Family stories kids ask for again and again. In English and in German.
It usually starts somewhere ordinary. The back seat of the car on a long drive. The reading corner before lights out. A walk that was supposed to be about fresh air. One of my children starts telling a story, and I have learned to do the only thing that matters. I listen.
Read our story
This story was told by Granddad to his grandchildren, a tale he carried for years and shared in his own words. It became our first family book, and it keeps his story alive for every child who reads it. Tommy sails out on his uncle's fishing boat and pulls up something no net was ever meant to catch: a mermaid. What he chooses to do next makes him a hero in his village, but the real reward is the peace of knowing he did the right thing.
My son told me this story at age five, because he loves dinosaurs and he loves his family, so he gave the dinosaur a family too. Giggles eats his stew, brushes his teeth to keep them strong, and goes on adventures with the people he loves. It is daily family life seen entirely through the eyes of a five-year-old, and it shows that even something big and scary-looking can be gentle and full of love.
My daughter told me this entire story in one sitting, at age seven, and would not stop until it was finished. It was inspired by her grandparents' golden retriever, and it goes everywhere a seven-year-old's imagination can reach. Giggles and his family follow a treasure map from a waterfall all the way to Africa, travel through fields of candy, and discover that the greatest treasure of all is alive and has a wagging tail.
This story began when Grandma took the children to meet two real horses called Biscuit and Splash. Before they could ride, they had to learn to care for them first, cleaning stables and filling water troughs, because that is how Grandma raised me too. It is a story about kindness and responsibility, and about three generations of one family who believe the best adventures happen outside.
This story was invented by the children's auntie during a visit to England, after a day at a park fair where my daughter held a real owl. That evening the story grew wings of its own. Fairies wake two children at night and carry them to a magical fairground in the middle of nowhere, with rides, candyfloss, and a tree full of enchanted birds, before tucking them safely back into bed with a promise to watch over them always.
The only true story on our shelf. When Svenja was fifteen, she got on a plane by herself and flew from Germany to Utah to spend a school year in America. Svenja is Bengt's younger sister, and every bit of this really happened. Oma, her mother, has told the story in our family for years. We finally turned it into a picture book.
Svenja meets her big host family, makes a friend called Graciela who arrives at the same door with her own suitcase, rides the yellow school bus, and floats in a lake so salty she cannot sink. Some nights she is homesick, and the book says so honestly, because that is part of going far from home. By the last page her heart holds two homes, and it feels just right.
Like all of our books, every page is in English and German. Dawn writes the English and Bengt writes the German, each original, each rhyming, and neither a translation. It is written for children aged 4 to 8, and it was made for families like ours, raising children between two languages.
Five stories, told by the people we love, on paper you can hold.
Behind every book is the story of how it came to be. I share those stories on TikTok.
@bilingualstorybookland on TikTok