By Peter Budig

Nuremberg, Burgschmietstrasse 2-4. The top floors of the office building provide an unobstructed view of the Kaiserburg – the Imperial Castle and symbol of Nuremberg. This location, where history is immediately apparent, could not be more perfect for a long-standing company like Tessloff, a leading publisher of children’s books that has sold 100 million fact books in its WAS IST WAS series worldwide. How do children’s books still manage to reach their target audience these days? How are things going for this publisher, a good 60 years young, whose most famous series was still known to 91 percent of all 8- to 12-year-olds and 92 percent of mothers in 2020?
 

International comparison of the reading skills of 9- to 10-year-olds

For 20 years, the PIRLS test (linked page in German only) has been measuring the reading ability of primary school children in different countries. The findings in the 2023 study gave cause for alarm: compared to the test conducted five years earlier, reading skills had improved in 18 countries but worsened in 32. 

WAS IST WAS connects with children of today in their worlds

Katja Meinecke-Meurer, Managing Director of Tessloff Verlag since February 2017, is deeply affected by these numbers: “A good 25 percent of all 9- to 10-year-olds in Germany cannot read in a manner required for successful learning.” This means that they cannot read a text, understand its content and summarise it concisely. But when it comes to business, she remains confident: “Thankfully, books still really matter to young people. We know from surveys that 97 percent of 10- to 19-year-olds prefer printed books. The coronavirus didn’t damage our business, just the opposite in fact,” she smiles. As strong proof of this, she points to the latest bestseller in the WAS IST WAS series – “Demokratie” (English: Democracy) from 2024, certainly not a simple children’s topic.

Democracy explained clearly

The subject of this volume is particularly dear to Katja Meinecke-Meurer and the publishing division – after all, this liberal system of government has seen better days. Having made it their business to convey knowledge to children in a simple and clear way, they approached this topic with their typical professionalism. Janine Wölfel, Press Officer at the publisher since 2023, sees cause for celebration: “This volume is already a bestseller!” The entire WAS IST WAS series has been fully revamped to ensure it continues to engage its readership. “We’ve turned everything on its head”, she explained. The smartphone and tablet generation still reads, but in a different way. “Children don’t read from the top-left corner to the bottom-right of a page anymore”, is one of the publisher’s scientifically validated insights. “They need stimuli and want to be taken on journeys of discovery.” The volume on democracy is a highpoint of the revamped series, covering a subject that might seem to have little entertainment value at first glance and conveying complex knowledge in a child-appropriate way. WAS IST WAS doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable questions: the first double-pager after the contents section features the words “Together for everyone” and a colourful photo with children forming hands reaching for each other. Rather than “discussing” diversity, it is shown as a given. Little text, strong words: 
   Freedom + Equality + Diversity = Democracy
The heart of democracy? A double-pager showing the Bundestag (German parliament) from above, a plenary hall in which members of parliament make speeches, vote and discuss things. The heading of the women’s rights’ section makes reference to the significant effort required to achieve these and the book continues in a clear and colourful fashion, touching on elections (the usually sealed ballot boxes are “opened” for the readers), the duties of members of parliament, majorities, disputes, history and so on.

WAS IST WAS wants to foster an understanding of democracy

The volume has been praised by politicians and critics alike and the principles of democracy explained in the typical WAS IST WAS style have now been set out in an A5 brochure (given out free of charge) as well, which is also available for download. Likewise, the book met with a positive response at a presentation at Nuremberg City Hall: “Democracy needs us! It can only thrive through our collective action in politics, business and civil society. As Council Head of Education, I greatly welcome the commitment shown by Tessloff Verlag to education for democracy. The idea by our Lord Mayor Marcus König to present the WAS IST WAS volume on democracy at Nuremberg City Hall was also just right. Here beats the municipal heart of democracy”, said Cornelia Trinkl in approval.

Bees are synonymous with teamwork

Tessloff’s view on the world is also reflected in the new volume on bees. “For some things, you need a team. Especially in the world of bees”: That’s the statement on the very first double-pager of this revamped WAS IST WAS volume. Large photos, graphics and super facts show and explain how bees clean, build, move home and collect honey for young readers and their equally (if not more) enthusiastic parents. 

Beyond WAS IST WAS: slimers and pooping birds

There are some topics that don’t suit the WAS IST WAS format, but are too fantastic for the Tessloff creators to overlook: that’s why there are books like Stinker, Sauger, Schleimer (English: Stinkers, Suckers, Slimers), this one with a ghoulish Halloween look. The colourful, varied content and the many interesting facts offer great insights into earthworms, leeches, head lice and rats for inquiring minds. The pigeon is presented as a blameless but annoying pooping bird and the tick as an engorged specimen. Ole Häntzschel is the gifted illustrator who creates these double-pagers that even older readers can’t help but be drawn in by.

Winning children over with multimedia offerings

Audio plays, quiz books, games, activity booklets, e-books and the WAS IST WAS Alexa Skills have been introduced to complement the books – the brand is being enhanced and further developed from all sides through multimedia. 

Take, for instance, Galakto, a music and audio player licensed in cooperation with a Berlin-based partner that can play custom “audio tokens” – sound storage media with different themes. The player is particularly easy to use, and there are more and more tokens with new stories being added.

German readers can’t help but hum when they hear the title of theMajor Tom series at least if they are familiar with Peter Schilling’s catchy tune. The tie-in book series entitled Der kleine Major Tom (English: The Little Major Tom, linked page in German only) features the adventures of little Major Tom, the young astronaut Stella and robot cat Plutinchen. 

Tessloff has created another success story: children and their parents are fans of the WAS IST WAS educational podcast, which had already registered 2.75 million downloads in late November 2024 since its launch in March 2021. Covering topics such as Egypt, soccer, the Stone Age (mammoth hunting), the toilet and democracy, the great big world of knowledge that is WAS IST WAS is available in a new, contemporary form of expression.

About the author

Peter Budig studied Protestant theology, history and political science. He worked as a freelance journalist, headed up the editorial department of a large advertising paper in Nuremberg for ten years and was the editor of Nuremberg’s Abendzeitung newspaper. He has been freelancing again since 2014 as a journalist, book author and copywriter. Storytelling is absolutely his favourite form.