HOMBREDE

Lange Krallen | Long Claws

Youth novel age 10 and up.

Leonie is sure: In a former life, her cat Bobby was a guard dog. Or a detective. In any case, he has a nose for suspicious things. Bobby can't speak, but they understand each other wordlessly. Since the new neighbours moved into the house opposite, he growls as if they are dangerous people. But they're just overly neat. And show-offs, especially that boy on the trampoline. But why are they always out at night? And what is actually happening in their little town? Leonie wants to know exactly...
A cosy country thriller, a satire on the village nobility and the story of an intense friendship between girl and cat, atmospherically illustrated by Timo Grubing.

Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Autorenwelt.

Es kommt | It Comes

Youth novel age 13 and up.

Everybody knows it. No one can grasp it. Everyone lives with it. But slowly the panic rises...
Darius and Lina live in a village surrounded by nature. But the idyll is deceptive: something approaches from afar. At first, there is a barely audible humming in the air. Then the chirping of the birds falls silent. The unrest among the inhabitants of the village grows. They turn on each other with false prophecies. The situation threatens to escalate. That's when Darius and Lina decide to see what's really in store for them...
An allegory, a mysterious adventure and atmospheric mystery with a twist that no one will see coming.

Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Autorenwelt.

Bens legendäre Skills - Nächstes Level: Reality Check | Ben's Legendary Skills - Next Level: Reality Check

Comic novel age 12 and up.

For the first time, Ben loses a fight in Exploria. Dark Ambush is the name of the new endboss who never plays fair, but trolls and sabotages. In real life it's Marek, one of the new classmates, who came from the flooded Köhler school in the hood to the elaborate Kleist school - which up to now has only created conflicts. Marek makes Ben an unusual offer: He wants to team up with Ben's character Modi within Exploria, provided that Ben enters his hood in order to solve five tasks set by Marek. The district is the focal point of the city, scene of so many horrible legends! A no-go area, as dangerous as Mordor and as treacherous as Vice City. Ben takes all his skills together. With him: Fadi and Emma, who, of all people, has fallen in love with Simon.
A hybrid scavenger hunt between real neighbourhood and videogame, between reality and prejudice.
Dramatic, funny, fierce - and once again illustrated by Michael Holtschulte with a love of detail.

Trailer - Illustrated short reading (Sylvia reads.)
Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Autorenwelt.

Meer geht nicht | Nothing to Sea

Youth novel age 10 and up.

When Sam, Bina and Sharif find out that their new school friend Kevin has never been to sea, they start the mission to bring him to the big water. Heading high north, without parents, without permission and without cell phones, because they could be located by their parents. Their road trip takes them into forests and cities, through days with lunatics, nights with the wolf and a sea that isn't a sea at all. It goes wrong what can only go wrong and at the latest when they are destitute between the spruce trees, the memory-savvy Sam, the super mechanic Bina and the climbing acting talent Sharif throw all their skills together in order to reach their destination. They also teach the adults something through their adventure, because those don't understand until now that the one who's always waiting for tomorrow in order to enjoy life, will be always to late.
An adventure comedy of the new series "Superlesbar" - intentionally catchy written head cinema to promote reading, lovingly translated into Serbian by Kreativni centar.
Awarded the Leipziger Lesekompass 2020 by the Stiftung Lesen in the age group 10-14 years.

Benefit reading for the Kinderhelfer mit Herz. Presentation at the Lesekompass 2020. Short introduction. Langlesung.
Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Autorenwelt. Purchase at Amazon International (Serbian).

Bens legendäre Skills - Liebe deine Endgegner | Ben's Legendary Skills - Love Your Final Bosses

Comic novel age 12 and up.

As a gamer Ben is one of the best. Most of all he masters this new game, that everyone's talking about now: Exploria. The most extensive and above all most wacky open world ever programmed. Or where else you can beat a giant just by climbing up on him into his ears and relief him from an annoying earworm? Exploria is an action-adventure, stealth, role-playing game, logic puzzle and squeaky colorful LSD trip of its developers, who let dangerous roots of rage sprout from the ground. In real life, however. It's not working out for Ben. School is his toughest endboss. So his virtual companion Wirrbart gives him the idea to apply his online acquired skills to reality. Ben tries it out and turns his life into Exploria - with severe side effects.
An in every respect playful comic novel, written by us and illustrated by Michael Holtschulte - all together under a fresh pseudonym by Sylvia Witt, Oliver Uschmann and Michael Holtschulte.

Short reading. Benefit reading for the Kinderhelfer mit Herz. Performance for the Saar Book Fair. Presentation at Liberiarium (Book Haul February 2020).
Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Autorenwelt.

Log out!

Youth novel, age 16 and up.

Discovering the appeal of survival and minimalism, Paul sells all his possessions in order to live outside from now on. A landscaper's son logs himself out just to log in again, because he blogs and produces videos about his experiences, which become unexpectedly successful. His manifestos, limited to 26 episodes, about the tamed human being as a "pet" and the "wild animal", that he's supposed to be, brings him followers and enemies.
During his adventures he falls in love with a woman via mail and chat, without knowing who she is in real life.
Life outside repeatedly confronts him with triggers of the accident, in which his mother died many years ago, challenging him to overcome the trauma once and for all.
An outdoor novel based on a real self-experiment - including survival expertise and guerrilla gardening.

Kaufbei Amazon. Kaufbei Amazon (Tb). Purchase at Autorenwelt (Tb).

Nicht weit vom Stamm | A Chip off the Old Block

Youth novel, age 16 and up.

Once Sven was the hope of his very established family, but today he is a wreck, a thug looking for trouble, a drunk with bad habits.
His self-destruction serves him as self-punishment for the fact that his sister Lina got into an accident on his watch years ago. She forgave him, but he has never forgiven himself.
During her guest year in Australia a man follows her at every turn. He sends Sven photos that prove he could grab Lina at any time. In order to save his sister, Sven has to raise half a million until the end of her stay, unnoticed by his father and the police. In order to meet the demand, Sven is forced to get a grip on himself again, to leave his current gang and win back his old friends.
A development novel from the perspective of a perpetrator - plus a lot of collateral knowledge about how to make money.

Trailer. Conversation.
Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Amazon (Tb).

Das Gegenteil von oben | The Opposite of Above

Youth novel, age 15 and up.

Dennis lives with his mother in one of the two high-rise towers of the railway station district. He cultivates the probably strangest of all hobbies: With binoculars he watches the neighbours in the tower across the street and influences their lives. For the better! His "yellow cards" in letter form end dispute. He puts puzzle books into the post box of the lonely Mrs. Närdemann. As he gets the impression that crimes are happening next door, he starts to investigate.
In the basement of the neighbouring tower he finds rooms of which he cannot make any sense. Uncertain as to what is real and what is just his imagination, he gets into a paranoid downward spiral. Furthermore: school trips, first love, taming a bully and intertextual links with Nicht weit vom Stamm | A Chip off the Old Block and Feindesland | Enemy Land .
An empathic coming-of-age thriller - including teaching material and a great translation into Serbian.

Trailer. Clip. Teaser. Live.
Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Amazon (Serbisch).

Finn remixed

Youth novel, age 13 and up.

This novel is pedagogically risky, because it turns the kids either into responsible citizens or into hedonistic anarchists.
A misunderstanding among the parents leads to the teenagers having a run of all three houses and gardens. The result is a mixture of a g-rated Hangover and the seriously meant attempt to start an own utopian community called Andersland, as learned in strategic build-up games like Anno.
Collateral damage: the interior decoration, the power line and the illicit money cassette of Lukas' father. Around house rebuilding, first drink and permanent party, the young people learn how difficult it is to run a country and that even they themselves are not that different from the adults, when the money runs out.
A fast-paced parable - like both predecessors also published in Poland.

Live.
Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Amazon (Polnisch).

Finn reloaded

Youth novel, age 13 and up.

Flo's mother is very special, especially concerning her partners, and a reasonable man for her is not in sight. This has to change. At least for the last few years until he comes of age, Flo should have a suitable stepfather in the house. Therefore the boys and Lukas' girlfriend Vivien, who Finn has a secret crush on, start to look for the perfect partner for Flo's difficult mother.
The quest ends in chaos and fails colossally, but a few weeks later the perfect man happened to be outside the door with his racing bike. Heiner fulfills all of the teenager's criteria one hundred percent - a rating that does not even refer to the god beings within Marvel's multiverse. So, can this be real?
A family dramedy that is especially popular with the girls - nowhere else does a woman learn better about the character of immature boys between the ages of 12 and 35.

Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Amazon (Polnisch).

Finn released

Youth novel, age 13 and up.

Life's a game and the world's a scenery. The three friends Finn, Flo and Lukas transfer the patterns from video games to real life and undertake missions in it, that they invent for themselves or that the week throws before their feet.
Their biggest quest: Cross-country. Walking the whole day long straight across and do not deviate more than seven metres to the right and left. No matter what comes!
On their adventurous hike over tracks, garage roofs and through secret highway tunnels, sportsman Lukas, Nerd Flo and young mentalist Finn even meet a freelance cameraman who wants to turn her spontaneous adventure into a TV report.
A picaresque novel with a scrap of grass on its trousers, which has long been a school reading - with translatios into Polish and a fantastically designed Serbian version.

Benefit reading for the Kinderhelfer mit Herz.
Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Amazon (Tb). Purchase at Amazon (Polnisch). Purchase at Amazon (Serbisch).