Opinion
Of unicorns and Riz Casimir: fun, frustration and friendship journals
by Katja Fischer
Just spare me the umpteenth magical children's book series
22/11/2024
Translation: machine translated
Does anyone actually finish telling a story in a stand-alone book anymore? When reading children's books aloud today, I get the impression that only loveless series are written according to marketing scheme X. This is a polemic. A polemic.
My daughter's school recently held its annual storytelling night. "Dreaming" was the motto and I read excerpts from the book "Anton Monster Hunter: A Dream on the Run". I often read aloud at home too.
I inherited my love of reading aloud from my mum, who read children's books to me and my siblings (almost) every night before bed when we were children. "Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver", "The Merry Adventures of the Little Horse" or "The Neverending Story".
Series have been around for a long time - thanks Enid Blyton
One loveless formula F please
The aforementioned "Anton Monster Hunter" is also a series. It's about a boy who discovers on his 10th birthday that he has magic in him and is therefore a monster hunter. He then transfers to a special school for monster hunters and has some wild adventures with his two new best friends, or rather a friend and a girlfriend. Sound familiar to you? Sounds suspiciously like a Harry Potter scenario ...
Unfortunately, no one seems to be seriously bothering to embed these scenarios in independent worlds with believable characters who go through something like a development as the stories and series progress. A few stereotypical children here, a few 08/15 adults there, a few weird birds and semi-magical creatures and there you have it - a boring set-up for the children's book cow that can be milked to death.
There are so many good stand-alone stories
I know I'm about to position myself as a middle-aged person who romanticises their own childhood (a little). But I miss stories that are told in a book. Characters, storylines and worlds that I can really immerse myself in. And from which I come out again when the story is over. I'm thinking of "Momo", "The Neverending Story", "Peter Pan", "The Red Zora", "Krabat" or "Lord of the Thieves".
With the latter I come to Cornelia Funke, who is still working on her comprehensive oeuvre today - and with the "Wild Chickens" has also written a children's/young adult book series and expanded her Ink World into a tetralogy last year. Alongside Funke, I'm also a big fan of Walter Moers' Zamonien world, in which many stories are now also set.
Of course, I am fully aware that, despite my dislike of what I perceive as uninspired concept series, there are many authors who write great children's and young adult literature.
And because the latest volume of the "School of Magical Animals" will soon be read aloud, I'm already looking for the next cool book to read to my daughter. So that I can spare her from my old-man suggestions of perceived and actual classics, I'm interested to know which books - NO SERIES PLEASE - you can recommend for me and my soon-to-be 10-year-old daughter.
Header image: Oliver Fischer
Oliver Fischer
Teamleader Editorial
Oliver.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.chGlobetrotter, hiker, wok world champion (not in the ice channel), word acrobat and photo enthusiast.
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