The German Language
Welcome to the place to learn the German Language! Come here to discuss topics or quirks related to the German language, ask any questions about learning German, provide tips to current learners, and share your journey through the German-learning process!
RULES
-
Make sure anything you plan on asking has not already been answered.
-
No harassing someone over their level of the language of German. Everyone starts somewhere.
-
No harassing period actually. Obviously no bigotry falls under this category.
-
In general, no low effort posts or spam. If you ask a question and it didn't receive much engagement, don't go on to ask it again immediately, at the least remove the original copy.
-
No NSFW. This rule has its loose limits and some exceptions (i.e. commenting on German "dirty talk" and whatnot is alright).
-
Mods are the interpreters of these rules, and have jurisdiction over other cases where a rule isn't explicitly mentioned here, but it is a common sense rule.
-
This community is largely for English speakers learning/discussing German. Other languages aren't outright banned yet, but expect minimal support. If other communities arise for German help in other languages, then those languages will be barred from this community in favor of the new one.
view the rest of the comments
So... I guess the first question is if the books should be written in German or if a good translation is enough. I'll assume the latter and just won't look whether a book was written in German or just translated.
Books aimed at children are a whole industry, more or less. Kids that learn how to read are their own target group, so you'll find any genre you want. However, as the children are supposed to easily identify with their protagonists, they are often about school children doing stuff. More often than not about kids that read a lot and are quiet outsiders. If you can't bear with that trope it'll be a bit harder, but still manageable.
For criminal stories, there are some franchises that have been going on since more or less forever... "???" ("die drei Fragezeichen" and their "kids" spinoff that is targeted at younger audiences) or "tkkg" come to mind. A very German classic is "Emil und die Detektive", which plays in Berlin in the 1920s and holds up very well.
If you're more into fantasy, maybe Michael Ende's more famous works are more to your liking. "Die unendliche Geschichte", "Momo" or "Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer" are classics as well and just excellent. Cornelia Funke also wrote neat books, "Tintenblut" or "Drachenreiter" work really well. Recently, "die Schule der magischen Tiere" was pretty successful and my daughter loved the series.
Astrid Lindgren has good translations. All her stories are terrific. Pick anything. Some "Michael aus Lönneberga" book maybe.
Thank you! I think I will start with Michael Ende. Just looked at the preview of Momo Kindle version and that is exactly the level of language I am looking for. :)