Preussler's most successful book, 'Krabat' tells the story of a 14-year-old beggar boy who becomes an apprentice to the master of a watermill. Much to his surprise he soon discovers that the mill is actually a school of black magic and he is expected to rather more than a normal miller's trade
Phillip is excited when the Germans invade the small island of Curaçao. War has always been a game to him, and he’s eager to glimpse it firsthand–until the freighter he and his mother are traveling to the United States on is torpedoed. When Phillip comes to, he is on a small raft in the middle of the sea. Besides Stew Cat, his only companion is an old West Indian, Timothy. Phillip remembers his mother’s warning about black people: “They are different, and they live differently.” But by the time the castaways arrive on a small island, Phillip’s head injury has made him blind and dependent on Timothy.