Children’s Spring 2021 Dutch Foundation for Literature Dutch Books Always Nearby New beginnings Mark Janssen BW - Altijd dichtbij Marc380x430.qxp_Opmaak 1 06-08-20 14:31 Pagina 16 BW - Altijd dichtbij Marc380x430.qxp_Opmaak 1 06-08-20 14:31 Pagina 17 Mark Janssen, the illustrator we asked to create the cover 16 17 image for this newly designed version of our children’s books brochure, puts it so well: Wake up! Spring is here. Look forward to new beginnings. So much has changed for all of us over the course of the past year. Old structures are changing, we’re discovering new ways of communication and – often with no choice because of strict lockdowns – rediscovering our close environments and coming to appreciate elements of our lives that we sometimes took for granted. Now that a year without book fairs has passed and vaccines have given us some hope of travelling again in the near future, this feels like the right moment for a Oma? Wacht… Die dag keek ik er uren naar. En daar, in de schaduw Is het te veel gevraagd Misschien is ze dat koele briesje. dicht bij de gerimpelde huid om een teken te geven? Of dat boompje, fris in duizend kleuren groen. van de oude banyanboom, new beginning. So we’re reaching out to you in this new loste weer een stukje van mijn verdriet op. brochure with a selection of the best children’s books from the Netherlands published in 2020. For now, by post and online, but hopefully soon we can discuss them Altijd dichtbij ‘It makes your mouth water.’ in person. 32 pages / 33.7 x 22 cm The selection was made by a team of children’s Trouw book critics from national newspapers. It includes Mark Rights The little boy Babu looks for signs from his grand- Janssen’s haunting black and white illustrations, the Lemniscaat Robin van der Gaag mother, who has passed away. She told him that she captivating concertina book Animals on the Move, the [email protected] would always be near to him, even after her death. Is hilarious picture book But First I Caught a Monster, as Grandma in that cool breeze, in the river or in a tree? well as highly acclaimed non-fiction about art and nature, Rights sold Babu slowly realises that Grandma is everywhere middle-grade fiction full of the sensitivity, lightness English (Lemniscaat Ltd) and that ‘little pieces of the dearest face of all’ can and humour that is characteristic of Dutch children’s be found in lots of places. As he moves through his books, and three 10+ fiction titles ranging from raw and Mark Janssen grief, he can start to get on with his life, going to historical to exceptionally literary. Finally, in line with (b. 1974) has illustrated hello school and playing with his friends. the international interest in classics, we present two around 450 books for Dutch, Always Nearby tells an evocative and tranquil remarkable retellings of familiar stories, The Jungle Book Belgian and Chinese publish- ers. In 2016, he created his story about bereavement, in which life slowly regains and Nils Holgersson’s travels. own first picture book. Many colour. Illustrator Mark Janssen took inspiration for Please enjoy browsing through these titles and do of his books have already this picture book from his trips to Nepal, as can be contact us for more information on these, or any other, found their way abroad and seen in his pictures of temples, souvenir shops and, Dutch children’s books. And don’t forget that we’re have been translated into multiple languages. above all, the expanses of nature. The pictures were always happy to provide financial support for high- made entirely with black pencil and are striking in quality translations. their detail and subtlety. The variation in shades of grey creates an almost mystical atmosphere. Review- Agnes Vogt ers have described the illustrations as ‘fabulously [email protected] beautiful’ and ‘staggeringly precise’. 5+ Spring 2021 1 Animals on the Move But First I Caught a Monster Pieter van den Heuvel Tjibbe Veldkamp & Kees de Boer Kameel koos voor zijn studie... Because the soldiers were monsters too. Panter neemt problemen mee... en spin gewoon een vaas. Neushoorn nam de auto... en de muizen kozen kaas. De dieren gaan verhuizen. Wat nemen ze mee? Alles! In deze uitvouwbare verhuisstoet (van maar liefst 4 meter lang!) komen de sjouwende dieren met al hun lievelingsspullen voorbij. Van een televisieverslaafde walvis en een studerende kameel tot een pianospelende eland en een hele luie kat. BW ENG - Maar eerst ving ik een monster.indd 16 08/07/2019 19:15 BW ENG - Maar eerst ving ik een monster.indd 17 08/07/2019 19:15 Maar eerst ving ik een WWW.GOTTMER.NL ~<(st!m&=hhcaff< monster Waarschuwing: niet geschikt voor kinderen jonger dan 36 maanden. Lang koord. Verwurgingsgevaar. ‘It’s a party, this book.’ 32 pages / 33.5 x 25 cm ‘A funny, inventive, dazzling picture book.’ Jaapleest.nl Rights Trouw De verhuisdieren Lemniscaat 28 pages / 28.6 x 22 cm Animals on the Move is four metres long. The pictures Robin van der Gaag ‘This is a short story,’ is the first sentence of a surpris- Sample translation available can be looked at individually but they open up to [email protected] ing and innovative read-aloud picture book in which Rights reveal a long procession of animals on their way to a Rights sold writer Tjibbe Veldkamp uses the age-old technique Gottmer new house with all their belongings. For this debut, English (Lemniscaat Ltd) of accumulation to create an ingenious tale that Mara Joustra Pieter van den Heuvel has chosen a concertina form, just gets funnier and funnier. It’s about a boy and a [email protected] and the result is a picture book that is both spectac- bedtime story, so it works best if it’s read aloud. ‘This ular and original. Tjibbe Veldkamp story is about you,’ says the narrator. ‘You went to All rights available (b. 1962) writes beautiful The animals take a leisurely stroll from a coun- books for a range of age sleep. And then the story was over.’ The boy protests: tryside setting to an urban area. The threat of the groups, from the very young- ‘Yes, but first I caught a monster.’ Pieter van den Heuvel monstrous foot in the drily comical conclusion est readers to young adults. And that’s what happens in this picture book, Animals on the Move is Pieter places a nice exclamation mark at the end of the over and over again. To make bedtime last longer, all van den Heuvel’s children’s Kees de Boer book debut. His detailed story. There’s something amusing about each of the (b. 1965) is an illustrator and kinds of new monsters pop into the boy’s imagina- illustrations guarantee hours animals, drawn in dark pencil coloured with water- cartoonist for magazines and tion – and into this book. They become increasingly of viewing pleasure. Critics colour. A giraffe in spotty boots is carrying a cat in has been illustrating chil- spectacular and scary-looking, as Kees de Boer really have called him ‘the discov- dren’s books since 1996. ery of the year’. its mouth. A moose has a piano on its back – and a goes to town in his exuberant, cartoonish style. The sloth has fallen asleep on top of the piano. The rhym- joke is rounded off when the boy decides to stop, ing sentences swirl across the pages. This spectacle and we suddenly arrive at the end – or is it a new is a delight for the eyes. beginning? 3+ Dutch Children’s Books 2 4+ Spring 2021 3 The Netherlands’ Netherlands’ The for major awards books children’s in 2020 Dioraphte Dioraphte Woutertje Woutertje Pieterse Prize Pieterse Gouden Griffel from 15 years up 15 years from Uit elkaar Uit elkaar Hup Herman! Prize Literatour Nicolas en de verdwijning Bette Westera & Sylvia Weve Bette Westera & Sylvia Weve Gouden Penseel Yvonne Jagtenberg van de wereld (Gottmer) (Gottmer) (Gottmer) Anne Eekhout (De Arbeiderspers) dit is geen cobra sylvia weve & Koos Meinderts Koos & Sanne te Loo de man met de zeegroene ogen man met de zeegroene de bette westera Koos Meinderts & Sanne te Loo Hoogland & Van Klaveren samsara De man met de Tijger Dit is geen Cobra Bizar Het geheime boek De vuurzeevlieg Uit elkaar zeegroene ogen Jan Jutte Bette Westera Sjoerd Kuyper van Sinterklaas – en andere Bette Westera Koos Meinderts (Lemniscaat) & Sylvia Weve (Hoogland Floortje Zwigtman dierenverhalen & Sylvia Weve & Sanne te Loo (Samsara) & Van Klaveren) & Sassafras Toon Tellegen (Gottmer) (Hoogland & Van De Bruyn & Carll Cneut Klaveren) (Uitgeverij (Querido) Zilveren Griffels Zilveren Rubinstein) Zilveren Penselen Zilveren 1939-1945 enk jij dat je best veel weet over de Tweede Wereldoorlog? Dan moet je dit boek toch lezen. Er TOEN HET valt zoveel te vertellen dat zelfs D in dit dikke boek niet alles staat. 1939-1945 Maar wat er bijvoorbeeld wél in staat is: waarom je ’s avonds per ongeluk in een gracht kon vallen, wat mensen aten terwijl er eigenlijk niets te eten was en waarom veel mensen geloofden dat Hitler een goede OORLOG leider was. Het gaat over vechten en vrede, over moord en overleven. Over Nederland en hoe de oorlog ons land raakte. Toen het oorlog was is een boek waar je in kunt bladeren en verdwalen. Samen of alleen. Om nog eens over na te denken of met anderen over te praten. Want al is de oorlog lang geleden, het blijft belangrijk om de verhalen door te geven.