Maya the Bee
Waldemar Bonsels's most famous work is the children's book "Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer" ("Maya the Bee and her Adventures", translated as "The Adventures of Maya the Bee"). This work served the basis for a Japanese animated television series named "Maya the Honey Bee" in the mid-1970s, as well as a Croatian opera for children written by Bruno Bjelinski, making Bonsels work known to an even greater audience. The opera was staged in 2008 in Villach, Austria at the Carinthian Summer Music Festival. "Himmelsvolk" ("People in the Sky") is a sequel with a more philosophical focus, describing in mystical terms the unity of all creation and its relationship to God.