Zippel has never been so far out into the world: Italy! The sea! And a colorful traveling circus that urgently needs his help: The little castle ghost goes on a big trip, together with his human friend Paul and the old woman Wilhelm, and can hardly wait to put a stop to the evil magician Burlesconi: “You, that is a really good bad guy! He can do magic and sells ghosts and he’s huge and we’ll lock him up! But first we’ll tie him up with a spaghetti-length string, it’ll be great. Exactly! We’ll have to take a lot of string with us!”
The nice thing about the Zippel stories is that they combine warmth of heart with quick wit. The third volume by Alex Rühle is basically again about the really big things, about friendship, courage and finding a home. And thanks to the tightrope walker Andromeda, this time Zippel can even begin to experience what it means to be in love: “Such a kiss, well… Then suddenly everything feels like you’re filled with bubbling bubbles. Or like five-looping, only completely quiet.” Deep feelings, translated for children, and wonderfully illustrated by Axel Scheffler, who shows on the cover what great promise the word summer vacation can hold.