Andreas Steinhöfel Der mechanische Prinz (The Mechanical Prince) Carlsen Verlag GmbH, February 2003. 272 pp. ISBN 3-551-58112-6 A young unhappy boy who feels uncared for by his parents is given a magical golden subway ticket. This ticket enables him to step onto a magical underground station that takes him to different worlds symbolic of his states of mind and past experiences. He is transported to Neverland, a desert with a lake made up of his salty tears, to another place where he meets his quarrelling parents, and to a forest where he meets himself. Max, as he is called, has to overcome obstacles in each of these worlds and is finally led to the mechanical prince who sets him further difficult tasks. He must accomplish all of them to be given a new chance of living in the real world. He must also find his heart in one of the worlds and merge with it. His entire future and happiness will depend on it. Max is helped by other children who are also magical ticket holders, but hindered by children and adults who have failed the test themselves. He makes the painful discovery that Jan, his best friend, is nothing but a fantasy created by him out of need for a companion, a false friend who tries to steal his heart. Nonetheless, he succeeds in all his ventures, finds his heart and returns to the real world ready to tackle its difficulties. Even his parents seem somehow to have changed and try to look after him better. This heart-warming story for eight to twelve-year-olds is told from an ingenious angle: its narrator appears as a grumpy, patronising adult, a children's author no less, interested in Max only because he thinks his story may be worth writing down. This deliberate ploy comes into its own when the reader discovers towards the end of the book that the author/narrator was himself lonely once – and lived, together with Wendy, in Neverland. It is a daring device since the narrator figure is not attractive, but the style is colloquial, the momentum well sustained, and the whole book a good, fast-paced read for both boys and girls.