This paper gives an overview of the collection of ballads Das große Balladenbuch (The Big Book of Ballads), which was edited by Otfried Preußler and Heinrich Pleticha and published in 2000. In comparing the ballads chosen for this volume with those included in other anthologies it becomes clear that the selection at hand is not particularly surprising and is not what makes this collection unique. What seems important to both the authors (who are former teachers) is rather the introductory commentary that accompanies every thematic chapter as well as every ballad. Pleticha focuses on historical facts, Preußler on philological interpretation. The aim of this collection is clearly to make the genre of the ballad accessible (again) and to make the selected texts available to a younger generation. The analysis of this anthology shows that many topics and themes of Preußler’s œuvre – such as orality, the comical, home and identity, and teaching – can be found here as well.