Conni doesn’t go with strangers, Leo Lausemaus learns to share and Rabe Socke is always taught anyway. Too many children’s books try to drum a moral into children. Author Finn-Ole Heinrich recently spoke in an interview with the Tagesspiegel about why he finds many children’s books bad: Adults often try subliminal messages through stories to mediate, he criticized. That’s manipulation, says the winner of the 2012 Youth Literature Prize.
However, if you go on a search, you will find many book treasures that children do not form according to specific patterns and also do not want to convey a message to them. Rather simply through original, exciting or funny actions bribe The family site editors have put together some favorite books that are different: beautiful stories with no hidden morals. A selection for toddlers, preschoolers and elementary school children.
1 Tap your way through the book
In picture books for the very youngest (from the age of one) there is usually no hidden morality. So the choice for this age is wide. Especially recommended is the classic “knock‘ by Anna Clara Tidholm. The story takes the reader through a house where he… knocking on new doors must in order to get to the next room – ergo to the next page. Small children love the book and enthusiastically knock along (Hanser-Verlag, 10 euros).
2 Blown by the wind
For two-year-olds, the booklet “As beautiful as the moon“ by Komako Sakai (Beltz-Verlag 6.50 euros) perfectly suited: A wonderfully poetic story about a child whose balloon is blown away by the wind.
3 Chaotic or poetic
From the age of three or four, the texts can be longer, many children now like stringent stories with action. Anyone who likes to laugh willFiesse for beginners“ by Ian Whybrow (Noe-Verlag, 13 euros) love: A chaotic story about a wolf family with horrid manners.
Speaking of chaos: the band “Mara has to go” from the “The Wild Dwarfs” series by the author trio Meyer/Lehmann/Schulze also causes fits of giggles. It’s about the girl Mara, who has to go to the toilet in kindergarten and uses far too much toilet paper when wiping. The toilet is then clogged, but instead of telling the educators, Mara tries to repair the toilet with the help of the other children. It fails in a wonderfully funny way. Warning, not for people who are sensitive to cheeky children and slang (Klett-Verlag, 9 euros).
A little more serious, but very poetic is the new release “Lilli and the cloud” by Terry and Eric Fan: In it, the girl buys Lilli at the fair instead of a balloon a cloud that will soon become too big for your child’s room (Jacoby & Stuart, 18 euros).
The fairy tale is exciting and beautifully drawnEdi Nutcracker and Lili Weißwieschnee“ by Erwin Moser: An adventure about a mouse that goes out to look for a magic herb and falls into the hands of cat pirates, among other things. Ultimately, she can escape in a flying cardboard box (Nilpferd-Verlag, 15 euros).
Another exciting fairy tale, but a bit scary and therefore only suitable from the age of four: “Dulcinea in the Enchanted Forest” by Ole Könnecke (Hanser-Verlag, 16 euros): In order to be able to eat pancakes with blueberries on his birthday in peace, the girl Dulcinea has to be in them all alone with a nasty witch to record.
4 To laugh out loud
Two comic-style books about the chaotic family life and funny sibling adventures goes: “family ties‘ by Lili L’Arronge (Jacoby&Stuart, 15 euros) and ‘mano!” by Anke Kuhl (Klett-Verlag, 18 euros). In it are found funny autobiographical stories – Kuhl describes, for example, how she stole a sprouts as a child to make salad for her Barbie dolls.
Also funny and also very well rhymed, which is not a matter of course on the children’s book market: “This animal stays here now“ by Jörg Isermeyer (Beltz-Verlag, 13 euros). It’s about the girl Etta, who a new animal every day drags it into the house from outside, where it wreaks havoc.
5 Dad’s bald head
Moritz Verlag has particularly beautiful stories for first-time readers and primary school children in its program. Extremely funny: “When daddy’s hair went on vacation” (10 Euro). Someday Dad’s hair just runs away and regularly write him postcards from all over the world. The book is just right for children whose fathers are struggling with the onset of balding.
In “Fanny is the best“ by Sara Ohlsson (11 euros), the girl Fanny enters creative competitions against his mother while grandma is the referee – a fun story for the whole family.
6 Shortage of money and aliens
Philip Waechter’s books are recommended for ages eight and up. In the volumes “And all because of Renato Flash” and “Toni wants to go to the sea“It’s about ten-year-old Toni, who goes under chronic lack of money suffers and therefore has to come up with strategies again and again in order to get the longed-for pair of soccer shoes or the vacation trip (Beltz-Verlag, 15 euros each). Waechter writes pleasantly unaffected and true to life.
Tanja Esch’s comics are also very entertaining: In “Boris, Babette and lots of skeletons“It’s about Boris, the looking after his neighbor’s hamster should. However, he turns out to be a talking mythical creature. In “Ulf and the riddle about the new girl“ Ulf and his friends investigate an unbelievable suspicion: Does the new classmate Uli come from a family of aliens? (Kibitz-Verlag, 20 or 18 euros). Young readers usually devour both books in a few hours.
7 grandma and the internet
Marc-Uwe Kling also wrote ingeniously funny stories for elementary school age. His four books in the series “The day on which…’ reliably make parents and children from the age of eight and up laugh. The first book in the series is calledThe day grandma broke the internet“. It’s about three siblings who are horrified to find that her grandma turned off the internet – and not just in her house, but worldwide (Carlsen-Verlag, 10 euros).
Suitable for children who like it quieter the Moomin stories by Tove Jansson good. The harmless adventures around a lovable family of chubby fantasy characters and their original neighbors are Finnish children’s book classics (Arena-Verlag, 12 euros per volume). The odd personalities of the Moomins are lovingly portrayed and never cease to amaze the reader, as they always find a way out of even the most difficult of situations.
