New Children’s Book Rennefarre is a Translated and Adapted Version of a German Children’s Classic

New York, NY, December 21, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Imagine riding on the back of a blue heron across time and space. Imagine befriending crows, being kidnapped by magpies, and being given a lift on the back of a kindly stag. Imagine experiencing life as an outcast from human society, encountering spirits and mythical creatures from the world of legends, experiencing the plague in Dresden, and being chased through Berlin by Frederick the Great.

Dott is a twelve-year old girl who lives in the countryside east of Berlin in a time between the two world wars. When Dott sneaks out to see the bonfire at the edge of her village on the evening of the midsummer night festival, the magical Rennefarre flower falls into her shoe. It not only makes her invisible, but also allows her to see things no one else could see. No longer able to stay with her parents and her young brother and sister, she begins her search to find a way out of her predicament.

Flying across the country on the backs of crows and herons, Dott finds herself seeing the country not only as it is, but also as it used to be. She lives through moments in history others can only read about. But, even with all of the excitement of her travels, she always has one goal in mind: returning home to her family.

Part coming-of-age story, part fantasy, and part social-cultural portrait of Eastern Germany in the early part of the 20th century, the book covers real ground.

Book Information:
Rennefarre: Dott's Wonderful Travels and Adventures
Author: Malve von Hassell (translation)
Tamara Ramsay (German original)
Publisher: Two Harbors Press
ISBN: 978-1938690389
Published: December 2012
Pages: 298

About the Author:
Malve von Hassell is a freelance writer, researcher, and translator. She holds a Ph. D. in anthropology from the New School for Social Research. Working as an independent scholar, she published several books and journal articles, in particular, The Struggle for Eden: Community Gardens in New York City (Bergin & Garvey 2002) and Homesteading in New York City 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Bergin & Garvey 1996). She has also edited her grandfather Ulrich von Hassell's memoirs written in prison in 1944, Der Kreis schließt sich - Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft 1944 (Propylaen Verlag 1994). She has taught at Queens College, Baruch College, Pace University, and Suffolk County Community College, while continuing her work as a translator and writer. She has published a children’s picture book, Letters from the Tooth Fairy (Mill City Press, 2012). She published Rennefarre: Dott’s Wonderful Travels and Adventures (Two Harbors Press, 2012), a translation and adaptation of a German children’s classic. She is working on a historical fiction novel set in Jerusalem in the time of the crusades.

For more information, review copies, or interviews please contact the author at:

Malve von Hassell
E-mail: malvevonhassell@optonline.net
Website: http://malvevonhassell.com

Rennefarre: Dott's Wonderful Travels and Adventures is available for purchase online through the author's website, from the publisher, Amazon.com, BN.com, and other online retailers. Bookstores should contact Ingram for wholesale orders.