(2) 4-6 Translated by Anna Brailovsky. After running away from an abusive stepfather, Niner teams up with con-man Cosmos. Together they hatch a scheme to get to the seaside; this includes selling Niner's guardian angel to a woman in a bar. The events of Niner's life are revealed through plain writing and understated details. Richter's spare story, set against a background of poverty and homelessness, is part fairy tale, part urban parable.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2009

(4) 4-6 Translated by Anna Brailovsky. Illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner. In this strange tale, young Christine befriends a talking cat. The cat gives her advice--sometimes sage, mostly mystifying--as they contemplate eternity. Imaginative strong-lined black, white, gray, and yellow illustrations that play with perspective and proportion act as breaks between the episodic chapters, adding to the sophisticated air of a story best suited to budding philosophers.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(3) 4-6 Translated by Anna Brailovsky. Illustrated by Quint Buchholz. In this quiet, affecting story, Daniel and Lucas's mother is dying of cancer, and their best friend, Anna (the story's narrator), comes to understand that all of their lives will be forever changed. The children's reactions to their first experience with death are heartbreakingly realistic, as their emotional struggles are reflected by their summertime quest to catch an elusive pike.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth