Children's Books on Tour - Spring 2021

13-year-old Noël is a magnet for bad luck: not only are lots of things going wrong at home and at...

13-year-old Noël is a magnet for bad luck: not only are lots of things going wrong at home and at school, he also seems to attract everything that scratches and bites. On a school ski trip, a black bear the size of the Hulk tries to eat him. And one day, a rat lures him onto a container ship that takes him to the Boarding School of Evil Animals in the Secret Islands. Only the best of their species are accepted here: regal leopards, poisonous scorpions and savage sharks. However, special boys like Noël are accepted as well, provided they pass the tough entrance exam.

• Winner of the Zurich Children´s Book Prize 2020

• 3 more titles available

These first stories to read aloud take parents and children on fun trips to the forest and the farm. The...

These first stories to read aloud take parents and children on fun trips to the forest and the farm. The combination of photographs and cheerful colour illustrations makes for a very special picture book experience. Numerous small images hiding in the photographs spark a spirit of discovery and offer many opportunities for conversations, inspiring children to explore nature/farms – both in these books and in real life.

• 2 more titles available

• Lovely series with a new concept.

• The combination of photographs and illustrations offers many details to explore.

• On-trend topic: nature

Which plants have the most power? Are renewable raw materials climate-neutral? And what are bioplastics? Everyone is talking about sustainability...

Which plants have the most power? Are renewable raw materials climate-neutral? And what are bioplastics? Everyone is talking about sustainability and climate protection, and children in particular have many questions. This WAS IST WAS volume gives a comprehensive overview of renewable raw materials. Energy crops such as corn or rapeseed provide power from the field and already account for a significant proportion of renewable energies in Germany. In this non-fiction book, readers learn how plants can replace fossil raw materials, how a biogas plant works, and which crops are best suited for this purpose. But we are still finding out more and more about renewable raw materials, and about how to manufacture useful products from plants. The book shows how far research into biobased plastics has come and also presents curious inventions like chewing gum or car tyres made from plants.

WAS IST WAS – the internationally fact book series for children 8 years and up. More Than 100 Mio. copies sold worldwide.

Is the brain slippery? Do brains work like computers? Why do we think with our heads and not with some...

Is the brain slippery? Do brains work like computers? Why do we think with our heads and not with some other part of our bodies? Brain researcher and physician Prof. Michael Madeja answers all these questions, but he also goes one step further and has a funny kind of constant interview with the brain cells "Purki" and "Pyra"! In his witty non-fiction book for children aged 10 and up, the author explains in a humorous way how the human brain works. It is about the structure of the brain, about its receptivity, about brain training but also about diseases of this organ. Original comparisons, interesting facts and sketches which depict the information in a memorable way, help to explain this complex topic in an entertaining manner.

Vicki, Laurin, Lina and Theo are the #DataDetectives. The cheerful clique around the clever robot Babblebot experiences the possibilities and...

Vicki, Laurin, Lina and Theo are the #DataDetectives. The cheerful clique around the clever robot Babblebot experiences the possibilities and dangers of the digital world and fights smartly against cybercrime. Excitement and fun are guaranteed!

The first case for the #DataDetectives! When Lina joins the class with her robot, there is great excitement. A robot as a classmate? Sure, because Babblebot has artificial intelligence inside. He can talk and he loves doing it. But soon he is in great danger! And then there is Blackhack, the mysterious hacker who causes a lot of trouble with his attacks on the school computers ...

For those who want to know more, the lexicon "Vicki's Media" explains important terms from the digital world.

Little Major Tom and his astronaut friends don't live on Earth, but they still have to go to school. School...

Little Major Tom and his astronaut friends don't live on Earth, but they still have to go to school. School - how boring! But not on Space Camp 1. Because here the lessons take place in zero gravity! And if things get too complicated, robot cat Plutinchen always knows the answer.

What does "artificial intelligence" (AI) mean? Where is it found in everyday life? And will AI ever be able to completely replace humans? After a look back into the past, when people dreamt of independent machines, the book shows the possibilities of AI in smart technologies and medical science. Young readers also get an insight into of the future and the dangers of these new technologies.

Over 140.000 copies of the "Little Major Tom“ series have been sold in Germany since 2018.

Summer at the lake. For the children it is both familiar and unknown. The big one tells the little one...

Summer at the lake. For the children it is both familiar and unknown. The big one tells the little one horror stories about the Wallrass, which lives deep down where the lake is darkest. From then on, the little one prefers to play on the shore and only goes into the water with an air mattress.

When one day they play pirates and yet row out onto the lake, the big one makes the air mattress capsize. The small one falls into the water and sinks. And sure enough: where the water is blackest, he meets the Wallrass. But unlike in the stories, it is gentle and soft and carefully carries him back to the shore. When he tells the big one about it, the big one laughs at him, because he just made the Wallrass up.

The little one, on the other hand, knows that no matter what the big one tells him, from now on he no longer has to fear the depth and darkness of the lake.

Lila's father has some strange ideas: he wants to go on holiday in the wilderness, thinks Lila should learn how...

Lila's father has some strange ideas: he wants to go on holiday in the wilderness, thinks Lila should learn how to drive and has told Mrs Stieger, Lila's teacher, about his holiday plans. This is all rather irritating because he has been absent-minded since Mum's death and has hardly spoken to Lila at all.

In Eastern Europe, in a river valley that leads from a tiny village towards the mountains, Lila and Dad pitch their tent. Things are going well first, but then they change: there are cooked snails to eat and the river carries away the tent and sleeping bags, so Dad asks Mrs Stieger to come and bring a new tent. This doesn’t work for Lila at all: her father and her teacher – doesn't he even think about Mum anymore? She runs away and drives the car into the village. But an unknown girl alone in the sleepy village attracts attention and people start to take an interest. In the end the whole village is involved in getting Dad and Mrs Stieger out of the wilderness.

Wilson Bentley lives on a farm in the vastness of America with his older brother and his parents. The two...

Wilson Bentley lives on a farm in the vastness of America with his older brother and his parents. The two boys are supposed to support their parents in their work and become good farmers. This leads to conflicts, because Wilson is a dreamy boy who spends a lot of time thinking and is fascinated by the little things in the world: the peculiarities of leaves, stones and snow crystals, which particularly fascinate him. It becomes the passion of his life to depict and preserve the delicate and fading crystals. Nobody in the area has any interest in Wilson’s eccentric ideas and people cannot comprehend his enthusiasm. When he gives a lecture in the village about his work and shows the photos of the crystals, he is met with a lack of understanding. But for Wilson's father, something fundamental changes that evening: he realizes the value he has so far ignored.

Three female scientists live on an abandoned factory site, the Owls’ site, and pretend to be homeless. They maintain a...

Three female scientists live on an abandoned factory site, the Owls’ site, and pretend to be homeless. They maintain a number of well-calculated deceptions in order to avoid detection. Only the children cannot be deterred and come to the site to pursue their activities. That is why the researchers need a bogeyman. A student friend, wrestler and now author of children's books, seems suitable.

But which secret are they trying to protect?

The women observe an extremely rare bird during reproduction and care of the brood. There's a secret about it that will only be revealed at the very end: its plumage is like a magic hood. How this works would of course be highly interesting for the weapons industry, hence the strict secrecy. External threats must be warded off and the pitfalls of living together must be mastered.