"We are so great, why don't you write something about our class," said the class representative of the former 5b of the Robert-Mayer-Gymnasium in Heilbronn.
Asked, done: Anja Janotta (51) from Weßling dedicated her ninth book to them, which has now been published under the title “The night at school”.
Weßling
- The high school student contacted us three years ago when the Weßlinger was on a reading tour in Heilbronn.
“Write about how our class illegally spends a night at school,” suggested the rascal.
Because that's exactly what the bright fifth graders had once requested from their headmistress, but received a rebuff.
The author of children's books has now implemented the idea on 78 pages.
Fifth grader Sophia plays the key role in it.
She had heard about the party at school.
At night and without supervision - and without girls.
But the boys did the math without Sophia, who could read from Ezra's hand, so to speak.
He writes everything important on it.
And it said: Thursday, June 23, 8 p.m.
We spend the night at school.
Bring with you: sleeping bag, flashlight, music box.
The idea of the forbidden celebration fell on fertile ground at Janotta and the story wrote itself as if by itself, she says.
She poured the whole thing into an exposé and sent it to her agency.
Then it took a while, she recalls.
Finally the answer: Beltz-Verlag wanted the story for the “Super readable” series, a reading promotion for young people up to the age of eleven who have difficulty reading.
A challenge for the author, whose lines shine alongside clever dialogues with lively descriptions.
For this book, the words were allowed to be a maximum of three syllables, the sentences had to be short and atmospheric descriptions reduced to the minimum.
In a nutshell, the 51-year-old leaves nothing out.
Not the high school prank that develops in the forbidden night, not the police operation, not the helicopter mother and not the delicate threads of love that are spun between two students.
The Heilbronn high school students, who are now in the eighth grade, were able to enjoy the first online reading.
They are also the stars of history.
“The night at school” was published by Beltz & Gelberg Verlag and costs 9.95 euros.
Michèle Kirner