The red-haired girl on the cover doesn’t seem to be very enthusiastic about this small, howling dog! “Howling dog” is what she calls the yapper with the “bat snout” who belongs to a neighbor who is called “Mrs. Cigarette” among the roommates because she smokes like a chimney. And then one day she stands in front of her neighbors’ door and announces that she has to go to the hospital, and if no one takes the dog, he has to go to the animal shelter. This is how the yapler ends up with our heroine. and is even allowed to sleep in her bed. When “Frau Zigarette” picks him up again, everyone is relieved and almost forgot him, especially when they have a lot of fun on vacation by the sea. But after their return, “Heulehund” is all alone in the doorway. “Frau Zigarette” has disappeared and he stays with his new mistress forever. Anna Schilling illustrated this touching story with colorful, powerful pictures, some of them double-sided .. (from 6 years)
Will Gmehling, Anna Schilling: Why are you crying, howling dog? Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim 2021. 44 pages, 10 euros.
The Swedish illustrator Anna-Clara Tidholm created a classic with her picture book “Knock on” (1993). Now, together with her husband Thomas Tidholm, she has written and designed an adventure story for beginners and for reading aloud. It is spring and Ida tells how she goes to the rowan brook with the brothers Jock and Max. It’s still full of ice and dangerous, but because Jock saw the tracks of an otter, the children jump onto an ice floe, which breaks off and drifts with them down the river and out into the open sea. How the three of them finally manage to get home with a lot of luck, Thomas Tidholm tells in an exciting and a little fairytale-like manner.
The special thing about this book are the great pictures by Anna-Clara Tidholm, the color of which transports the viewer into the middle of the Nordic winter world with the northern lights, penguins and seals. (from 6 and for reading aloud)
Thomas Tidholm, Anna-Clara Tidholm: The ice journey. Translated from the Swedish by Anu Stohner. Dtv series Hanser 2021. 48 pages, 14.95 euros.
Fanny goes to first grade and spends the afternoons with her grandma because her single mother is employed. This grandma is very much loved because she goes along with all nonsense and is there for Fanny. And then there is Ester, her best friend, who wishes that Fanny could fall in love with her, which Fanny refuses, which hurts Ester very much. But of course they make up in the end. Fanny’s everyday life as a child is told so cheerfully, and the illustrations by Jutta Bauer go so well that this book is ideal for advanced beginners. (from 6 years
Sara Ohlsson, Jutta Bauer: Fanny and love. Translated from the Swedish by Friederike Buchinger. Moritz Verlag, 2021. 110 pages.