Country: Germany | Our Mythical Childhood Survey

Cornelia Funke

A Griffin’s Feather [Drachenreiter: Die Feder eines Greifs] (Dragon Rider, 2)

Die Feder eines Greifs is the sequel to Drachenreiter / Dragon Rider (1997, Engl. transl. 2004). The main character of the novel is 14-year-old Ben who was also the protagonist of Dragon Rider. In the first book, he was rescued by the dragon Lung / Firedrake as an orphan in London and became his dragon rider. Now Ben has been adopted by the Wiesengrund / Greenbloom family and is living with them in Norway, where they run a sanctuary for mythical (and non-mythical) creatures, MÍMAMEID(...)

literary

YEAR: 2016

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Cambyses Centaur(s) Charybdis Cyclops / Cyclopes Dragons Griffins / Gryphons Medusa Nymphs Ouranos / Uranus Pegasus Phoebe Phoenix (Bird) Scylla Sphinx

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Awakens [Arkadien erwacht] (Arcadia, 1 [Arkadien, 1])

A shy seventeen year old girl, Rosa Alcantara, comes from Brooklyn, New York, and is of Italian descent. After having been raped she had to undergo an abortion. One day, she travels by plane to Palermo in Sicily in order to attend the funeral of a leader of the mafia clan called Carnevares. Rosa’s situation within her family is complicated: her father died several years earlier and her mother, who left Sicily a long time before that, does not want to have any contacts with her relatives, w(...)

literary

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Lamia Lycaon Metamorphosis

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Burns [Arkadien brennt] (Arcadia, 2 [Arkadien, 2])

When Rosa Alcantara and Alessandro Carnevare try to be intimate, they are transformed into mythical beasts, the moment they get too close to each other. The reason for this lies in the fact that they belong to different mafia clans, which have been adversaries for centuries. Therefore, their fate seems to be an eternal fight against each other. When they realize the problem, they stop trying to be intimate, Rosa moves to New York and after many years reconciles with her mother Gemma. Her mum esc(...)

literary

YEAR: 2010

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Arcadia Caduceus Hermes Lamia Lycaon Metamorphoses (Ovid's) Metamorphosis

Kai Meyer

Arcadia Falls [Arkadien fällt] (Arcadia, 3 [Arkadien, 3])

During their search in Sicily for a peace bringing ancient statue, Rosa Alcantara and Alessandro Carnevare are attacked by harpies, who look like big owls. Yet, it turns out soon that this mythical statue is missing. In their dreadful fight with the harpies, one ally of Rosa and Alessandro called Quattrini is killed. In due course, it is revealed that the harpies are killers for hire and belong to their own clan, the Malandras. The leaders of the clan are two dangerous sisters, Aliza and Saffira(...)

literary

YEAR: 2011

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Arcadia Caduceus Hermes Lamia Lycaon Metamorphoses (Ovid's) Metamorphosis

Michael Ende

Momo: Or The Strange Story of the Time-Thieves and of The Child Who Gave the Stolen Time Back to Humans [Momo: Oder Die seltsame Geschichte von den Zeit-Dieben und von dem Kind, das den Menschen die gestohlene Zeit zurückbrachte]

When Momo, a little girl between eight and twelve years without parents, moves into the old amphitheatre in a small town, she quickly becomes friends with the local children and grown-ups. The children love to play with Momo because her presence makes them particularly imaginative, and the adults talk to Momo about their problems because she is such a good listener. Then everything changes: The grey gentlemen of the Timesavings Bank gain more and more power over the adults who suddenly have(...)

literary

YEAR: 1972

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Amphitheatre Andromeda Argo Cassiopeia Orion

Anna Bernstein

Night of the Gods [Götternacht]

In a mystic ritual, the seventeen year old girl Leah, the daughter of the chieftain of the Uredos nation, is initiated into the world of adults. From a childhood meeting with centaur Chiron, the god of horses, Leah retained the gift of communicating with horses. The inhabitants of her village suspect her of being a witch and mistrust her. Leah’s father wants her to soon marry Gael, a cruel and inconsiderate chieftain’s son from another tribe. During an orgiastic ceremony of sexual in(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Centaur(s) Chiron / Cheiron Eros

Daniela Ohms

The Blood of the Harpy [Harpyienblut]

The eighteen year old girl Lucie was abandoned in infancy by her mother Aello, who as a harpy was afraid that her baby – half harpy, half human – would be killed by other harpies. Luckily, Lucie was found by Maria, a hermit who lost her own child, and brought her up in a hut at the edge of the woods. After the sudden death of Maria, Lucie found shelter with the family of Maria’s sister in Berlin. There, Lucie goes to school and plays in a local volleyball team. She becomes acqu(...)

literary

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Harpies Metempsychosis Tartarus Underworld

Rebekka Pax

The Heart of the Harpy [Das Herz der Harpyie]

The teenage girl Milena Weyergräber suffers every night from nightmares, in which she transforms into a harpy and guides the souls of the dead into the Underworld. One night, she watches a young man John Ossin dying. He is killed by a Mafia clan called Tsirpas. Although he is already dead, Milena manages to save his soul and bring him back to life. So the supervisor harpy Aello, who has big black wings, punishes her, because Milena has frustrated the rules of the Olympians. The gods do not (...)

literary

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aello Ares Harpies Olympus Thanatos Underworld

Daniela Ohms

The Isle of Nyx. The Children of Shadows [Insel der Nyx. Die Kinder der Schatten] (The Isle of Nyx, 2)

In this second volume of the Isle of Nyx, the teenage girls Eleni and Philine learn that some orphans of Agia Vasiliki, their village on the isle of Crete, disappeared. In accordance with a prophecy of the Fates, Eleni and Philine travel once again to the isle of Atlantis, where the underworld is located. During their scouting, they manage to find the missing children, but at the same time they discover that the children were enchanted by Nyx, the goddess of darkness and death. Through that ench(...)

literary

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Atlantis Chimera / Chimaera Fates Keres Nyx Underworld

Daniela Ohms

The Isle of Nyx. The Prophecy of Gods [Insel der Nyx. Die Prophezeiung der Götter] (The Isle of Nyx, 1)

In this fantasy novel for young adults, 13-year old Eleni, who owns the strange gift to prophesy about other people’s future in her sleep, moves with her mother, Arjana, and half-sister, Leandra, from Berlin to Crete. Arjana is an archaeologist in charge of archaeological excavations of a temple of Zeus there. Soon after their arrival at the island Zeus himself appears to Eleni at night and reveals to her that she will save many people thanks to her courage. She gets to know the mysterious(...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Atlantis Fates Hesiod Hesperides Hypnos Katabasis Nyx Philotes Theogony Underworld Zeus

Michael Ende , Roswitha Quadflieg

The Neverending Story [Die Unendliche Geschichte]

This novel tells the coming-of-age story of 11 year old Bastian Balthasar Bux, an introvert, timid, slightly overweight and un-sporty boy who is bullied at school. Bastian’s mother has died and his grieving father has lost any interest in him. When Bastian reads a mysterious book called Die Unendliche Geschichte (which he steals from a local book shop), he becomes so absorbed in the story that he is drawn into the parallel world of Phantásien (Fantastica). Fantastica is be(...)

literary

YEAR: 1979

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Centaur(s) Dragons Griffins / Gryphons Pegasus Phoenix (Bird)

Sabine Kalwitzki

The Secret of the Roman Gladiator [Das Geheimnis des römischen Gladiators]

Primary-school aged friends Caro and Paul and police dog Benno are transported to ancient Rome by a magic coin. They meet Roman children Flavia and Titus who invite them to their house and tell them about gold-thieves who are burgling Roman houses. The children and Benno spy on the household slave Rufus meeting a stranger and overhear them talking about gold. They suspect that those two are the gold-thieves.At dinner, Flavia’s and Titus’ father Marcus tells the children about gladiat(...)

literary

YEAR: 2013

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Rome

Kathrin Schärer

The Town-Mouse and the Country-Mouse [Die Stadtmaus und die Landmaus]

The town-mouse visits the country-mouse. She is scared of the cows and the rooster, dislikes the smell of the pigs and the wheat field stubble hurts her paws, but she loves the stars of the night sky, the food and the sunrise. Then the country-mouse visits the town-mouse. She is scared by the speed of the city, overwhelmed by the business and smells of the supermarket and frightened by a dog. She also is not used to eating so much. So her friend takes her to quieter streets and shows her the lig(...)

literary

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Aesop Aesop’s Fables Horace

Gerd Scherm

The Wanderers [Die Irrfahrer]

The prophet and scribe Seshmosis, who saved his nation, the Tajarim, from Egyptian bondage thanks to the support of the goddess GON, god without a name, leaves Byblos with his friends in order to travel to Crete. He intends to analyse a mysterious locket there, whose origins are Cretan, and which is inscribed in a secret language. Once arrived in Crete, the adventurers meet not only Minos, the king of Crete, but also his obliging daughter Ariadne and her lover Theseus who is eager to become hims(...)

literary

YEAR: 2007

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Achilles Bible Crete Egypt Labyrinth Minos Minotaur Odysseus / Ulysses Theseus Trojan War

Christof Wolf

We Are Looking for Humans – Real Humans! Socrates and Diogenes in Munich

One day, two philosophers, Socrates and Diogenes, the main “provocateurs” of Antiquity, find themselves together in modern Munich. With a lamp in broad daylight, they both head to look for real humans in the company of the dog Argos. Although two thousand years have passed, they become an object of mockery by citizens, just like in ancient Athens. After they reach the Munich School of Philosophy on Kaulbach Street, the philosophers meet a girl student reading Plato’s works in i(...)

audiovisual

YEAR: 2014

COUNTRY: Germany

TAGS: Argos (Dog) Cynics / Cynic Philosophy Diogenes Philosophy Plato Socrates