Children's Books, Adult Readers

Sarah Haag, editor-in-chief, Planet Girl

Thienemann Verlag is always on the lookout for the next Michael Ende. Ende, award-winning author of the worldwide bestseller The Neverending Story is probably the most famous of the publishing house's discoveries, but by no means its only star. The company put out 185 titles in 2009, and its current top sellers include the most successful children's series in the German speaking market, Freche Mädchen - freche Bücher! (Cheeky Girls - Cheeky Books, for age 12); the first title of a new series about football in the year 3002, Das Z-Team (for age 6); and the picture book Jim Knopf und Prinzessin Li Si, based on Ende's Jim Knopf and Lukas the Engine Driver series.

Founded in 1849 in Stuttgart by Karl Thienemann, the company is one of the oldest children's book publishers in Germany. Theinemann covers a range of books for children ages 3 to 16, everything from picture books to young adult novels.

The biggest trend right now is "all-age" books, says Heinke Schöffmann, information manager at Thienemann. "A number of our books for teenagers are also popular with adults," she says. "Just now, romantic or historical novels for girls are finding their way to adult readers."

Girls are another trend, Schöffmann notes: "It's sad, but girls are reading more than boys," says Schöffmann. But a trend is a trend, and Thienemann isn't sitting back and watching. "The fact that girls read more is why we founded a new imprint last year: Planet Girl, with books for girls from ages 5 to 16," she says.