A completely normal day in the Dackeltal? Think again! For Nika, Lotte and Mangold, new adventures are waiting just around the corner. Mangold overhears the ringing of her alarm clock one morning and her ruffled hair is the source of much amusement at school. In a classroom lesson about dinosaurs, Lotte unexpectedly reaches her own limits. And after Nika tells her friends a scary story while out camping, events take a spooky turn. Meanwhile, a storm is gathering over the Dackeltal that will turn the three friends’ world upside down.

In seven new episodes, Nika, Lotte and Mangold face unknown challenges and continue to grow as characters. With unique wit and charm, the latest issue of the beloved children’s comic series emphasizes the value of friendship and creativity in turbulent times. One thing is certain: Nika, Lotte and Mangold are full of surprises.

A canopy of leaves, spiraling into the sky. Patterns of light on moss-covered bark. Soft undergrowth beneath our feet. In her newest book, Carmen José takes us on an artistic walk in the woods. Poems, watercolor paintings, and line art thoughtfully question established forms of drawing and creative pedagogy: When did we learn to represent trees in a certain way? And what does this say about our relationship to the world?

“I Don’t Know How to Draw a Tree” is an invitation to rediscover creativity beyond the demands we have learned to place on ourselves. Through the example of trees in all their facets, colors and shapes, the book sketches a philosophy that foregrounds the intuitive joy of the creative process itself. And the delight of encountering the world with an open mind.

With the first rays of sunlight, we wake up in the house of an adventurer. We get up, put on our clothes, have breakfast, and pack our belongings because we are about to set off on a journey: We get on a bike, take the bus and glide through the clouds on a plane. We sink to the bottom of the ocean, set foot in a jungle, encounter wild animals, investigate caves and palaces, wander through the mountains, and uncover a secret.

“Thank you alarm clock, thank you shoes, thank you pebble, thank you horizon…” The duo Icinori reinterprets the concept of the word picture book by thanking an everyday object that has become invisible through our daily routines on each page. Each element leads to the next one and so, piece by piece, an exciting story unfolds with dramatic and wonderful events.

Kaja Meyer’s book debut begins quietly and almost inconspicuously: the main character Worm is having breakfast in the dining room while a new day begins outside his window. But internally, he is plagued by a nameless pain for which even the sky knows no answer. Thus, Wurm embarks on a journey that will bring more questions than certainties, more opaqueness than clarity.

Inspired by the worm that is briefly mentioned as a symbol for suffering in Franz Schubert’s song cycle “Winterreise” from 1827, Kaja Meyer examines the emotional landscapes that are not easy to grasp but can be shaped graphically. With stylistic variety and atmospheric abstraction, “Was drängst Du denn so wunderlich, mein Herz?“ finds images in the face of existential uncertainty that float across the page like the sets of a theater piece while at the same time inviting readers to get lost in every detail.

With her latest work „Schnee”, moki leads readers into the wintry landscapes of her childhood. In the center of her memories stands the boundless enthusiasm for the ever-present snow and for playing with her siblings outside. While building snow castles, sledding, and searching for icicles, time moved so fast that the children only returned to their home at sunset.

With fascinating drawings in which ice crystals solidify into fantastical beings, moki captures formative experiences of her childhood. The expressive illustrations convey a sense of childlike imagination and entice readers to dive into the story. At the same time, “Schnee” offers glimpses into a world of experience that has become rare in many places.

Cricket chips, dragonfly slippers and glitter bracelets – the supermarket is full of the very best things and little bat Pascaline wants to have absolutely everything. But her mother says No and will not budge. Begging and crying are no use. But, oh dear! Through her constant begging and drooling, Pascaline becomes all soft and slimy – like a slug. What bad luck that slugs are on the menu of a crested tit close by. Thus, the adventurous day of Pascaline begins.

In her new book, picture book creator Beatrice Alemagna lovingly and artfully dives into the emotional world of children. Along the way, she shows us how useful a change of perspective can be to realize which things are truly important.

Translated from French by Irène Bluche.

Dogs in colorful sweatshirts, the glowing signs of a Vietnamese fast-food restaurant, solitary palm trees above the pavement: “Ready America” takes us on a ride through a both strangely familiar and quite alien Los Angeles. Packaging inscriptions, neon signs, and billboards fuse into an appealing typographic montage while the familiar faces of characters of the Sesame Street, Looney Tunes, and Peanuts peek out between stores and offices, clinics, and morgues. With her unmistakable wit, Anna Haifisch highlights the idiosyncrasies of a country in which catastrophes seem just as ordinary as the sight of a coyote in the Hollywood Hills.

There are days where you cannot avoid the challenges of life. When even the distractions from the distractions have lost their power, it is time to get up and get things done. After her soulful exploration into the emotional world of stones in „Stones“ and her meditations about fear in „Paniktotem“, Nadine Redlich now brings attention to the struggles of everyday life in „Doing the Work“.

The new comic from the world of Marylène follows the fate of two unequal half-sisters. The older one, Gigot, is small and timid; the younger one, Gousse, slim and daring. They are indispensable to each other and so nothing and nobody can separate Gousse and Gigot. As daughters of the despicable tyrant Victor von Krantz, they grew up in a snake pit and after the murder of their father were forced to live as outcasts and drifters. In their search for a safe home, both repeatedly become pawns of the powerful in the land Marylène. But the half-sisters are far from defenseless.