It may be a perceived truth that all young people are constantly on their cell phones. But the fact is: after all, every fifth person who is in or close to puberty cites reading as their favorite pastime.
Mothers, fathers, grandmas, grandpas and teachers can do a lot to ensure that this proportion will increase significantly in future surveys - by reading to children, ideally even the very young.
If you shrink from thinking about the same stories about girls with red hats or braids and nasty wolves and robbers: No, they don't have to be, even if many children love them.
There are many other books that are fun for children and adults at the same time. Here SPIEGEL editors present which stories they have successfully tried out at home.
"The NO Horn"
The man who speaks to a kangaroo and claims to earn a lot of money from books critical of capitalism also writes stories for children. One of the best that Marc-Uwe Kling came up with is "Das NOINhorn".
That is simply because this ingenious picture book succeeds in an almost paradoxical feat: It inspires both people who are slowly getting annoyed by all the unicorn merchandising (me), as well as people who are from unicorn sweaters to unicorns. Lolli love everything that somehow looks unicorn (my four year old daughter).
Both find various ways in history to identify with the protagonists. The NEINhorn leaves no doubt that the purple love of the cotton candy of the other unicorns really gets on his shoulders. At the same time, it has a lot in common with normal children: it loves to say no, hence the name, and is stubborn by conviction.
Equipped with these two properties, it goes on a journey and meets similarly troubled companions. It comes across as clear: It is perfectly okay to be grumpy, unadjusted and unruly, but it is much more fun with friends than alone.
Readers can also have fun with clever and funny language games. This is how the raccoon becomes a WASbär because he always "What?" says, and the king's daughter to the KönigsDOCHter, because -… no, nothing more will be revealed. The verbal exchange of blows "No!", "Yes!", "WHAT?" Reading aloud with children who are actually not able to read themselves really puts you in a good mood - whether it suits the NO horn or not.
Silke Fokken
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12/21/2019, 6:54 a.m.
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Kling, Marc-Uwe
The NO horn
Publishing company:
Carlsen
Pages:
48
Price:
€ 13.00
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"Head up, bat!"
"Children, be tolerant." This is how the message of this book can be summarized and it doesn't get much more complex. But that's not bad. Because even if there is a feeling of tolerance, thousands of publications on the children's book market appeal: it is worth it.
This is due to the funny illustrations by the British artist Tony Ross. And the nice way to pack the message. Because the much-touted change of perspective here is not an abstract mental process.
Tigers, elephants and all the other "young, wild animals" cannot understand the bat's perspective because they do not have them. They simply don't hang upside down on a branch. That is why mountains are not pointed at the bottom and wide at the top. And that's why the water doesn't rise to their toes when it rains a lot.
The bats have to be pretentious and maybe even dangerous, the animals believe. Until the owl advises them to look at things the way the bat does. And then something happens that only works in the children's book world, where there are speaking owls and the laws of gravity do not apply. Have fun turning your head!
Heike Klovert
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12/21/2019, 7:05 a.m.
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Willis, Jeanne
Head up, bat!
Publishing company:
FISCHER Sauerland
Pages:
32
Price:
€ 13.90
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"What lies on the beach and talks indistinctly? - Puzzles and nonsense pictures
My son loves joke books. Since he recently published the book "What lies on the beach and talks indistinctly?" given, he regularly takes it to school. The prank questions are easy to understand even for beginners and convey a feeling for language.
Cute illustrations also enrich the book. We were most happy about the picture of the "little fireplace", the smoke comes out of his big ears. This book is definitely suitable as a last minute Christmas gift.
Sarah Wiedenhöft
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12/21/2019, 7:02 a.m.
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Port, Moni
What lies on the beach and talks indistinctly ?: Puzzles and nonsense pictures
Publishing company:
Velcro children's book publisher
Pages:
48
Price:
€ 10.00
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"Hörbe with the big hat"
The little ghost, robber Hotzenplotz, the little witch - many people know these characters, which Otfried Preussler came up with. However, when we received "Hörbe with the big hat" a few years ago, we had never heard of it. What had we missed!
Hutzelmann Hörbe, who lives in the Siebengiebelwald. Who, instead of boiling cranberry jam like all hard-working Hutzemanns, wants to experience something different and goes hiking in the Worlitz forests. To face his greatest fear, the monster Plampatsch has to face. And returns with a new friend: Zwottel, the shaggy scratch that even saves his life.
A real reading book, because Preussler plays with the sound of words like in hardly any other of his books. Words that you have never heard before and yet understand immediately. With just a few sentences, he creates a world of his own that children love: in secret, in the thicket of the forest.
For example, Preussler Hörbe's tiny house is presented: "Like all Hutzelmann houses, it was built of wood and covered with thin branches and twigs. Whoever happened to get close and didn't know that there was a Hutzelmann house under the brushwood on the edge of the clearing was hidden, he would never have thought it possible in life - how could he? "
Many children feel like building a brush cave in the forest. And they follow the adventures of this forest dwarf, who falls down a waterfall, who only survives a storm thanks to his magical hat, who finds a friend and learns how a really good friendship can get better through an argument.
Hutzelmann Hörbe is often in the shadow of the other Preussler figures, although the author dedicated another sequel to him with "Hörbe and his friend Zwottel". The two deserve much, much more readers.
Matthias Kaufmann
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12/21/2019, 7:02 a.m.
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Preussler, Prof. Otfried
Hörbe with the big hat
Publishing company:
Thienemann Verlag
Pages:
104
Price:
€ 15.00
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"King Kong, the Christmas pig"
For my sixth birthday I was given a cuddle: a guinea pig female, black with light brown spots and protruding fur. She accompanied me every day, to the playground, with my homework and sometimes even to school.
I read the books by Kirsten Boie about Jan-Arne and his guinea pig King-Kong to her - and I was very happy that there are more children who love their pets as much as I love my cuddles.
I now have a son. Since a hands-on circus took place in his school, "King Kong, the circus pig" has been one of his favorite books. We have already accompanied King-Kong to school, playing football and in his role as a lucky charm - and even now in the Christmas season the cute piggy has an appearance that is worth reading.
Sarah Wiedenhöft
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12/21/2019, 7:02 a.m.
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DISPLAY
Boie, Kirsten
King-Kong: the Christmas pig (book stars)
Publishing company:
Oetinger
Pages:
64
Price:
€ 7.99
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