We recently came across this fun middle grade series, Bitte nicht öffnen! by Charlotte Habersack that is perfect for 8 to 12-year-olds who love adventure and humor.
The 12-book series revolves around a ten-year-old boy named Nemo, who lives in a small, dull town called Boring. One day an unusual package arrives on his doorstep, addressed to “Nobody, where the pepper grows, at the back of beyond.” The label reads “Do not open” — so of course Nemo opens it. Out tumbles a living, larger-than-life creature that needs to get home. This becomes the recurring formula across the series: Nemo and his best friends Oda and Fred keep receiving mysterious packages, each containing a different fantastical creature (a yeti-knight, a slime monster, a tiny robot, a vampire cat, etc.), and each one immediately causes mayhem across their small town. Somewhere out there is a mysterious sender, whose identity gradually emerges through the series.
My son loves that the books blend lighthearted mystery with slapstick comedy and I liked that the books work well both for independent readers and family read-aloud time and seemed designed to appeal to both boys and girls. The chapters are short and the language is accessible with a lot of humor and wordplay, which makes it accessible to children who are still building stamina, but still engaging for confident readers. After we picked up the first few, I was not surprised to read that the series has won several awards. If you are looking for simpler texts, there is also a simplified spin-off sub-series (Bitte nicht öffnen, sonst…) for beginning readers from about age 6.
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