Tom looks like a vampire and Caroline like a Cheshire cat when she laughs. Everyone who knows them understands why the other children whisper about them. However, it is only Caroline who has actually asked Tom, why he spends most of the beautiful summer afternoons in the basement of the abandoned oil factory. Tom unexpectedly puts Caroline’s trust to the test, when they heard cries for help while on a mountain hike. An absorbing story full of warmth and affection for children who are not like others.

Holm Schneider was born in 1969. He has 6 children and lives with his family in Erlangen (Germany). As a pediatrician and professor at the University Hospital Erlangen he has focused his professional career on congenital diseases and the care of children who look slightly different from others. He volunteers in a sports club for individuals with Down’s syndrome and heads the advisory board of the German ectodermal dysplasia patient support group. On longer train trips he writes books for children, both fiction and non-fiction.