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Helmut Degen was born in 1964 in Osnabrück, Germany. Osnabrück is famous as a location of the peace treaties which ended the Thirty Years’ War (16-18 - 1648) in the Holy Roman Empire.
"What are we going to do today?" is Helmut's first picture book. In his other life, Helmut works as a consultant in the software and engineering industry. He had a heavy travel schedule in 2010, so he decided to give some of the lost time back to his family. He wrote the stories for his two sons during the trips, mostly in hotel bars. He shared the new stories on the weekend. The sons rated the stories (thumbs up - thumbs down) and Helmut improved them. The book became a family project and a “time savings account“ for his sons. The book "What are we going to do today?" is also available as a German version. The title of the German book is "Was machen wir denn heute?"
Helmut earned a master’s degree in Informatics (minors: Economics and Philosophy) from the University of Karlsruhe and a PhD in Information Science from the Freie Universität
Berlin, both in Germany. He lives with his family in New Jersey, USA.
Beside good ideas, Helmut loves excellent vegetarian food, riding the bicycle, and having a good time with his family.
Reviewed by Kristie Ingerto for Readers' Favorite
“What are we going to do today?: Brilliant ideas with Hoobsy and Dubsy” written by Helmut Degen and illustrated by Manuela Soriani is an adorable, interactive book to share with young children! Hoobsy and Dubsy are young groundhog brothers who are never bored because they like to try out new ideas of theirs. Each morning they get up and think of a new idea to try. The brothers make cookies, ride bike, pick out clothes to wear, garden and write a letter. Not only do they do each of these activities, but they participate in these activities fully and completely creating games while completing the activities.
Hoobsy and Dubsy are very imaginative and their imaginations will inspire the reader to attempt some of their activities as well as to try their own variations. These stories and activities are also great examples of problem-solving. For example, they must problem solve while riding the bike together. It is so often heard by children that they are bored when in actuality there are many things that could be done. This book would be great to have children go to whenever they state, “I’m bored,” as it will remind them just how much fun they can have doing “everything” activities. At the end of the book there is space for the reader to write in their own versions of the activities and to come up with their own things to do. This could be completed and then used as an idea list when someone says that he or she is bored and there is nothing to do. Adorable, vivid, and detailed illustrations go along with the story that the children will love as well!
