The novel "Henny & Ponger" begins with an unheard-of incident: the boy Ponger spies the girl Henny on a suburban train, as they both seem to be reading the same novel. Shortly afterwards, she pulls the emergency brake, slips him a disposable mobile phone and flees from the carriage in front of plain-clothes policemen. Of course, their paths cross again soon afterwards. But they are not simple encounters. Rather, page after page a clear enigma unfolds. Ponger, a pinball mechanic of unknown origin, is confronted with an extraterrestrial flying object and a road trip to Amrum shakes up his previous world view. The personalised narrative brings the reader directly into his confused experience. In the end, the question remains as to what really happened. In terms of language, Nils Mohl draws masterfully on the imagery of outer space when names and motifs are used. With a touch of science fiction and in the guise of a love story, Nils Mohl finds a new and refreshing trick to tell of coming of age as an experience of foreignness.
This title was nominated for the 2023 German Children՚s Literature Award.