“My entire family is smarter than average. I’m the involuntary exception.” Fourteen-year-old Lotte doesn’t have it easy with her ambitious parents, who simply don’t want to accept that their daughter has more normal talents and torment her with intelligence tests and vacations in gifted camps. Now they have moved to Berlin and Lotte feels lonely.
Luckily, she finds a job in a typical Berlin Späti kiosk with Yunus and his friend Miri, who help her to settle in. And then there’s Luke, who always buys 10 green gummy cucumbers on the same day of the week to take to a nominal grandma at a retirement home. We suspect it: Lotte falls in love with Luke, and suddenly Berlin is no longer terrible. Lena Hach lets the heroine tell her story in a very amusing way, full of self-mockery in a brisk language and always makes readers laugh. (from 12 years)
Lena Hach: Green cucumbers. Mixtvision 2022. 224 pages. 12 euros.
Heroes from the stories of award-winning Dutch author Anna Woltz are distinctive, lovable and strong. Here are two eleven-year-olds who ran away from home for different reasons and collided with full force on a bike path: Atlanta, who decided to cycle the 360 km around the IJsselmeer non-stop in one day and one night. She believes she can influence fate with magical thinking, because the next day her mother gets the test results after her chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Finley, who ran away from home after a bad argument with his mother, thinks so too. Out of anger, he had taken her lucky charm, two shark teeth, which she needs for her driving test the next day. The kids continue their bike ride together, but when Atlanta realizes she can’t make the 220 miles, she’s devastated. The idea of bringing the shark teeth back to Finley’s mother instead helps her, and her self-imposed goal is no longer so important. (from 10 years)
Anna Woltz: Shark Teeth. Translated from the Dutch by Andrea Kluitmann. Carlsen TB. 2022, 90 pages, 6 euros.
Twelve-year-old Herbert Lemon has lived at the Grand Nautilus Hotel in the seaside resort of Eerie-on-Sea since he was found in a lemon crate on the beach five years ago, where he is in charge of the huge hotel’s lost belongings. One day, a girl named Violet appears in his room and asks for his help. She is looking for her parents, who disappeared on the beach twelve years ago. There are many rumors in the village about the sea monster Malamander, which always scares everyone. Believing her parents’ disappearance to be related to the monster, Violet draws Herbert into a sinister and dangerous tale.
A highly exciting fantasy holiday read! (from 11 years)
Thomas Tylor: Malamander – The Secrets of Eerie-on-Sea. Translated from the English by Claudia Marx. dtv series Hanser 2022. 320 pages, 10.30 euros.