List: Kids&#39; Books

My first, own, serious book! Serious in that it was long, and the book I got for my first day at school. Despite its length – it's a collection of three individual books – I got through it within the first week of school.

Herr der Diebe

by Cornelia Funke · published 2000 · read 2001-07-01

Possibly my first good magical realism book. I loved this so much that I took the real name of one of the characters as my alter ego name in adventure stories I was writing at the time.

Das fliegende Klassenzimmer

by Erich Kästner · published 1933 · read 2001-07-01

It's the one German boarding school novel and I loved it to pieces as a kid. As all Kästner books except for Lottchen it features a fairly transparent self-insert, but it's fine, imo. Most boarding school novels do this, to be honest.

Emil and the Detectives

by Erich Kästner · published 1928 · read 2004-12-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Die dampfenden Hälse der Pferde im Turm von Babel

by Franz Fühmann · published 1978 · read 2000-03-01

Five stars mean a book changed my life. This book changed my life several times, and I'm not sure it's done with me yet. It's about language. It's about philosophy. It's about linguistics. It's about playing with language, and it's about heritage and tradition, and – look, it's pretty perfect for me.

Momo

by Michael Ende · published 1973 · read 2002-07-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Neverending Story

by Michael Ende · published 1979 · read 2002-03-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Coraline

by Neil Gaiman · published 2002 · read 2003-02-01

Coraline is a wonderful book. Terrifying, too. Coraline and her parents move to a new place, where there's nothing apart from the other (strange!) people living in the house. Her parents are busy all day, and she's just left to her own devices. So she wanders around and eventually finds a mirror world, where everything is duplicated, only uncanny and weird – and where she finds parents who love her and have time for her. Now if only they were human.

Alarm im Kasperletheater

by Nils Werner, Heinz Behling · published 1958 · read 1998-12-31

And this is how I learnt to read: Too early, to general displeasure, and by this book. It's a beautifully illustrated story with the characters of a Punch-and-Judy show. It's grandma's birthday, and Kasperle (the traditional protagonist) buys doughnuts to celebrate. But! the little devil swings by and steals them, with the wonderful reasoning of "I'm sure these are counted, so he'll know if I'm taking one. If I take one, he'll know – so I'll take them all, and he won't be able to count them to see how many are mising!" All the other characters show up – the girl, the king, the policeman, the crocodile, the robber, and unite in chasing the devil.

Max und Moritz. Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen

by Wilhelm Busch · published 1865 · read 2000-01-01

Max and Moritz is an extremely quotable gruesome story of two boys and their pranks. It's written in rhymed couplets, many of which have turned into common sayings because they are witty, sarcastic, or just brutal. They are in many ways an integral part of German culture, I suppose, but more importantly they were an inescapable part of my family's culture. Being able to quote Max & Moritz was a survival skill.

Emil in the Soup Tureen

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1963 · read 2001-04-01

Adorable book for kids. Emil is wonderful, as is everybody else. As usual, Astrid Lindgren doesn't flinch away from real life, so Emil is for instance regularly locked away because his parents don't know how to deal with him.

Immer dieser Michel

by Astrid Lindgren · read 2001-12-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Pippi Langstrumpf

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1945 · read 2001-11-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Tomte Tummetott

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1961 · read 2004-01-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Igraine the Brave

by Cornelia Funke · published 1998 · read 2004-02-01

Igraine is a very sweet book for kids. Igraine wants to be a knight, not a boring wizard like everybody else in her family, and she gets her wish – and has to save her family in the process. A bit saccharine in the general direction, possibly, but the execution borders on dry and is just generally sparking joy.

Das doppelte Lottchen

by Erich Kästner · published 1949 · read 2001-01-01

Das doppelte Lottchen (English: Lottie and Lisa) is exactly what I loved to read as a child. The story of the twins Liese and Lotte, who were split up soon after birth when their parents separated. Once the two very different girls realise they are twins at a summer camp, they decide to switch places.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

by J.K. Rowling · published 1997 · read 2001-09-01

Harry Potter – look, I can't be objective. I grew up on these books. My friends and I could act out entire scenes by heart. I went through the cycle a generation experienced: Love, obsession, disappointment (to varying degrees, mine was fairly light), detachment (in many cases by growing up, in my case by discovering fanfics).

Die rote Zora und ihre Bande

by Kurt Held · published 1941 · read 2007-08-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain · published 1875 · read 2002-10-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver

by Michael Ende · published 1960 · read 1999-05-01

Lukas, and Jim, their steam locomotive Emma, and their shared adventures fascinated me a lot. I remember being read these stories (and drawing in the book) when I was three, and I loved them to pieces. Later at the mature age of five I found out about the marionette theatre version – a four part musical by the wonderful Augsburger Puppenkiste, and I … fanboyed.

Odd and the Frost Giants

by Neil Gaiman · published 2008 · read 2016-06-11

It's a Gaiman fairytale, about a wonderful boy among the vikings and their gods, and that's all you need to know.

Der Räuber Hotzenplotz

by Otfried Preußler · published 1962 · read 1999-09-01

As Alarm im Kasperletheater, this book is a riff off the usual characters of a Punch-and-Judy show. There's the Robber, Hotzenplotz, who opens the book by stealing(!) grandmother's coffee grinder, which is particularly beautiful and plays a melody while you grind the coffee.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

by Roald Dahl · published 1964 · read 2006-08-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Matilda

by Roald Dahl · published 1988 · read 2004-10-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Witches

by Roald Dahl · published 1983 · read 2006-03-01

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Winnie ille Pu

by A.A. Milne · published 1926 · read 1999-01-01

by Carlo Collodi · published 1883 · read 2001-04-01

Further Reading

Lotta on Troublemaker Street

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1958 · read 2003-06-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Madita

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1960 · read 2001-01-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Pinocchio

Just like I knew who Darth Vader was for a decade before I watched Star Wars, I knew the story of Pinocchio by ambient cultural knowledge: The puppet that wanted to be a real boy, and couldn't lie without getting a longer nose. Two impressions come to mind when I remember reading it:

Die feuerrote Friederike

by Christine Nöstlinger · published 1970 · read 2003-01-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Die Wilden Hühner

by Cornelia Funke · published 1993 · read 2004-11-01

Generic-but-good girl series, where the girls do lots of adventurous things and are way cooler than the boys, and very matter-of-fact. I liked it a bit as a kid, though I mostly read it for lack of other things to read. I can still name some of the characters and their general vibe (ok, mostly Sprotte), which is a mark in favour of the book.

Die Wilden Hühner: Fuchsalarm

by Cornelia Funke · published 1998 · read 2004-10-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Die Wilden Hühner und das Glück der Erde

by Cornelia Funke · published 2000 · read 2008-03-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Dragon Rider

by Cornelia Funke · published 1997 · read 2007-04-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost

by Cornelia Funke · published 1993 · read 2001-02-01

I have a vaguely positive memory of this book, but that's about it. The protagonist was nice, had an annoying older sister, and dealt with ghosts with cleverness and hacked up techy devices? It's basically the Cornelia Funke boy series to her more famous girl series.

Der 35. Mai oder Konrad reitet in die Südsee

by Erich Kästner · published 1931 · read 2003-08-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Struwwelpeter: Fearful Stories and Vile Pictures to Instruct Good Little Folks

by Heinrich Hoffmann · published 1845 · read 1998-02-01

An old book of German horror stories to frighten, erm, educate! kids. The rhymed stories are terrifying and illustrated, and I can still recall lots of the rhymes now. They include

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

by J.K. Rowling · published 1998 · read 2003-10-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Joanne Gise · published 1990 · read 2002-01-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle · published 1962 · read 2018-02-26

Started off as five star book, ended as a three star book. I found the religious … themes very jarring, much less low-key than in Diane Duane's books. The descriptions and characters were great, the story and pacing a bit lacking.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain · published 1884 · read 2003-04-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Night of Wishes

by Michael Ende · published 1989 · read 2002-11-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Jim Button and the Wild 13

by Michael Ende · published 1962 · read 1999-11-01

The second part of the Jim Button series is still super imaginary, and this time concerns rebuilding (well, expanding, really). It's fun, but lacks the deep strength of the first part. Also, finding out that Jim is a descendant of one of the Three Kings is kind of random and when I re-read the book, I was confused and suspicious about Ende's motivation.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

by Newt Scamander · published 2001 · read 2001-10-01

I loved this book as a kid, both for the fantastic beasts and for the scrawled notes by Harry, Ron and Hermione. Imagine if the Silmarillion came with scrawled notes in the margins from Gandalf and Galadriel.

Der kleine Wassermann

by Otfried Preußler · published 1956 · read 2000-09-01

A nice little book for children. Nothing special per se, but I think the way life under water is portrayed is very well done. The smallest common issues are considered – where is the young waterman allowed to swim? Where's home? How does he have to dress and what are his chores? This kind of attention to reality and detail is what I still love when reding sci-fi.

The Little Ghost

by Otfried Preußler · published 1966 · read 2001-06-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Neues vom Räuber Hotzenplotz

by Otfried Preußler · published 1969 · read 2000-12-01

The second part of the Hotzenplotz series is nice and fun, and not worse than the first part. But somehow the fact that there is a second part makes it more common, less exciting. I remember listening to this audio book a lot, and I like that it again emphasises being clever and tricking the opponent.

Hotzenplotz 3

by Otfried Preußler · published 1973 · read 2001-01-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers · published 1934 · read 2002-02-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Eine Woche voller Samstage

by Paul Maar · published 1973 · read 2000-05-01

This is the first part of a very German series of books for children. The Sams (from "Samstag", "Saturday") appears the the very dull, very anxious office worker Herr Taschenbier after for a full week every day fulfills its literal name, making the book basically untranslatable. The Sams has blue dots all over its face, and whenever you make a wish, a dot disappears and the wish comes true.

Am Samstag kam das Sams zurück

by Paul Maar · published 1980 · read 2000-11-01

The second part of the Sams is not bad, it just doesn't stand out either. I have little memory of the plot, and what I remember is not extremely amazing. Stick with the first part, imo.

Neue Punkte für das Sams

by Paul Maar · published 1992 · read 2001-06-01

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Ein Sams für Martin Taschenbier

by Paul Maar · published 1996 · read 2001-08-01

I don't have many memories of the third Sams book. I think I had more pity for Martin than for his father, because kids being bullied was relatable, whereas adults who were bullied looked weird and even contemptuous to me. But at the same time, I think both Martin and his father were self-inserts, and Paul Maar just is a better adult than kid. Or he just had forgotten about being a kid.

The World of Poo

by Terry Pratchett · published 2012 · read 2020-04-23