Meet at the Ark at Eight!

Meet at the Ark at Eight!

Ulrich Hub: Meet at the Ark at Eight (Pushkin Children’s Books 2012, first published in 2007)

You may have read earlier on BogiWrites about the book titled The Last Sheep by German writer, actor, director and screenwriter Ulrich Hub. The tale Meet at the Ark at Eight is also biblically inspired and the author has become world-famous with this story, and has won prestigious awards in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy.

At the beginning of the story, a messenger arrives to the three penguins who live in the world of snow and ice and tells them that the two of them will get tickets to Noah’s ark to escape the Flood, only if they get to the ark at eight. However, they don’t want to leave their friend behind, so they smuggle him in their suitcase as well. The pigeon, who is in control of everything, doesn’t notice because even his minor problems are much more than worrying about penguins: the gazelles, for example, don’t want to sleep next to the lions.

The story does not differ as much from its original as in the case of The Last Sheep, but it raises much more serious questions: Is there a God? Is he really punishing us with the Flood? Or was there no Flood just rain for an extremely long time? Despite the serious questions, the tone of the tale is kind and humorous. Although written for children, I wholeheartedly recommend it to adults as well.

This book is also decorated with charming illustrations by Jörg Mühle.