German

Anna collects smiles by doing small kind things and writing them in a notebook. When her cat goes missing, all the people she helped come with posters to search, and they find the cat asleep on a garage roof. Anna writes that she got all her smiles back.

Hinnerk, an old North Sea lighthouse, keeps shining every night even though few ships pass and the seagulls tease him. One foggy night his light guides a lost father and daughter safely to harbor.

At the beach, Mila and Tim compete to build the best sandcastle side by side. A big wave washes away half of each, so Tim suggests building one together further from the water. Theirs becomes the biggest castle on the beach, and they become friends.

Keks, a little white dog, hates water. At a lakeside picnic, little Lina’s favorite ball drifts away and she can’t swim. Keks bravely jumps in, discovers he can swim, rescues the ball, and now loves swimming.

After thousands of years of lighting the night, the tired Moon wishes for a vacation. The stars offer to cover the sky and shine so brightly that children see the constellations like never before. Now the Moon rests once a month — the new moon.

An ant falls into a stream and a dove saves her by dropping a leaf. Days later, the ant sees a hunter about to net the dove and bites his ankle, so the dove escapes. A retelling of the classic Aesop fable.

Tuffi, a small blue locomotive, volunteers to pull a train of toys over a steep mountain when the big engine breaks down. The other engines laugh, but Tuffi puffs “I think I can” all the way to the top and delivers the toys to the cheering children.

During Advent, Grandma Hilde bakes cinnamon stars, vanilla crescents and gingerbread for Christmas Eve. Leo secretly eats them until the tin is half empty. He’s tempted to blame the mice but confesses, and Grandma lets him help bake a fresh batch.

Tropfi the raindrop falls from a cloud onto a mountain, flows down a stream and a river, reaches the sea, and rises again as vapor when the sun warms the water. A gentle introduction to the water cycle.

Berta the cow dreams of flying like the swallows, but her ear-flapping and hay-bale jumps end in a plop. A swallow reminds her she gives the best milk in the village, which becomes cheese, butter and ice cream. At the farm festival, everyone loves Berta’s strawberry ice cream.