Lisa Tetzner became known in the course of her fairy tale hikes. From the early 1930s, however, she increasingly turned to realistic children’s and youth literature. The story Der Fußball (1932) marks a programmatic change and stands in the context of a modern prose for children. With a preface she writes her way into this flourishing genre, for which the city is a key theme and setting. The article examines this peritextual inscription for traces of authorial self-representation concealed behind general phrases, genre-specific formulas and intertextual references. Lisa Tetzner’s position and positioning on the children’s literature market is contextualized by a look at competing authors such as Erich Kästner and Alex Wedding. The critical reception of Tetzner between bourgeois and leftist children’s book author is also taken into account.