A Look Behind the Scenes of the New Picture Book 'The Colorful Chestnut Leaf'

The idea for the picture book workshop came about during a professional development session on 'Prejudice-Aware Education' as part of 'Werte im Quadrat' – a project of the 'Ein Quadratkilometer Bildung' Foundation. 
In keeping with the school’s motto 'We Are Diverse', the picture book 'The Colorful Chestnut Leaf' was created during the workshop at the Heinrich Mann School in Lübeck hosted by Solveig Schoeler and Catharina Thamling . While the students Elma, Eyra, Helan, Lena B., Mayleen, and Timm from the current fourth-grade class wrote the story, Boris, Damian, Daryl, Devin, Hira, Hozan, Lena B., Louis, Matwiej, Mayleen, Merve, Mila, Nevres, Ole, Omar, Ranya, Yagmur, Zlata, and Zoe created the illustrations together with illustrator and author Elena Prochnow. The illustration workshop was sponsored by the Ernsting Art and Culture Foundation.

Eyla and Lena B tell you exactly how it all went down in a post on the school website. With the help of parents and school staff, the story has already been translated into Turkish, Polish, Armenian, Thai, Ukrainian, Russian, English, Lithuanian, and Arabic languages that were particularly important to the children.
You can view the picture book here on our website, and they’re currently recording the audio for it at Offener Kanal Lübeck - stay tuned! 

It will be broadcast on Lübeck FM on 25 March 2026 at 8.30 am!