12 FUN GERMAN KIDS' BOOKS ON CAMPING
Summer time is camping time! Do you want to prepare your child for the experience or just revive your own adventures, or maybe you are like me: not a big fan of camping in real life, but love the read the stories of the little microcosmos of the camping site or the nature adventures? Here are our favorites for all kinds of ages.
Eilika Mühlenberg
CAMPING
You could call this picture books without words a Wimmelgeschichte. In beautiful bright green and yellow colors Mühelnberg offers illustrations with lots of details on a camping site, with various people popping up on every page and in particular a little inflatable crocodile. Another constant theme: the weather and its effects on camping. Great book to prepare the little ones on camping - or relive the memories and explore.
3 years and older.
Nina Gruener,
LULU & PIP
Lulu lives in a big city. One day she together with her doll Pip, heads out to the woods to go camping. They fish, they swim, they met a stray donkey... and get briefly lost in the woods... A dreamy, maybe not most realistic revery of camping with beautiful photos. Very cute.
3 years and up
Philip Waechter
ENDLICH WIEDER ZELTEN!
Beautiful, breezy illustrations with a bit of a comic feel, but a truly authentic depiction with a good sense of humor are the trade marke of Philip Waechter and this picture book is no exception. It portrays all the good and bad that comes with camping: adventure, camp fires, the sky full of stars. But also bad weather, snoring and annoying neighbors at the camp site. Great fun for kids and parents alike!
4 years and up
Sven Nordquist
PETTERSON ZELTET
The old farmer Petterson has invented some incredible fishing device and wants to go camping in the mountains with his cat and buddy Findus. But then the chicken want to join and so they all just stay in the garden. They do go fishing. And they do sleep in the tent, though all is different as planned.
Petterson is a classic and all time favorite with kids!
4 years and up
Saskia Hula / Felicitas Horstschaefer
100 GRÜNDE FÜR URLAUB IM ZELT
There are about 100 reasons why camping is no fun. You have to to take absolutely everything along, then you are squeezed in between all that stuff in the car, the car ride takes forever, there is no TV, no computer, no real toilets, the sleeping sack is tight, the floor you lie on uneven, there are jellyfish in the sea.... But there are also 100 reasons why camping is great.
This picture book narrated by a girl who writes it all down herself. And simple drawings, that seem by a kid. Great fun for camping lovers and haters.
Sarah Welk
ACHTUNG; FERTIG, FERIEN!
Sommer, soccer and camping - that is what this chapter book is all about. Bela and his brothers are excited about the holidays and the upcoming world cup, but to their dismay their parents want to go camping. Wild camping with no TV and no digital devices. The idea what a great vacation looks like obviously differ greatly. The three bothers as always have some creative ways to get their way - and they end up at a camping site with the next door campers being avid soccer fans. They are also enforcers of rule and order, so some trouble lies ahead.
6 years and up (as a read aloud, 8 years otherwise)
Manfred Mai
EINE GRUSELNACHT IM ZELT
If you are looking for a beginning reader book, then this book is a good choice. Kids camping are sure to experience some adventure, even if it is only in the garden. In the middle of the night they hear some roaring outside. It sounds like a lion.
7 years and up (depending on the level your child is reading at. It is level 2).
Martin Widmark
DAS CAMPING-GEHEIMNIS
If your child likes detective stories, Detektivbüro Lasse-Maja is a good call: Lasse and Maja this time are camping with Miranda and her little monkey. But on site first their mushrooms get stolen. Then a knife disappears. And then even the cage under sea with precious crabs is gone....
Not too overwhelming language and plot, while at the same time full of clues for the readers to solve the case themselves, this series is greatly enjoyed by young readers (and perfect for bilinguals!) . Comes in big print and fun illustrations
8 years and up
Sandra Brandstätter
LIEBESBRIEF DES SCHRECKENS
Paula is the best at solving riddles. So when her friend Suse finds a love letter without no clue who it is from in front of her camper at the camping site, she knows Paula is the one to ask to find the sender! There is just one problem, Suse isn't aware of. Paula wrote the letter herself, and not for Suse...
Full of humor, but also sympathy for the dilemma Paula is in, this comic also perfectly captures camping life and the very diverse crowd you can find there.
8 years and up
Mareike Krügel
ZELTEN MIT MEERSCHWEIN
Anton is shy, and likes time to himself. Which is not always easy at school. He also is going through a rough period. Not only are his parents divorced, but his mother loses her job just before the summer break and his father cancels their summer vacation together last minute, because he has some important assignment as a journalist. His mother promises he will still have fun and adventure, even without money. And they head out to the outskirts of the city, with a tent and their guinea pig. Unfortunately the camping site is fully booked, but her mother says, they'll just hide in the woods with their tent. Soon Liane turns up, a very strong and independent older girl. And Anton to his surprise forms a friendship with her and learns to stand up for himself.
A great book to read aloud and discuss some of the topics like friendship, poverty, bullying, that despite of that load is still a fun and moving adventure book! (Chldren might need a bit to get into it,)
8 years and up
Lena Hach
DER UNHEIMLICHE FREMDE
Mission Hollercamp is am adventure series that are all set at a camping site: three close friends meet her during vacation times and thus have known each other for years. Leon comes with his parents and sister in a camper, Jakub stays in a small tent with his dad and Emily's grandmother actually lives on the site all year round... There are a diverse crowd, Jakub#s hearing is impaired, Emily has a Indian-British background, but no big deals is made about it.
11 year old Leon loves coming here, because unlike at home he is free to roam and do as he likes. But this year, things are off to a bad start. His cousin, whom he truly dislikes, is joining them. And then things are off at the site, there are hateful writings on the camping signs the anti-mosquito product is mixed l of itching powder. And there is a weird stranger, who roams about barefoot..
9 years and up
Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
DER KLEINE VAMPIR IM JAMMERTAL
If your child is not so much into realistic literature, but prefers fantasy: DER KLEINE VAMPIR, first published 40 years ago, is an all time classic series. The protagonist is 9 year old Anton, who loves vampire stories, and to his great delight befriends two vampire kids. Unfortunately he has to keep this friendship a secret. And to his chagrin the vampire family moves away from the nearby cemetery. But when his parents gift him an adventure camping vacation to a destination of his choice, and with his father only , he brightens up. Of course, he chooses Jammertal, where his vampire friends friends Ruediger and Anna live. Is this really a good idea? In the tent Anton and his dad are not really well protected...
For lovers of scary tales.
8 years and up.
