Oma-approved books that sing
From "Hoppe hoppe Reiter" to "Schlaf Kindlein schlaf," songs German families have sung for generations. Performed and illustrated by native speaking artists.
This is my granddaughter's favorite book. She picks it up off of the shelf first thing in the morning. She's even starting to repeat some of the words!
Oma B., Verified Buyer
Behind the illustrations
Meet Madeline, the artist behind our German collection
Every Lufi & Friends book is illustrated by a native speaker of that language, someone who grew up with these songs, stories and culture.
Madeline
Illustrator · German collection
What is the one snack or drink that fueled your creativity for the German collection?
Coming from a waitressing background, which I did as a side job at that time, I was around food a lot when I started freelancing and maybe that subconsciously influenced my illustrations. The place I worked at was pretty diverse and served burgers, bowls, baked potato, fajita, chicken curry and steak. But of course no german restaurant should be missing Schnitzel, so they had that as well. As a german, who probably should love Schnitzel the most, am I allowed to say that the burgers were – and still are – my favourite?
How did you choose the color palette or style for the German collection?
My style before this job was actually pretty different with more harsh and continuous lines and filled color surfaces, a little like a comic. So trying this new style made me fall in love with digital art even more and I actually like this one better as it’s a little more authentic and adds more character. And for the colors, I personally am an autumn girly, who loves reading by the fireplace and watching a show, so I think the darker colors kind of reflect that part of my personality. Warm, cozy and peaceful, like autumn and like me.
Which song was the most fun to illustrate?
Illustrating for Lufi and Friends was one of my very first illustration jobs after going freelance. I had learned graphic design in Munich and moved to Cologne after graduating. But I couldn’t find a 9-5 job in the creative field for 1,5 years, so I was waitressing this whole time, until it was the end of the year, when I decided to just go freelance. So being able to illustrate for all of my childhood songs is still so special to me, but the most special one would be “Schlaf Kindlein Schlaf”. My Mom would always sing this lullaby to me when I was really young and couldn’t sleep. My Mom, who always was a role model and gave me the confidence to go freelance in the first place.
