Max wants a story. But not a read one. Ralf Bleile is supposed to come up with a story for the eight-year-old so he can fall asleep well. “And then I just told the story of the dragon with aggressive parents and his animal friends. And I noticed that Max liked it,” says the 58-year-old, who somehow owes his second career as a children’s book author to the son of a friend.
Four years later, Bleile celebrates a premiere. For the first time, he reads to a larger audience from “The Dragon from the Water Drop”. The around 60 children from the third and fourth grades of Sieverstedt Primary School in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg are dead quiet when the man, who is director of the State Museum for Archaeology in Schleswig by profession, begins to read. And they will remain so for 45 minutes.
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It is a fantastic story in which the eagle “Horst” befriends the dragon, they together with other animals save a fawn from being shredded by a combine harvester, and experience many other adventures. “This book has been written from the heart,” says Bleile.
Children’s books as declarations of love
Will there be a sequel to the book, a boy asks the author. But he denies, even though he already has four more books in mind – one for each of his four children. “My youngest, who is about Max’s age, also wanted a written story from me at some point,” says Bleile. “And then the others naturally also wanted one.” His children are now 13, 17, 19, and 25 years old and are out of the children’s book age. “But they appear in the books, so they can recognize themselves,” says the father. “They are also small declarations of love.”
Life stories from the north
Not all books should be set in a fantasy world like his debut, the author explains. “But they all take place in Schleswig-Holstein, the next one for example in Tönning.” Bleile does not reveal what happens in it and what it is called, even to his young listeners at the primary school, although they bombard him with questions after 45 minutes of listening – and are a bit disappointed that they have not yet learned the end of “The Dragon from the Water Drop”. “I’ll give you a book for your new school library, then everyone can read it,” says Bleile.
Children’s books with social criticism
His books should not only encourage reading, but also thinking. It quickly becomes clear in his debut that the archaeologist has something to say. Not about excavations or the past, but about life in the present. “It’s something completely different to come up with stories from your own creativity. My scientific and museal work follows rules, is teamwork and deals with the ideas of many people,” says Bleile. “In contrast, I can let my own imagination run wild in my children’s books and sometimes ignore rules if I, for example, ban a whole world into a water droplet.”
The book is about cohesion, about children helping other children and showing adults how to make togetherness work. This is not always easy to follow, and the poems that Bleile has interspersed are certainly not easily consumable for every child.
Requests for further readings can be sent to Ralf Bleile via email at ralfbleile@web.de.
