A quartet consisting of a grandmother, two children and a dog take a trip to the amusement park. They end up sitting together on a bench, engrossed in conversation. Julie Völk tells this short episodic story in watercolour crayon drawings. These are accompanied by a text that gives the grandmother the floor, based on the one child's question: "Grandma, what's it like to be old?" Bettina Obrecht's lines of text add to each pictorial scene a reflection on the comparison of being old and young. Both age group's feelings of life are very close to each other in the joy of laughter, the pleasure of dancing, the pleasure of socialising with friends and physical shortcomings. They are quite different when it comes to the perception of time and dreaming. The grandmother's answers are given additional depth by the red outlines of the figures in the pictures. These are included on every double page and - as gestures and facial expressions convey - are only perceived by the grandmother. They expand the colourful present of everyday situations with the grandmother's remembered past. The thought of one's own end of life, which is part of a complete picture of ageing, is portrayed in a way that is as unagitated as it is delicate.
"Wie anders ist alt" is an offer for dialogue between the generations. A stimulating invitation to philosophise and exchange ideas.
This title was nominated for the 2023 German Children՚s Literature Award.