisher has now published a series of books that are intended to give children aged seven and above an insight into the world of the past.
Two volumes of the new book series “We Children of the Past” are already available. Their covers are simple but very lovingly designed, and the format is handy. “The special thing about the series ‘We Children of the Past’ is that the authors tell true stories from their own childhood,” says Monika Osberghaus, publisher of Klett Kinderbuch. “In other words, from a time without cell phones and a time when children played outside and lived much more freely, wildly and dangerously than the well-cared-for children of today.”
A childhood in an Upper Bavarian village
It is about everyday stories from the recent past, sensitively told and wonderfully illustrated. “Nothing bad happened,” for example, is the title of Daniela Kulot’s book in which she describes her childhood in the 1970s in a small Upper Bavarian village, where she and her four siblings spend the whole day out and about without adults. Unless it’s raining:
Then you sat close together on the TV sofa with your neighbors (…) and looked at this stupid box: screaming, high-pitched voices, hectic activity. I just wasn’t used to it. We didn’t have a TV at home.
The children don’t even need it, because adventures await outside in the village, in the barn or while hiking in the Alps.
Memories from the lost GDR world
Another volume in the series is called “Like a Bird” and is by the author and illustrator Gerda Raidt. She grew up in the GDR, in East Berlin, and tells the story in a very touching way and with a touch of humor:
Although everything in the photos is black and white, in reality my world had colors.
Gerda lives near the Berlin Wall and, unlike her grandmother, is not allowed to go to the West. That’s why she sometimes envies birds that can simply fly over the wall. Birds are very important to Gerda’s family. Her grandmother has a budgie and her father has a secret connection with the animals.
Almost incidentally, the author resurrects the lost GDR world of flag calls and gifts from the West:
My grandmother had been in the West and had brought me ink erasers and a two-story pencil case.
Since many children probably don’t know anything about the GDR, there is some easy-to-understand background information at the end of the book.
“We children of the past”: The series continues
Gerda Raidt and Daniela Kulot write from their perspective at that time, with all the gaps in their knowledge and with great naivety. It is suitable for children, but not at all childish. And the series “We Children of the Past” continues, says publisher Monika Osberghaus: “We are expecting a new volume from Monika Helfer and Anke Kuhl. It will be unforgettable and special again. That is obviously in the nature of things when you ask people about their childhood stories.”
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NDR Info | Culture | 31.08.2024 | 08:50 a.m.
