Books Overall Brezina wrote more than 550 books, some of which have been translated into more than 35 languages. With about 40 million sold copies, he is one of the most successful German-language children's and youth book authors. The
Tom Turbo stories concern a talking bicycle capable of 111 amazing stunts. His adventure-series
A Case for You and the Tiger-Team was a big international success, particularly in
China, where the series overtook
Harry Potter in terms of sales numbers at certain points. The books by Brezina also spawned movies and television-series (for example
The Knickerbocker Gang: The talking tomb and
Tom Turbo – From 0 to 111), theatre-plays, musicals (for example
Ritter Rups und der Pirat Kartoffelsalat (
Knight Rups and captain Potato Salad)), radio plays and interactive videogames. He also invented the character of the dog Sokrates, the somewhat clumsy companion of Helmi. Starting as a presenter, Brezina hosted a variety of interactive TV shows and series for the children's program of ORF, including
Am Dam Des,
Die Rätselburg (Quiz Castle),
Drachenschatz (Dragon's Treasure) and
Forscherexpress (Researcher's Express). In Austria, one of his most famous TV shows is the detective series
Tom Turbo / Tom Turbo Detective Club. The interactive show features Tom, a talking bicycle with 111 tricks and young detectives catching clumsy crooks and solving mysteries together with the audience in front of the TV. The series was shot at memorable locations throughout Austria and is still running since the first episode aired in 1993. In 2008, Brezina and his company Tower10 relaunched the children's program of ORF, rebranded it under the name of
okidoki and are responsible for the program since then. As a part of that, Brezina presented and still presents a couple of formats, most notable
7 Wunder (7 Wonders),
Trickfabrik (Trick Factory) and
Genau so geht’s (That's How It Goes).
Other projects Besides writing, TV and movies, Brezina stages a variety of events for children, for example the Wien-Detektiv (Vienna-Detective), an educational book-project by the city of Vienna. During the project, kids received free books and were invited to participate in a citywide detective-game. Together with Gerhard Krammer, Thomas Brezina wrote four musicals for the family-festival Forchtenstein Fantastisch at Castle
Forchtenstein in
Burgenland, Austria. In them, a small knight named Rups goes on a variety of adventures. The musicals were performed for seven years until now. The tourist destination
Serfaus-
Fiss-
Ladis offers an adventure trail for children designed by Brezina. This trail, called “Mountain of Adventures” includes three hiking routes on which children can solve puzzles with special detective-equipment. Brezina has written audio guides for
St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, which describe the history of the cathedral in an adventurous manner suitable for children. In 2017 Brezina designed the Visitors Area for
Vienna International Airport, a multimedia experience for kids as well as adults. For the
Tiergarten Schönbrunn Brezina designed the App "Zoo Adventures by Thomas Brezina". The app leads the user on various tours like "Thomas Brezina's favorite animals" through the zoo and is available for iOS and Android smartphones. == References ==