The
Netherlands (Dutch)
216
Biegel, Paul (text)
Veen, Fiel van der (illus.)
Man en Muis (Man and Mouse)
Haarlem : Uitg. Holland, 2003. – 144 p.
ISBN 90-251-0917-9
Drugs – Addiction – Power struggle
Hundreds of grey mice live in uncle Theodoor’s house without his knowledge.
Thanks to his computer, they order everything they need online and live a life
of luxury. But then the rat Belem arrives. He sells Dwelm, highly dangerous
addictive spices that make a mouse have delightful dreams. This is an
ingenious fable, which draws many parallels to contemporary society,
especially the world of drug addiction. Although it includes many fanciful
elements, the story has a very realistic and serious undertone. Paul Biegel
once again knows how to captivate the reader from the beginning to the very
end of the story with his magnificent narrative. (10+)
217
Franck, Ed (text)
Cneut, Carll (illus.)
Zie ik je nog eens terug? (Will I see you again?)
Amsterdam [et al.] : Querido, 2003. – 64 p.
ISBN 90-451-0063-0
Death – Grief
One day, Sarah runs away from home and ends up in a toy museum a few blocks
away, where Nestor, the owner of the museum, looks after her. Sarah is
obviously distressed, but she doesn’t want to talk about it. Using different
kinds of toys, especially a little teddy bear, Nestor tries to gain her
confidence and to find out what’s bothering her. At the end of the day, when
he takes her home, Sarah shows him the cemetery where her little brother is
buried. This is a brilliantly written story in short episodes representing the
eight-year-old girl’s psyche, including her tantrums and the way she tries
to deal with her little brother’s death, in a subtle and very touching
manner. (8+)
218
Goossens, Jesse (text)
Dit is theater (This is theatre)
Rotterdam : Lemniscaat, 2003. – 239 p.
ISBN 90-5637-565-2
Theatre – Cabaret – Musical
This extremely thorough and serious non-fiction book about the many aspects of
the world of performing arts is arranged according to topics. It gives an
introduction to theatre, cabaret, and musicals, but also to the world of stage
designers, make-up artists, and costume designers. Classical plays and
highlights of the history of performing arts are described in a
well-structured way. In addition, the book also includes various interviews,
in which several celebrities are given the floor. Text, illustrations, and
design are perfectly adapted to young readers. The book takes the readers on a
true voyage of discovery through the world of illusions, the world of
performing arts. (12+)
219
Hagen, Hans (text)
Hopman, Philip (illus.)
De dans van de drummers (The drummers’ dance)
Amsterdam : Van Goor, 2003. – 109 p.
ISBN 90-00-03459-0
Africa – Storytelling
Six children have gathered around the ill master drummer Dudu Addi. Each child
has to choose a drum and an accompanying symbol. The ones who make the
‘wrong’ selection won’t get drumming lessons. Dudu Addi helps every
child to choose by telling a story. The stories are partly based on
traditional stories and, one by one, create a beautiful image of the
atmosphere and cultural traditions in African countries. The author writes in
a pleasant style with simple, short sentences. At the end, all the stories
come together and, by then, the frame story is complete. The attractive colour
illustrations seamlessly match the story and reflect the atmosphere of the
African setting very well. (9+)
220
Leeuwen, Joke van (text/illus.)
Kweenie (Idunno [= I don’t know])
Amsterdam [et al.] : Querido, 2003. – [36] p.
ISBN 90-451-0023-1
Lost – Search
When her mother leaves the room for a moment, something falls on the girl’s
bed: a little creature with a beak who has fallen out of the story that the
mother had been telling her. The creature soon gets the name Kweenie (Idunno,
i.e. »I don’t know«). Together, the little girl and Kweenie go looking for
the tale that started with »Once upon a time,« because Kweenie’s father
and mother must still be somewhere in that story. They end up in several
different stories, but the parents are nowhere to be found. Eventually, they
find them but now the little first-person narrator has to go back to her own
story. The reader is guided through this book, which offers a variety of tales
within a magnificent frame story, by a highly imaginative design, comics and
colourful illustrations and just the right dose of humour. (7+)
Special Mention
221
Noort, Selma (text)
Meijer, Marja (illus.)
Pol en de kans van zijn leven (Pol and the chance of his lifetime)
Amsterdam : Leopold, 2003. – 138 p.
ISBN 90-258-4142-2
Single-parent family – Singing – Travelling
Mother Lot and her son Pol, who live in a bridgeman’s house serving both as
city gate and public toilet, know and see a lot of people. When notorious and
famous singer Lorenzo takes refuge in their toilet, they save him from the
gutter press who are trying to uncover Lorenzo’s well-kept secret, namely
that he is the son of a poor organ grinder from the village. One day, Lorenzo
finds out that Pol has a beautiful voice and decides to offer the boy the
chance of his lifetime, even if he does this mainly to polish his own image a
little. Pol, however, chooses his own friends. This original and heartwarming
story, which is captivating to the last letter, raises moral and philosophical
matters in a non-conformist way without ever making the story sound moralistic
or boring. The combination of pleasant, everyday events and a highly
imaginative, almost fairy-like world makes this book very special. (10+)
222
Scholtens, Anneke (text)
Oud, Pauline (illus.)
Niet voor één gat te vangen (Always a way out)
Assen : Educatieve Uitg. Maretak,
2003. – 64 p.
(Giraf)
ISBN 90-437-0180-7
Siblings – Babysitting
Lies, Max’s mother, is going to become a teacher at his school after the
holidays. Since the school’s headmaster wants to talk to her beforehand, Max
has to come with her to the schoolmaster’s house and baby-sit his younger
brother Otto in the meantime. The two boys play in the backyard and everything
that can go wrong does go wrong. Many things in the garden turn into a mess,
the rabbit escapes, but at the same time the long-lost watch of the
headmaster’s grandfather is found. In this distinctly humorous story about
an everyday topic, the author has created a text both original in language and
style, despite the young age of the target group. (6+)
223
Smids, Annejoke
Piratenbloed (Pirate blood)
Amsterdam : Ploegsma, 2003. – 319 p.
(Ploegsma kinder- & jeugdboeken)
ISBN 90-216-1616-5
Shipwreck – Island – Pirate – Madagascar/1697
In 1697, the ship Katharina is shipwrecked in a storm. Only three men
are rescued by pirates and taken to the pirate island of Madagascar. The
survivors basically turn into pirates themselves, except for young Sebastiaan
who cannot stand all that murdering and, thus, is soon seen as a traitor. He
is sent away to find a mysterious ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, that
has been haunting the region for centuries and has robbed the pirates of their
treasures again and again. In this stirring historical novel by a promising
debutante, the plot remains plausible even when non-realistic elements are
introduced. What sets this book apart is the fact that the pirates are
described from a fairly unusual perspective. (12+)
224
Westera, Bette (text)
Weve, Sylvia (illus.)
De raadselridder (The mystery-knight)
Amsterdam : Hillen, 2003. – 96 p.
ISBN 90-76766-69-x
Mystery – Knight – Love
In a castle in the forest lives Ganzerik, the mystery-knight, with his old
mother who is lying on her deathbed. For them, time passes by so slowly that
they still live in the Middle Ages. At the edge of the woods lives 9-year-old
Janna with her mother in a luxurious house. Her father is always away on
business trips. When Janna and Ganzerik meet one day, he thinks that his
mother was right and that this is a girl to marry. He’ll only have to wait
until she is old enough. The funny and highly imaginative story is told in
fairly short clearly-structured chapters with distinctive black-and-white
drawings that convey the atmosphere of the story very well. (8+)