As of: December 21, 2024 6:00 a.m
We present three non-fiction books for younger children that are also exciting for adults. There is a lot to discover about our colorful world in all three books.
“Crawling Animals – Really Big” by Emily Bone and Fabiano Fiorin
“Crawling Animals – Really Big” was published by dtv and costs 16 euros.
Books about the dazzling and sometimes scary world of insects have now become classics. “Crawling Animals – Really Big” takes the expedition through the awe-inspiring realm of six- to eight-legged creatures to a new level. There is no didactic approach here based on species or habitats. But rather: How big are the largest insects? They are of course shown in their original size. Who has the most legs? Who is the best? And who are the most poisonous killers? All of this is captured impressively in beautiful images and concise texts. Some pages can also be folded out so that you can spread out the entire panorama of crawling madness in front of you. The only thing that would have been desirable was a little more information about where the insects live (fortunately the giant spider, for example, is not here).
“Buchstabenhausen” by Maja Beinebauer and Jonas Tjäder
“Buchstabenhausen” was published by Oetinger and costs 17 euros.
The idea of illustrating the entire alphabet in a funny way is not new. But Maja Beinehauer and Jonas Tjäder have thought of something very special here: because their letter pictures are all small works of art, they are apartments, rooms, halls – all kinds of dwellings. For each drawing there is an eight-line verse that describes the letter house and tells a short story. Not only is the letter introduced, but a small universe is also brought to life, such as the supermarket on the corner with a capital “S”, a museum with “M” or the gym with “T”.
Step into the T, the training begins. First a warm-up, then sprint laps. Don't trip yet, a lot of people were screaming here. Then non-slip flooring burns your knees.
Reading sample
A wonderful panopticon in which there are still things to discover even after reading it many times!
“Today we celebrate!” by Volker Mehnert and Lena Kathinka Schaffer
Of course, the subtitle “Celebrations Around the World” makes this book particularly attractive for the holidays. And it does what it promises. The book published by Gerstenberg is a read-aloud book with a little more text. The author Volker Mehnert is less interested in taking exotic trips to celebrate Chinese New Year than in highlighting the similarities in celebration and why people celebrate.
“Today we celebrate!” is published by Gerstenberg and costs 16 euros.
And very important: Hanukkah and the breaking of the fast, Eid al-Fitr, are also celebrated everywhere in Germany! This awareness of a multicultural society, where many schools now hold a winter festival instead of the usual Christmas party in order to include everyone, requires that one even knows what other festivals are celebrated. The non-fiction book makes a small selection, but then takes even more time to do justice to the celebration, including double-page illustrations. The religious origins of many festivals are respected – but the religious content is formulated with the appropriate distance. Instead of “Christians believe…” it says: “The Bible says…”. Parents have to take a closer look at how they want to handle this.
