

Burkhard Spinnen
Fipp, Vanessa and the fat cats
fiction, children
300pp (65,000 words)
>> A turbulent tale about the madness of online consumption
>> For readers aged 10 and up
A UFO lands outside the chancellor’s office in the middle of Berlin. What’s going to happen now? Star wars or intergalactic peace? The whole world is on tenterhooks. Suddenly, three aliens emerge. They look just like us – and they go shopping! They pay no more heed to the chancellor than anybody else. First they shop at a department store, then online. They shop and shop and shop.
On the one hand it’s nice they’re not hurting anyone. On the other hand, it’s very strange! Why don’t they talk to anyone – aren’t they interested in human beings? And all this shopping isn’t exactly harmless. On the contrary: the aliens destroy the world economy in the blink of an eye, using only a single credit card. Meanwhile Vanessa, daughter of the janitor at the chancellery, is keeping an eye on the UFO with her friend Fipp. And, finally, they intervene.
Burkhard Spinnen’s third book for children is a quirky and hilarious depiction of our encounter with extra-terrestrial life, and how a bit of shopping can lead to total chaos.