“Nelly und die Berlinchen” by Karin Beese tells the everyday adventurous stories that Nelly and her friends Amina and Hannah experience in the big city.
The heroines of the book are children of color (Nelly herself is a Black girl) who move confidently and creatively through their everyday lives. They are happy, angry, funny, sad or cheeky and stick together.
In witty rhymes and loving illustrations by Mathilde Rousseau, Nelly und die Berlinchen is one of only a few children’s books in German to depict children of color as the heroines of the story.
Experiences of discrimination and acts of discrimination are not addressed in the book.
Nelly and the Berlinchen is an empowering reading experience for children ages three and up. Girls* and boys* who are racially marked can also find themselves in the characters and thus experience themselves as positive, acting and creating.
Karin Beese/Mathilde Rousseau 2016: Nelly und die Berlinchen. Berlin: HaWandel.