Operation Catnap

Crime Story for Kids: "Operation Catnap"Crime Story for Kids: "Operation Catnap"Four young friends come up with a great idea to help Grandpa Carlson. He had lost his house, and a rich old woman had moved in. The kids’ plan is to steal her fat cat and demand a ransom. A catnapping! What could possibly go wrong? But before they know it, the kids are swept up in a series of escalating calamitous events… (synopsis)

This is the English version of my children's book "Aktion Kater Theo" from 1999/2007. In the first German version the background of the plot was the German revolution of 1989 - Grandpa Carlson was a citizen of the former East Germany, an “Ossi,” and the man who took the house from him was from the West, a “Wessi.”

But I had to recognize that the children of today don't understand that anymore. They were babies, or unborn, at the time of revolution. So I revised the text in 2007: Now Mr. Pyrite is a "house-flipping shark" and Grandpa Carlson his victim. The translation into the English was possible through my acquaintance with David Andersen who was ready to translate it to friendship conditions. And more than translate: David found a modern English youth slang and came up with many good and funny ideas for improving the text. Thank you, David!


Dies ist die englische Version meines Kinderbuchs "Aktion Kater Theo" aus dem Jahre 1999 bzw. 2007. Dass sie möglich wurde, verdanke ich meiner Bekanntschaft mit David Andersen, der sich bereit erklärte, den Text zu Freundschaftschaftskonditionen zu übersetzen. Und nicht nur zu übersetzen: David brachte eine moderne, slanggespickte Jugendsprache sowie auch viele gute Ideen und Gags in die Geschichte ein. Danke, David!