Das Insel-Internat: Ran an den Schatz is Middle-Grade Cuteness

 

Among the mythical premises that transcend language and culture sits the humble middle-grade girl group series. Manifested in cultural icons like The Babysitters Club series, its recipe is fairly simple: four to seven prepubescent pals of various temperaments, a beloved pet, a token male and a handful of useless adults shoved together in a solution that’s equal parts wish fulfillment and generic. Throw in a few mysteries and interpersonal conflicts, and the best authors can hook readers for twenty books or more! Whether the works themselves are good or bad is immaterial. What really matters is the enthusiasm—and, eventually, the nostalgia—of that sweet, sweet target audience.

As it happens, the Insel-Internat (Island Boarding School) series by Christian Bieniek appeals to my own sentiments, and Ran an den Schatz! (Treasure Hunt!) was thus a thoroughly-enjoyable read. This book conforms to almost all the tropes of the middle-grade girl group model, down to the fantastic setting (Blinkeroog, the Island Boarding School in question) and the mediocre token boy (Julian). When he is cast as the leading man in Blinkeroog’s school play, Vivian finds herself competing against Clarissa for the main role. Meanwhile, Mareike has found a mysterious map of the islands and enlists the two remaining protagonists—there are five girls in total—on a treasure hunt.

This book is just fine. No plot point is particularly transgressive, nor is any character particularly bad. I wish that the story had gone into more detail about the school play, which somehow only has five actors. Perhaps this is a normal feature of German schools? I don’t know; I’m not quite the target audience of the book.

Nevertheless, I found its language quite comprehensible. Perhaps reading more books in German really has improved my comprehension, or perhaps the simple language of children’s books is just comfortable for me. But more than simply understanding the language of the story, I understood its code (thank you, Semiotics: The Basics!). As a former reader of middle-grade girl group lit, I’m intimately familiar with the formula for the genre.

And if Ran an den Schatz is a little saccharine? That just means it follows the recipe.