With "Ellie & Oleg", the pandemic has arrived in children's literature. An unprecedented event leads to twelve-year-old Ellie and her eight-year-old stepbrother Oleg finding themselves alone and without a mobile phone in their patchwork family's new home in the middle of the countryside. The story is told from Ellie's perspective about their experiences of the challenges of being on their own. The imposition of being alone, familiar from children's literature, becomes a space for action full of opportunities to grow beyond oneself.
The reader is taken on an emotionally stirring adventure trip with uncertainty about the whereabouts of the parents, a house without neighbours, running out of food, being lost in the open field and far too much responsibility for the little brother. The narrative tone conveys the narrator's perky alertness and bravely controlled despair very accurately. Katja Ludwig often lends a funny tone, supported by Heike Herold's cartoon-like illustrations. But it never gets too funny, because the situation is too serious for that. This is not forgotten at any point in this sophisticatedly narrated children's literary end-time scenario. Ellie's level-headedness, her will to persevere and the unwavering solidarity of the two unequal siblings encourage us to think about our own position in a similar situation.
This title was nominated for the 2023 German Children՚s Literature Award.