The folk festival season has started, but there are still a few days to go until Oktoberfest 2023. In the children’s rooms, a little penguin named Paule is already enthusiastically doing his rounds on the roller coaster, bumper cars and chain carousel.
The reason for this is the new, sixth children’s book by Dirk (illustrations) and Barbara Schmidt (text): “The penguin who went to the Wiesn” (artist, from the age of three). After “Kamfu help me?” about a damaged elephant with a crooked trunk and a speech impediment or “caterpillar Berta up in the tree…” this time mother and son from Munich have come up with a wild adventure at the most famous folk festival in the world.
Send penguin Paule to the Wiesn: author Barbara Schmidt.
(Photo: Verlag Antje Kunstmann GmbH)
But why are the Schmidts sending a penguin to the Oktoberfest and not a meerkat? “That would have been the alternative,” says Barbara Schmidt, ex-teacher, and laughs. “A penguin can walk upright and is just the right size for the story. So it could definitely come to the Oktoberfest, but it’s too small to be allowed to ride the rides.” Dirk Schmidt adds: “Graphically speaking, the black and white penguin with its orange beak has many advantages, it stands out in a crowd.”
Penguin Paule dreams of great freedom in Munich Zoo – and really wants to go to the Oktoberfest. On a mild evening in late summer, he breaks out and takes the subway from Thalkirchen to the Wiesn. But in front of the ghost train, the big disappointment follows promptly: “No! You can’t go. You’re too small. And besides, you don’t have any money. How did you imagine it?” But then he got a clever idea…
Dirk Schmidt, Barbara Schmidt: The penguin who went to the Wiesn. Verlag Antje Kunstmann 2023, 32 pages. 16 euros. From 3 years.
(Photo: Verlag Antje Kunstmann GmbH)
“The Penguin Who Went to the Oktoberfest” is a cheerful, encouraging book to read aloud. Lovingly written and rhymed by Barbara Schmidt, appropriately illustrated by Dirk Schmidt. His figures are reduced to the essentials. His sometimes detailed hidden object pictures invite you to immerse yourself – for example in the Oktoberfest crowd. Right in the middle is the beaming balloon seller, there are lots of kisses, and a face with rolled-up eyes has already turned green. Schmidt, who also illustrates the Axel Hacke columns in SZ Magazin, skillfully directs the viewer’s gaze by allowing scenes to fade in color and shine, thereby moving them into the foreground and background.
On the other hand, he does not paint the Oktoberfest rides 1:1. “The only thing I wanted to do was create a fair feeling,” he says. However, the fact that we are in Munich is made clear by the two towers of the Frauenkirche and an old, typical subway station. The penguin sits on grandma’s lap – one of the many eye-catchers in the book.
The question remains as to where the enterprising Paule from Hellabrunn will escape next time? “For a raft trip? In the beer garden? I already have ideas,” Barbara Schmidt does not rule out a sequel.