The authors' responses
QUESTION 5 When you were young did you dream about having a friend like Leo? (Marlene, Uraidla Primary School)
ELIZABETH HONEY
Yeah, Marlene, isn’t he dreamy? Honest and forthright and sweet, but with a tough side, and the guts to do what he thinks is right. Maybe I did dream of a friend like Leo when I was young, and that dream popped up again a few years ago and maybe that’s why I asked Heike if she wanted to write a book together.
HEIKE BRANDT
When I was young I loved to play soccer but in those times, girls just didn’t play soccer - at least not when they were thirteen. I think I would have loved to play soccer with Leo because for him soccer is a sport where you need to be fit in body and mind and it’s a collective thing – you have to cooperate. And I would have loved Leo as a friend because I am very sure he would have accepted me as I was: a girl that loved soccer, spent a lot of time thinking about moral questions (Why are people racist? Why are there so many poor people? Why did so many Germans follow the Nazis?) and who was not at all interested in dresses and make-up. I felt a little bit like an outsider – and often was very insecure if I was accepted by my class mates - a bit like Henni, maybe. Yes, I would have loved to have a friend like Leo.
