As of: February 8, 2024, 1:00 p.m
By: Sven Trautwein
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They are small, handy and square.
On 24 pages they have been explaining the world of children for 70 years.
The Pixi paperbacks are celebrating their birthday.
With their ten by ten centimeters and a thickness of 24 pages, the Pixi paperbacks fit in almost every child's hand.
In the past few decades, more than 2,000 titles have been published on a wide variety of topics.
The total circulation is around 450 million copies.
Now the square companion is celebrating its 70th birthday, including with an anniversary exhibition in Hamburg.
Pixi books: 70th birthday and explanations on 24 pages
The 10x10 centimeter Pixi book is celebrating its 70th birthday with, among other things, an anniversary exhibition in Hamburg.
© Markus Scholz/dpa
Pixi, the goblin with the red hat, can often be spotted in front of a bookstore.
There are countless little Pixi books in the transparent bowl that the figure holds in front of him.
Whether stories from the farm, kindergarten or hospital, there is something for every taste on the 24 pages.
Due to their low price, they are very popular as gifts and souvenirs for small children.
The first Pixi book featured a cat mom in a yellow polka dot dress, with a kitten on her hand.
The title was simply “Kitty Cats.”
The idea came from the Danish publisher Per Hjald Carlsen, who founded the publishing house in Hamburg in 1954.
In 1982, the illustrator Eva Wenzel-bürger created the little goblin with the red hat, who has adorned every booklet since then and also appears in his own adventures.
The most popular characters from the Pixi books
Connie
Pixie
Rabbit Longlegs
Ricky Raccoon
Umbarto
Wilma Wildcat
Erich Hedgehog
The gray fox
The mice
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For the publisher Per Hjald Carlsen, promoting reading was the top priority.
The low price as an entry point to the reading experience also contributed to this.
While the first booklet cost 50 cents, today you can get them for 99 cents.
The series with the stories about the girl Conni experienced a huge boost in success.
“Conni comes to kindergarten” was published in 1992.
Omnisciently, she moved into almost every child's room.
The Pixi book series offers child-friendly explanations on a variety of topics - no topic is excluded in the Pixi cosmos.
Whether it's fairy tales, magicians, fairies, animal, toy, technology and science stories or broader topics such as politics, democracy, climate change and war - all of this finds its place in Pixi books.
There is also the opportunity for various institutions, associations, clubs and ministries to create their own Pixi edition, and there are a variety of Pixi special editions.
Pixi Book: Special Editions and Famous Authors
In the context of the war refugees from Ukraine who came to Germany, Carlsen Verlag published a special Pixi book in May 2022.
This was translated into the Ukrainian language and distributed to aid organizations, as “Pixi gets a visitor” shows.
24 pages isn't much.
Especially when the story in the Pixi book should contain everything that makes a real novel.
In addition to a successful introduction, there should also be a suspense and a good ending.
In the past, best-selling authors such as Kirsten Boie, Peter Härtling and Cornelia Funke also wrote one story or another.
For many first-time readers, the stories help them make the transition to reading on their own.
Reading aloud is also not neglected with the little books.
Current studies show how important bonding and reading aloud are.
A quarter of all elementary school students cannot read well.
Pixi books: anniversary exhibition in Hamburg
The exhibition “70 Years of Little Books” can be visited in the Altona Museum until August 18th.
Right at the entrance, 1,000 square Pixi volumes hang on the wall, as
NDR
reports.
The exhibition director decided on a chronological arrangement.
The overview over the decades also clearly shows which topics were dealt with in the small books.
While in the earlier years there were more princesses, the change was to mothers with aprons.
In recent years, according to NDR, the changing image of society has also been taken up.
The exhibition is free for children and young people under 18 years of age.
Pixi set of 8 294
2024 Carlsen, ISBN-13 978-3-551-03877-7
Price: €7.92, 24 pages each