James Crews (1926–1997) is a famous German children's writer, winner of the International G.-H. Andersen. Russian readers remember him from the books “Tim Thaler, or Sold Laughter” and “My Great-Grandfather, Heroes and Me.” And German children know that Crews is also a wonderful poet! The book “The Lighthouse on the Lobster Reefs”, published for the first time in Russian, is a collection of various stories and fairy tales in verse and prose. The action of the book takes place near the island of Heligoland - the writer’s homeland - where the old lighthouse keeper Johann, Alexandra the seagull and other characters tell each other stories - good, and well-written, and with a hint: about the fish carnival, about the little yellow tram, about the maestro Pogodnik or about star catcher... And every time the reader finds himself in the most different parts of the world - you just have to want it! And open the book by James Crews...Translation from German by Anna Shibarova, poetry translated by Vladimir Letuchy. Illustrations by Sofia Utkina.