Nits and Mischa - this is a friendship that literally began in the sandpit and seems unshakable, precisely because the two boys are so different: Nits is only inadequately described as "fidgety", Mischa always keeps calm and radiates a security who gratefully accepts the Nits.

In addition, Mischa is a model student, not out of striving, but out of genuine interest in everything possible, especially in animals.

And he is absolutely truthful, never willing, it seems, to tell even the slightest lie.

Tilman Spreckelsen

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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It could go on forever, the mode of friendship is clearly defined, Mischa's little sister Amy plays a role here, as do the rituals that the boys have long since developed and include the way to school as well as gently rousing ducks in the pond.

And a series of shared memories has also accumulated, which appear synchronously in both heads on suitable occasions.

Then, however, comes the announcement of swimming lessons, and what is particularly unpleasant for Nits - the swimming teacher is known for his unpleasant nature - is a real disaster for Mischa.

The explanation he gives to Nits sounds outlandish: they had mice in the apartment, he, Amy and their father, and the animals gnawed his swimming trunks.

Nits has no reason to doubt it, only that his truth-loving friend dished up an obvious fairy tale in his presence a little later.

Accordingly, Mischa has a chlorine allergy, which makes it impossible for him to bathe, and the certificate for this, as Nits finds out, is fake.

What do we know about those we like or even love, what aspects of themselves do they hide from us, and do we even have a right to know them?

The children's book author Stefanie Höfler likes to pursue such questions, sometimes - as in her masterly novel "Dance of the Deep Sea Jellyfish" - by comparing two perspectives on the same event and making her readers realize that two people may experience the same thing, but never the same thing.

Here that means: Mischa invites the now suspicious Nits to share his life much more than before.

He makes the son of a family in which money apparently never played a role familiar with his own poverty, with all the limitations that his single parent and earning father cannot keep away from his children.

Mischa, who is now astonishingly concerned about honesty, takes his friend to the "Tafel" where he provides his family with food that is no longer considered edible elsewhere - in an impressive scene, Höfler cuts against each other how Nits eats strawberries at Mischa and experienced in his family how they are thrown away because they are said to be no longer good.

Höfler sharpens the eyes of her protagonists as well as that of her readers, and the casualness she uses is definitely good for her book.

The fact that boring fathers are generally a blessing, despite some embarrassing moments, is now a topos of modern children's literature.

And of course it would be easy to pillory Mischa's father, who has performative skills that reliably captivate children, for his crooked dealings and his unreliability.

Luckily, Stefanie Höfler avoids that, and when she shows how naturally Mischa takes responsibility in this shrunken family unit - the mother has long since fled - more than is good for him, then on the other hand she leaves no doubt about the unconditional affection this boy for his father.

Can this end well?

In this case yes, thanks to Mischa's talents and the friendship that Nits shows him.

You can build on that.

Stefanie Höfler: "Fire bugs don't lie"

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Novel.

With pictures by Carla Haslbauer.

Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim 2022. 234 p., hardcover, €15.

From 11 years