Cousin Martti comes to visit Hilja, and it can mean only one thing: a full week of snow fun! Snowball fights, skiing trips, ice-fishing competition and other winter adventures become so wild that Mom needs to put an end to it. But Hilja knows how to make even the most boring day fun!
How to help someone who does not want to be helped?
Charlie, aged 11, is more interested in hairstyles, fashion, music and skateboarding than focusing on school. Things get difficult when Charlie’s parents divorce and his mother, who has found a new family, leaves Charlie to stay with his dad.
Charlie´s plush monkey Mung Kee, a talented member of the Plush Animal League (P.A.L.), sees his misery and tries to help. But Mung Kee´s attempts are disturbed by the Gang President who is actively looking for a child to join his ranks to work as an undercover agent.
Julia and her plush toy agent Buck come to help and join Mung Kee in his mission to show Charlie the fatal consequences of letting his pain turn into anger.
Toy Story meets The Avengers! The first part of the new exciting middle-grade series where plush animals have super powers.
Illustrations by Nadja Sarell
More than anything else, Julia, 10 years, wishes that somebody would like her. She can explain the structure of the universe, but has no idea how to talk to her classmates. What she doesn’t know is that she already has her very own best friend – her toy bunny Buck, who in reality is a top secret agent of the Plush Animal League (P.A.L.).
The P.A.L. headquarters is located in outer space where the agents follow children through their monitor, ready to act immediately when their child needs help. And Julia does! Buck turns Julia’s bed into a magic flying spacecraft and takes her on a ride through space and time. Buck wants to show Julia that the same things that make her feel out of place among her classmates now, are her unique character strengths that will make her happy and loved in the future. But the P.A.L. has an enemy; the Soldiers of Vombat, an army of forgotten toys. They plot to overtake Plush Animal League and control children’s actions and wishes. Julia finds out that she is the only one who can stop the evil plan!
Book 4: Hilja and the operation Christmas magic
Christmas is coming to the Green house! There’s only a month to find out:
a) whether elves really exist, b) where did the gifts disappeared from the hallway, and c) whether things you can’t see can still be true.
Hilja’s sister Veini claims that Christmas is just a publicity trick, but Hilja decides to prove that Christmas is real and magical. A secret operation begins, and it involves making an elf trap, lots of secret notes and spying on neighbors. Even Santa is not having it easy – he has to take part to Hilja’s lie detection test.
Many, many miscommunications are ahead before the family of the Green house can finally calm down for Christmas.
Nadja Sarell is an illustrator living in Helsinki, Finland. She graduated with MA in Dance from Theatre Academy Helsinki. Soon after that she moved to a small town in North Wales to study children’s book illustration. She graduated from North Wales School of Art and Design with BA in Illustration for Children’s Publishing in 2004.
Since then she has worked as a freelance illustrator for children’s publishing in Finland and abroad. She loves to teach art, illustration and dance for both children and adults. She is also passionate about surface pattern design and enjoys creating charismatic, expressive book characters.
If Nadja was an animal, she would be a cat living in an old mansion with a large fireplace and a comfy sofa. Her favourite things are her family, music, dancing, black coffee and chocolate.
Book 3 of Hilja series
The long-awaited fall break is here. Hilja and the neighbourhood grannies all squeeze into a tiny car and take a trip to the big city. The city is full of things to do, but are the grannies taking care of Hilja – or the other way around?
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Mäkelä (orig.)
GERMANY: WooW Books
Book 2 of Hilja series
Hilja is starting the first grade. Things are going well: she has practiced reading with the cows at the farm, and new friends are nice. But Hilja’s big mouth gets her into troubles every now and then.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Mäkelä (orig.)
GERMANY: WooW Books
Book 1 of the Hilja series
An exciting and fun book series for primary school readers. Also allowed for adults!
“I got the name Hilja (engl. quiet) because Mom and Dad thought I would be as calm as my big sister. But I can tell you that moms and dads don’t always know everything…”
Hilja is a seven-year-old girl who lives in a wooden house that always needs some fixing. Her family consists of her mother, father, little sister Taimi and big sister Veini. Grandpa is also closely involved in the life of the Green House. He helps Dad with the renovation, takes the kids to fish, and tells jokes. Hilja has only seen her grandma in an old photograph. However, there are three ladies in the neighborhood who are making sure that Hilja doesn’t have just one grandma but three!
The late summer is full of hustle and bustle. Weather they are celebrating something, catching fish or making Midsummer magic it is never boring! When cousin Martti comes to visit, Agent H and Agent M begin a spy mission to Aunt Strawberry’s house. The excursion ends up in the aunt’s vegetable garden, where secret agents are assigned the task K – weeding.
The idyllic countryside scenery provides room for imagination. These stories are not full of action and crime., but life in the Green house is never too smooth, and the story is spiced with just the right touch of anarchist humor.
Rights sold:
FINLAND: Mäkelä (orig.)
ESTONIA: Eesti Raamat
GERMANY: WooW Books
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