Fiction for children, on the whole, was firmly rooted within the East German social system and enjoyed a remarkably high status, yet at the same time was much guided and monitored. One of the main reasons was the regime's endeavour to create a new kind of society, a socialist society that, in the long run, would bring the country to communism. In this process, any literary production had a considerable role to play in educating the masses. Therefore, it can be assumed that the need for close control and guidance also held true for children's books, which were translated from other cultures. This paper examines different areas of the East German publishing industry with respect to children's books selected for translation and contrasts them with the respective sphere of their counterpart of 'home-grown' books. This hopefully serves to shed light on the situation in the East German translation industry as well as on the contents, function, importance and prestige of translated children's books.