Children's Books on Tour 2022 - Autumn Collection

Ready, steady … snore!...

Ready, steady … snore!

Five animal heroes are getting ready for this year’s World Championship of Falling Asleep! They have to undergo the following tests:  who can fall asleep fastest despite unbearably loud construction noises, in freezing cold temperatures, during a rollercoaster ride or in  the deep, scary darkness of a cave? The different rounds of the competition are really challenging. But each sleeping athlete has their own tricks and, in the end, the snoring referee Heinz Hog is able to announce the new world champion.

An exciting and humorously illustrated bedtime story which will challenge every child to fall asleep as quickly as possible.

Daniel Napp, born in 1974, studied graphic design in Münster. He won several awards as a student. He works as a freelance author and illustrator and has published several children’s books.

The ice sheet is melting away while the little polar bear Benny is still sitting on it. He starts his search for...

The ice sheet is melting away while the little polar bear Benny is still sitting on it. He starts his search for a new home – and for a friend with whom he can have a family. Otherwise, he fears, his species will become extinct. Benny finds a friend in Polly, the chicken, but  although she is a really good friend, she simply refuses to marry and have children with him. So he places a lonely hearts ad and meets other, very nice animals: but neither the giraffe Anni nor the whale Ute are the right fit for him. Ute can hold her breath much longer than he can, and it’s simply too hot for him where Anni lives … But then Benny gets mail from Isabella, and he dares to hope once more.

Originally a play that has been performed in Germany and abroad, "The Bear and the Universe" is a little masterpiece that treats the most pressing topic of our times in a playful manner.

Dea Loher is a writer of prose and one of the most important contemporary dramatists in the German language. She has been awarded numerous prizes for her dramatic work. “The Bear and the Universe” is her first novel for children.

Horst Hellmeier is an Austrian illustrator and comic artist.

In Dr Chicken’s waiting room there is a lot going on. Mr Bear has eaten too much cream cake and his tummy...

In Dr Chicken’s waiting room there is a lot going on. Mr Bear has eaten too much cream cake and his tummy is aching. The anti-rumble drops in the medicine cabinet are sure to help. Ms Giraffe has been driving around in her convertible all day long. Now she has a sore  throat. Dr Chicken’s diagnosis is clear: convertibloccal infection. Lots of warmth is the only thing that helps with that. Dr Chicken has the right medicine for each of her patients: even the lovesick hedgehog who definitely needs glasses, because her poor eyesight has  caused her to fall for a wooden brush …

A highly amusing picture book story by a talented new illustrator. 

Ninette Sarnes, born in Bamberg in 1984, studied Communication Design in Nuremberg and worked for various advertising agencies. In 2011, she created her own fashion label: LUFT UND LIEBE. Who’s Next? is her first picture book.

Many have lost their lives after entering the Nightshade Forest. But Finn has no other option....

Many have lost their lives after entering the Nightshade Forest. But Finn has no other option.

Since his sister Hannah disappeared in the Nightshade Forest, Finn has followed the rule never to enter the forest after sunset. Any path you have cleared will be overgrown again within hours. More importantly, the Moonwalker, a figure shrouded in legend, lurks there at night. However, when Finn discovers a trail that could lead him to Hannah, he throws all caution to the wind – and follows it. In the heart of the Nightshade Forest, Finn makes a discovery that is much bigger than the secret surrounding his sister’s disappearance …

Kathrin Tordasi was born near Stuttgart and grew up with books by Astrid Lindgren, Michael Ende and Kenneth Grahame. Nowadays she lives in Berlin and likes writing in cafés and spending free time either by the sea or on her green urban jungle balcony.

LiLi Fuchs is a little red-haired fox cub. She adores dark chocolate....

LiLi Fuchs is a little red-haired fox cub. She adores dark chocolate.

She suffers lots of small mishaps, but these resolve themselves in a positive way for her. In gymnastics, LiLi falls from the rope onto the mat and is then allowed to jump on the trampoline. She travels by train with Mum and Dad Fox to visit her grandparents. The attentive conductor brings LiLi her bear backpack, which she forgot, as well as a little treat. LiLi goes to the circus for the first time. A colourful tent, animals, artists – and the clown Pimpanelli performs magic in the circus ring with LiLi’s help. On a trip to the zoo – visiting the monkeys, hippos, bears and elephants – a bag of nuts bursts, and the big elephant is very happy about it.

A trilingual children’s book with integrated trilingual radio play and audiobook.

New friends from foreign countries, trips all over the world, families with children who come to us for all kinds of reasons, the feeling that the world is moving closer and closer together – these are all reasons for LiLi and her friends to learn foreign languages. Stories translated 1:1 into English and Turkish by professional native speakers. Available as a trilingual, perfectly emphasised and pronounced radio play and audiobook for children to listen to, accessed via a QR code on each page of text. The aim is to give children a feel for the languages and to introduce them to the joy of learning new languages. Reading and listening – and at the same time learning languages visually and/or acoustically in a playful way.

Exciting adventures from children’s everyday life – wonderful stories to fall asleep to. LiLi goes grocery shopping, LiLi takes the train, LiLi at the circus and at the zoo. Short stories illustrated in lots of bright colours. Short stories that are also suitable as reading exercises for people with reading difficulties, as inspiration for creative writing and to help those learning German.

Heike Köppen, born in 1963 in Cologne, studied German and Romance languages at the Sorbonne in Paris.. Later on she became a European journalist and a film director (ARTE, WDR, Pro7). In 2004 she began to write her own children’s books – short stories for her children to fall asleep to. She has been a book publisher since 2018 (LiLi Fuchs ist unterwegs) and lives with her family near Cologne.

Some students employed as illustrators by her film company plenamedia.tv illustrated this children’s book.

LiLi gets to choose her own carnival costume with her mum. At the carnival procession, LiLi stands at the roadside...

LiLi gets to choose her own carnival costume with her mum. At the carnival procession, LiLi stands at the roadside and has a great adventure. She rides next to the prince on his float. Hunting for brightly painted Easter eggs in the garden is quite exciting for LiLi and is of course part of the Easter celebration. LiLi gets a fantastic present from her grandparents Granny Heidi and Grandad Karl. For the first time, LiLi sleeps somewhere other than her bed at home. LiLi and her friends spend the night at kindergarten. Baking bread on a stick over the campfire, singing songs and playing the guitar – and last but not least, LiLi gets to choose a bedtime story. Mum Fox has baked LiLi a delicious chocolate birthday cake with candles on top. LiLi has invited lots of her friends to her birthday party. LiLi wants a new bike and needs to save up for it: she helps Granny and Grandad in the garden and helps to pick strawberries. Mum has opened a savings account for LiLi at the bank. Picking out a Christmas tree in the winter forest, decorating the tree with golden baubles, candles and tinsel, singing Christmas songs with the family. This is how LiLi celebrates Christmas.

Heike Köppen, born in 1963 in Cologne, studied German and Romance languages at the Sorbonne in Paris. Later on she became a

European journalist and a film director (ARTE, WDR, Pro7). In 2004 she began to write her own children’s books – short stories for her children to fall asleep to. She has been a book publisher since 2018 (LiLi Fuchs ist unterwegs) and lives with her family near Cologne.

Some students employed as illustrators by her film company plenamedia.tv illustrated this children’s book.

LiLi Fuchs is a little red-haired fox cub. She adores dark chocolate....

LiLi Fuchs is a little red-haired fox cub. She adores dark chocolate.

She suffers lots of small mishaps, but these resolve themselves in a positive way for her. In gymnastics, LiLi falls from the rope onto the mat and is then allowed to jump on the trampoline. She travels by train with Mum and Dad Fox to visit her grandparents. The attentive conductor brings LiLi her bear backpack, which she forgot, as well as a little treat. LiLi goes to the circus for the first time. A colourful tent, animals, artists – and the clown Pimpanelli performs magic in the circus ring with LiLi’s help. On a trip to the zoo – visiting the monkeys, hippos, bears and elephants – a bag of nuts bursts, and the big elephant is very happy about it.

A trilingual children’s book with integrated trilingual radio play and audiobook.

New friends from foreign countries, trips all over the world, families with children who come to us for all kinds of reasons, the feeling that the world is moving closer and closer together – these are all reasons for LiLi and her friends to learn foreign languages. Stories translated 1:1 into English and Turkish by professional native speakers. Available as a trilingual, perfectly emphasised and pronounced radio play and audiobook for children to listen to, accessed via a QR code on each page of text. The aim is to give children a feel for the languages and to introduce them to the joy of learning new languages. Reading and listening – and at the same time learning languages visually and/or acoustically in a playful way.

Exciting adventures from children’s everyday life – wonderful stories to fall asleep to. LiLi goes grocery shopping, LiLi takes the train, LiLi at the circus and at the zoo. Short stories illustrated in lots of bright colours. Short stories that are also suitable as reading exercises for people with reading difficulties, as inspiration for creative writing and to help those learning German.

Heike Köppen, born in 1963 in Cologne, studied German and Romance languages at the Sorbonne in Paris.. Later on she became a European journalist and a film director (ARTE, WDR, Pro7). In 2004 she began to write her own children’s books – short stories for her children to fall asleep to. She has been a book publisher since 2018 (LiLi Fuchs ist unterwegs) and lives with her family near Cologne.

Some students employed as illustrators by her film company plenamedia.tv illustrated this children’s book.

LiLi Fuchs is a little red-haired fox cub. She adores dark chocolate....

LiLi Fuchs is a little red-haired fox cub. She adores dark chocolate.

She suffers lots of small mishaps, but these resolve themselves in a positive way for her. In gymnastics, LiLi falls from the rope onto the mat and is then allowed to jump on the trampoline. She travels by train with Mum and Dad Fox to visit her grandparents. The attentive conductor brings LiLi her bear backpack, which she forgot, as well as a little treat. LiLi goes to the circus for the first time. A colourful tent, animals, artists – and the clown Pimpanelli performs magic in the circus ring with LiLi’s help. On a trip to the zoo – visiting the monkeys, hippos, bears and elephants – a bag of nuts bursts, and the big elephant is very happy about it.

A trilingual children’s book with integrated trilingual radio play and audiobook.

New friends from foreign countries, trips all over the world, families with children who come to us for all kinds of reasons, the feeling that the world is moving closer and closer together – these are all reasons for LiLi and her friends to learn foreign languages. Stories translated 1:1 into English and Turkish by professional native speakers. Available as a trilingual, perfectly emphasised and pronounced radio play and audiobook for children to listen to, accessed via a QR code on each page of text. The aim is to give children a feel for the languages and to introduce them to the joy of learning new languages. Reading and listening – and at the same time learning languages visually and/or acoustically in a playful way.

Exciting adventures from children’s everyday life – wonderful stories to fall asleep to. LiLi goes grocery shopping, LiLi takes the train, LiLi at the circus and at the zoo. Short stories illustrated in lots of bright colours. Short stories that are also suitable as reading exercises for people with reading difficulties, as inspiration for creative writing and to help those learning German.

Heike Köppen, born in 1963 in Cologne, studied German and Romance languages at the Sorbonne in Paris.. Later on she became a European journalist and a film director (ARTE, WDR, Pro7). In 2004 she began to write her own children’s books – short stories for her children to fall asleep to. She has been a book publisher since 2018 (LiLi Fuchs ist unterwegs) and lives with her family near Cologne.

Some students employed as illustrators by her film company plenamedia.tv illustrated this children’s book.

Jonny Ant isn’t like other ants. However hard he tries, the others are always better. When Jonny’s suspiciously large body...

Jonny Ant isn’t like other ants. However hard he tries, the others are always better. When Jonny’s suspiciously large body starts to tremble and he is diagnosed with the contagious Broommps, he decides he’s had enough. Together with his friend Butz he runs away, and they get caught up in an adventure in which Jonny’s weaknesses increasingly turn out to be strengths.

An honest, brave and witty picture book about saying goodbye, death, and what happens afterwards. Grandma is sick, even if...

An honest, brave and witty picture book about saying goodbye, death, and what happens afterwards. Grandma is sick, even if she says she’s fit as a fiddle. But Grandma doesn’t want to talk about death: Leonor is still too small. And yet she understands far more than they all think.

At last! A children’s search-and-find book with Little Charlie – including a game of ‘where is the baby chick?’ Now...

At last! A children’s search-and-find book with Little Charlie – including a game of ‘where is the baby chick?’ Now children can dive into Little Charlie’s world of puzzles, learn all about his friends and where he lives, and help him find the baby chick.

When he was lying in hospital, I promised Grandpa to teach you about Islam once he was no longer with...

When he was lying in hospital, I promised Grandpa to teach you about Islam once he was no longer with us – about our Islam, the Islam I grew up with.” Thus a father begins telling his daughter a story every evening - not just about his own religion, but about the things that unite all people of faith: about God and death, about love and the infinity that surrounds us.

For brave princesses and shy princes....

For brave princesses and shy princes.

When a princess is to be married, she is kidnapped by a dragon and must be rescued by her prince. That’s ALWAYS how it goes in fairy tales. But NOT with the princess in this fairy tale.

Eva Rottmann writes plays and fiction, develops her own performances and theatre projects, brings literature into schools and works as a teacher at the Zurich University of the Arts.

claire Lenkova works as an illustrator and author, for book publishers, newspapers and magazines including FAS and Brigitte.

“I was interested in turning around a very common fairy tale motif (prince rescues princess) and using the same means of reduction and simplification to set a completely different moral”

Ulla Rottmann, Börsenblatt

When the little hedgehog wakes up early in the morning, the big hedgehog is not there. He knows that he has to...

When the little hedgehog wakes up early in the morning, the big hedgehog is not there. He knows that he has to wait until the big hedgehog is back, but the curious little guy sneaks out of the door and starts searching. “I’m not scared at all!” he reassures himself.

This lovely picture book about the big and the little hedgehog is about the universal theme of fear, and how children and adults deal with it in different ways. 

Britta Teckentrup, born in 1969 in Hamburg, studied Visual Arts in London. She is the author and illustrator of many picture books and non-fiction picture books, and has won numerous awards. Her books have been translated into many different languages.

Sally flees with his family from Germany to Poland to escape the Nazis. After the German invasion in 1939, his parents insist that...

Sally flees with his family from Germany to Poland to escape the Nazis. After the German invasion in 1939, his parents insist that he flees with his older brother Isaak. When Sally is caught by the German soldiers, he makes a momentous decision …

In this book he tells his story. Hiding among the enemy, he survives the murder of the Jews, always following his mother’s words: “You should live!”

Sabrina Thomas, Silke vom Bruch and Sven Siebenmorgen are teachers and headteachers in Oberhausen. They have invited Sally Perel to their schools several times, and were so fascinated by his life story that they persuaded him to open uphis personal archive for  them. The result is this very personal non-fiction book.

The story of Sally Perel was made internationally famous in 1990 by the film Europa, Europa, directed by Agnieszka Holland.

In the year 2020, a historian finds contemporary documents from the future that resemble a cry for help from the young generation of...

In the year 2020, a historian finds contemporary documents from the future that resemble a cry for help from the young generation of 2050. In notebooks, 15-year-old Billy records her grandmother Nancy’s accounts of the past 30 years, reporting on technological and medical achievements, climatic and political quakes, extreme population density and police states. Billy must hurry to change the past to save the future …

Thomas Harding is a journalist and author and writes for newspapers such as the Guardian, the Independent and the Financial Times.

His books, including "Hanns and Rudolf" and "House By the Lake", have been translated into more than 16 languages and have won  several prizes.

“Thomas Harding’s science fiction could hardly be more topical.” Hans von Trotha, Deutschlandfunk Kultur – LESART

Shortlisted for the German Youth Literature Prize and for the Prix des Incorruptibles (France).

Kolosso the dangerous crocodile lives in the savannah. One day the meerkat Lima finds an egg. The other meerkats want to share, but...

Kolosso the dangerous crocodile lives in the savannah. One day the meerkat Lima finds an egg. The other meerkats want to share, but she wants it for herself and runs away. In the savannah it is not good to be alone. Only with the help of her friends she can rescue the egg from dangerous situations. Who the egg belongs to becomes clear when the little animal hatches: it is Kolosso’s baby!

Jens Jörg Rieck was born in 1963 in Eberswalde, near Berlin. After studying journalism, he began a career as a sports reporter. No wonder that his first children’s book was about football. Jens Jörg Rieck lives with his family in Baden-Baden and Berlin.

Agi Ofner, born in 1989, works as a freelance author and illustrator. After graduating from high school, she studied Finnish and Dutch and then trained as a graphic designer in Vienna. In 2020 she was awarded the Austrian Children’s and Young People’s Literature Prize.

When Aunt Charlotte goes to the big church, she takes Madeleine with her. One day Madeleine walks outside, down to the river where...

When Aunt Charlotte goes to the big church, she takes Madeleine with her. One day Madeleine walks outside, down to the river where the fishermen are sitting. She fulfils a long-cherished wish and dares to ask if she can hold a fishing rod into the water. She enjoys this very much, until a boy asks her: if she caught a fish, would she be able to kill it herself? Madeleine hasn’t even thought about that yet …

Mira Lobe, born in 1913 in Görlitz, Silesia, wanted to become a journalist, but this dream was denied her as a Jew in National Socialist Germany. In 1936 she fled to Palestine, and from 1950 onwards she lived in Vienna, where she died on 6 February 1995. Mira Lobe wrote almost 100 books for children and young people. 

Sabine Rufener, born in 1972 in Bern, Switzerland, studied illustration at the Zurich School of Art and Design SKDZ. She likes to  experiment with various printing techniques, collage, frottage, coloured pencils and ink. Sabine Rufener works as a freelance illustrator and lives with her family in Basel.

Fanny spends a summer week with Grandpa, although everything in his old house is strange to her. Suddenly there is a hole in...

Fanny spends a summer week with Grandpa, although everything in his old house is strange to her. Suddenly there is a hole in the hall outside her room and she descends a long flight of stairs into the cellar. There she meets the “cellarlings”: a toad, a swan, a potato man and twenty-nine woodlice. They all are very agitated: The toad Lelalulah, who is the only one who goes outside and provides the others with stories from upstairs, has disappeared! Now they want Fanny to help them all by telling stories. Although the world outside seems dangerous, the cellarlings come to trust Fanny and let her lead them out into the open.

Eva Roth, born in 1974, grew up in a small village in Switzerland. She taught children for fifteen years, then became an editor at a children’s book publishing house. She writes plays and prose texts for children and adults and lives with her family in Zurich.

World War I, Belgium. 12-year-old Thierry wants to take revenge on the German occupiers for the death of his mother. An attempt at...

World War I, Belgium. 12-year-old Thierry wants to take revenge on the German occupiers for the death of his mother. An attempt at sabotage fails and he is imprisoned. Thierry’s grandfather manages to get him out, but the boy has to leave town and is placed with his great-aunt in Geel. Here, people with mental disabilities have been living as guests in foster families for centuries. Albert is one of them. He is excellent at drawing and is working on the “world’s most important stamp”. Thierry encourages him to draw the German troop movements, thereby putting Albert in great danger.

Rachel van Kooij was born in Wageningen in the Netherlands, and moved to Austria at the age of ten. She studied education and special education in Vienna. Today she works as an author and disability care worker in Klosterneuburg.