Have you ever been to a big foreign city? Where you don’t know anyone or anything, and you don’t even speak the language? It is both frightening and exciting! It’s frightening, because you feel so small. But it’s also exciting, because you are like an explorer discovering a new world.

Do you know Barni? He is a real Cluj boy. Since the publication of The Book of Barni, three years have passed and he has started going to school. Ha has learnt to read and write. He can even read maps, which he has always loved, but now he can understand them as well. Barni is preparing for the greatest journey of his life. Just imagine, he is going to Berlin with his father! Do you know where Berlin is? Look for it on a map, quickly.

“Dad also told Barni that there is a metro station in Berlin called Alexanderplatz. Ordinary trains, metros, and high speed trains arrive and depart from there, side by side. The station is not underground, nor even at street level, but up in the air. It stands upon pillars. Barni did not quite believe this, although Dad told him many stories about it. Perhaps Dad hadn’t see it properly, or didn’t remember correctly. So Barni was eager to go Berlin and see for himself whether Alexanderplatz was really underground, at street level, or suspended in midair.”

Balázs Zágoni’s reputation amongst the Hungarian contemporary children’s literary scene increased swiftly thanks to the The Book of Barni, what is now in its fourth edition. This book, illustrated by the Oscar-nominee filmmaker Géza M. Tóth, is his first novel for children.