Wild Chicks

The Wild Chicks (Die wilden Hühner) is a series of children's and youth books written by the German author Cornelia Funke. The main protagonists are four (later five) girls, who go to class together and form the eponymous "Wild Chicks" girl gang. Five books were published between 1993 and 2003, which have sold over one million copies in Germany. Three feature-length film adaptations have been released.

According to her own homepage, Funke's editor remarked in the early 1990s that Funke – who at that point had written children's fantasy books only – should consider writing non-fantastic fiction "without faeries, ghosts and pirates". Although reluctant to do so, Funke obliged and thought up the Wild Chicks, based on her own experiences with strong or quirky girls and women. She also declined writing adventures about "kids stopping bank robbers", and only wanted to write stories that "could happen to any child".Wild Chicks film producer Vivian Naefe noted the authenticity of the Wild Chicks universe, centering on girls of imperfect families (i.e. divorced, poor or dysfunctional parents), but still maintaining a level of humor which made the books appealing.

The main protagonists are four – later five – girls: Sprotte (Charlotte), who is the spunky yet friendly main narrator, her best friend Frieda, a level-headed girl who is a member of Terre des hommes, shy and bespectacled Trude, who is unsure because of her obesity, and her best friend, the beautiful, shallow, and vain, yet amicable Melanie. Later, they are joined by Wilma, a tough boys-hating tomboy, who is later revealed as a lesbian. In the inaugural 1993 book Die Wilden Hühner, they are all eight to nine years old, and in the hitherto last book Die Wilden Hühner und die Liebe (2003), they are all 13 to 14 years old. All Wild Chicks wear a chicken's feather around their necks and have sworn to never kill or eat chicken.

In a 2007 interview, Funke said she identifies most with Sprotte, but wishes to have been more like Frieda. Asked why she made Wilma a lesbian, she answered: "I have friends who are lesbian, so this... is a normal part of life. It would have been boring... if Wilma had fallen in love with a boy, I already covered that with all the others." Funke also asserted that the main message of the fifth book, where all fall in love, is "tolerance and respect for the feelings of other people."

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Wikipedia