The Netherlands (Dutch)
219
Beerten, Els
Allemaal willen we de hemel (All we want is a piece of heaven)
Amsterdam: Querido, 2008. – 498 p.
ISBN 978-90-451-0619-9
World War II – Flanders – Rural life – Friendship
In 1943, Ward, like many young
men in occupied Belgium, is stirred up to fight on the Eastern Front. While
on leave with some friends, he witnesses an attack on resistance members,
during which someone gets killed. Ward is accused of the murder by his
former friend Jef. Jef becomes the hero, but when Ward finally returns to
his village in 1947, the facts are misconstrued in the court trial against
him. In this voluminous young-adult novel, the lives of a couple of young
people in a Flemish village in (post-)war times are described in an
engrossing way. They are confronted with guilt and betrayal and repeatedly
face difficult decisions. The atmosphere of the times is well captured in
the story and the characters are psychologically extremely well developed.
The brilliant story, told from ever-changing perspectives, will completely
absorb the reader, who will not put down the book until having turned the
very last page. (14+)
220
Brogt, Janine (text)
Posthuma, Sieb (illus.)
Coppelia <proper name>
Amsterdam: Querido, 2008. – [36] p.
ISBN 978-90-451-0586-4
Ballet – Plastic surgery – Marriage – Lovesickness
Everyone is looking forward to
the marriage of Zwaantje and Frans, but on the evening before the big day,
Frans falls in love with beautiful Coppelia from the new beauty salon. When
Zwaantje infiltrates the salon, she discovers the evil plans of doctor
Coppelius; his female assistants and Coppelia turn out to be puppets, which
he wants to make human by giving them a real heart, for example the heart of
Frans! This is an extraordinary picture book of royal grandeur, based on a
ballet performance of the Dutch National Ballet, for which the illustrator
designed the sets. Over the lively coloured illustrations, spread across
both pages, characters are drawn with black ink against a softly coloured
background, like for a set design. (6+)
221
Dam, Arend van (text)
Wolf, Alex de (illus.)
In een land hier ver vandaan ... De hele wereld in vijftig voorleesverhalen
(In a country far away from here... he whole world in
fifty stories for reading aloud)
Houten: Van Holkema & Warendorf, 2008. – 141 p.
+ 1 poster
ISBN 978-90-475-0592-1
History
In fifty stories, this book
tells about special events, places and people from all over the world: the
Egyptian pyramids and the buildings of Gaudí, for example, the terracotta
army of the first emperor of China and the life of Calamity Jane, the origin
of Mickey Mouse’s or the discovery of the great barrier reef. Four to
thirteen fairytale-like stories with dialogs are included per continent.
Expressive, mostly full-page watercolours accompany the text. The stories
offer an intriguing view of the world’s history. An enclosed world map, on
which the place of every event is displayed, makes this a very useful and
interesting non-fiction book. (10+)
222
Haeringen, Annemarie van (text/illus.)
De jongen die zijn brood knipte (The boy who cuts his bread)
Amsterdam: Leopold, 2008. – [28] p.
ISBN 978-90-258-5245-0
Imagination – Friendship
A boy always cuts the crusts
off his sandwiches, and one day he cuts up his play area – the floor carpet
– to meet his own wishes. In his imagination, he even changes the outside
world: first come dogs and a cat, next come a hedge and uniformly looking
cars; ultimately, he cuts out a girlfriend and a pink cloud. They all get a
unique identity by means of his scissors. In this special picture book, the
illustrations are made using various techniques. The magnificent design and
the subtle use of patterns and colours keep giving the young reader an
opportunity to discover something new. Text and illustrations fit each other
very well in this fairy-tale-like book in which a young boy changes the
world into his own with his pair of scissors. (4+)
223
Jonge, Harm de (text)
Venius, Fiel [i.e. Fiel van der Veen] (illus.)
Tjibbe Tjabbes’ wereldreis (Tjibbe Tjabbes’s journey around the world)
Houten: Van Goor, 2008. – 134 p.
ISBN 978-90-475-0412-2
Expedition/18th century – Imaginary animal
In a made-up »Journael« (an
eighteenth-century Dutch word for newspaper), a diary is the centre of
attention, in which Professor Tjibbe Tjabbes from Leiden reports about his
journey around the world between 1774 and 1777. He is in search of unusual
animals for two merchants who think to have gotten a message from God to
build a second ark. Tjabbes is amazed by the animals he discovers and
describes them in »Het Handtboeck Uijtsonderlijcke Beesten van het Aertrijck«
(»Handbook of the world’s most unusual animals«). This results in beautiful
descriptions of fantasy animals, which are portrayed in great drawings and
paint-ings. The old maps and photos of gadgets from the story make this an
intriguing and colourful publication, which will draw readers in, just as if
all had been reality. (9+)
224
Meinderts, Koos (text)
Fienieg, Annette (illus.)
Lucas in de sneeuw (Lucas in the snow)
Rotterdam: Lemniscaat, 2008. – 89 p.
ISBN 978-90-477-0024-1
Father – Son – Death – Mourning – Winter
The father of ten-year-old
Lucas has passed away, and on December 31st, Lucas sneaks out of the house
early to have a walk in the snow. He thinks about the year in which so much
has happened. When a friend asks how he is, he answers: »Snow has fallen«,
which means life has become a bit nicer again and has brought something new
to him. Lucas remembers the time he saw his father embracing the neighbour
warmly, and how he heard that his little sister was unplanned. In this
tremendously well-written story, a difficult theme is taken up in a way that
is comprehensible and tangible to young readers.
The colours red and white play an important role: white
for snow and for new life, and red for blood and for the lips of the
neighbour. The illustrations are paintings in soft colours that amplify the
atmosphere of the story. (10+)
225
Schutten, Jan Paul (text)
Teng, Paul (illus.)
Kinderen van Nederland (Children in the Netherlands)
Amsterdam: Nieuw Amsterdam, 2008. – 157 p.
ISBN 978-90-468-0419-3
The Netherlands/History – Childhood
This book tells the history of
the Netherlands through stories about children from ancient times through
World War II. It starts off with Yde, a girl who lived in the region of
Drenthe approximately 2,000 years ago and who had to live by nature’s laws.
Sometimes the stories are about fairly unknown children, like the cabin-boys
of Bontekoe, but there are also famous children, like Willem van Oranje
(William of Orange). In every story, a child is the starting point for a
story, which offers a lively retelling of a part of history. The clear,
detailed pencil drawings in black and white give a good illustration of life
at the different times. At the end of the book, there is an index, in which
the most important names and happenings from the stories can be found. This
book perfectly demonstrates that non-fiction books do not have to be boring.
(9+)
226
Valckx, Catharina (text/illus.)
Otto spaart schelpen (Otto collects shells)
Amsterdam: De Harmonie, 2008. – [33] p.
ISBN 978-90-6169-879-1
Animals – Collecting
Otto the duck collects shells.
He is the only one who keeps finding the same kind of freshwater shells.
His friends Dinie (a little bird) and Binkie (a mouse)
think his collection is rather boring. Thus, Otto intensely searches for a
different kind of shell, finds a snail-shell, and gets to know a snail
family that uses freshwater shells as beds. Since they do not have enough of
these shells, Otto finds a solution to their problem. This pleasant picture
book features pencil drawings that have been coloured with soft
watercolours. The illustrations succeed very well in showing the emotions of
the various characters and perfectly complement the text. The text on its
own is simple but vivid thanks to the use of many dialogues. (4+)
227
Veldkamp, Tjibbe (text)
Smit, Noëlle (illus.)
Hotze de botskabouter (Hotze the bumping pixy)
Haarlem: Gottmer, 2008. – [26] p.
ISBN 978-90-257-4430-4
Vehicle – Pixy
Hotze is a careful pixy (he carries a helmet and a pixy belt in his car), but one day, he hits a plant by accident. After this, he keeps on hitting things and being careless until the whole pixy village is involved. The text of this picture book, filled with colourful illustrations, lends it-self to be read together with a child, because it invites interactive reading. The various fonts of the clear and short text support this. Many details of the pixy world are depicted in the illustrations, including things like pixy garbage and old crockery. This is a picture book that both young children and adults will have much fun with. (4+)