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To celebrate the publication earlier this month of The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof by Annie M. G. Schmidt, translated by David Colmer, today I’m sharing my 5 favourite Dutch children’s books which are available in English (being a Dutch-English bilingual family this is something we know a little bit about ).

But that’s not all!

Thanks to award-winning translator David Colmer you’ll also be able to find out about some of the great Dutch titles just waiting to be translated. (Hint HINT Publishers! )

I reviewed The Cat who Came in off the Roof by Annie M. G. Schmidt, translated by David Colmer a couple of weeks ago (here’s my review in full) but my elevator pitch for this book is: This is a timeless, warm-hearted, thought-provoking and charming read all about one shy person’s struggle to stand up to power, alongside a clever exploration of the very essence of what it means to be human. And yes, there are lots of cats involved. It’s also very funny and written with a lightness of touch which ensures readers will devour this book despite its meaty themes. Last week one newspaper book reviewer called this brilliant book her “find of the year to date“. It might just turn out to be yours too!

An epic adventure involving knights, bravery and brotherhood, The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt, translated by Laura Watkinson tells of a gripping quest full of excitement and peril; it speaks volumes that this book was named the best children’s book ever in its homeland. A young boy has almost completed the tasks he must undertake to become a knight, but when a stranger requests his help the boy cannot turn down the plea, even if it means abandoning his long held ambition to be knighted. He is tasked with delivering a secret letter to the King across the Great Mountains, a letter which holds the fate of an entire kingdom within its words. Fans of Tolkien or Arthurian legends will love this book, with its thrilling action, and an epic landscape with soaring mountains and mysterious forests. Chivalry, courage and fabulous characters abound this is a hugely enjoyable read to share with all the family. You can read my interview with the translator Laura Watkinson here.

The Day My Father Became a Bush by Joke van Leeuwen, translated by Bill Nagelkerke is a tender and yet funny and unsentimental story about a refugee child forced to leave her home country because of war. Whilst it is certainly thought provoking and moving, the darker side of the story is finely balanced with humour and pastries (the child’s father is a pastry chef – so there are plenty of excuses for enjoying this book with a choux bun or slice of mille-feuille!)

“A brilliant, eerily engrossing evocation of war as it brushes up against youth—a harsh slice of the world during a mean piece of history.” (Kirkus)

Mister Orange by Truus Matti, translated by Laura Watkinson first came to my attention early this year when it won the 2014 Mildred L. Batchelder Award

With one of the best openings I’ve read in a long while this is a moving story about the power of imagination, loss and longing. Set in New York during the Second World War it follows the hopes and fears of Linus, a teenage boy who steps into the shoes of his older brother, a soldier who has left to fight in Europe. Comics play an important role in this book, as does the redemptive power of art; (true) details of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian’s final years in the Big Apple are interwoven into Linus’ life, with evocative period description and a thoughtful exploration of growing-up.

From one of the most recently tranlated books to one that has been around for 44 years, Children on the Oregon Trail by An Rutgers van der Loeff, translated by Roy Edwards is a tale of endurance and skill following a family of orphaned children travelling west across America as pioneers in the 1840s. This enthralling story is based loosely on a real family of pioneer orphans, and if you or your kids have enjoyed the Laura Ingalls Wilder books or simply like stories where children show ingenuity and maturity without adults around, then do give this book a try. In fact, I’d recommend any book by Rutgers van der Loeff (several were translated in the 1950s and ’60s) for she really knows how to write adrenalin fuelled stories with a keen eye for the wider world.

Now over to David for his recommendations about Dutch children’s books still waiting to hit English language bookshelves:

Something else by Annie M.G. Schmidt.

[David has translated several books by the person many would call the Queen of Dutch children's literature, including a collection of Schmidt's poems, A Pond full of Ink, which has received much praise in the US /Zoe] ‘Wiplala‘ for instance and ‘Wiplala Again‘, a very funny two-book series about an elf-like creature called Wiplala, who has been banished for magical incompetence and plays havoc in a typical Schmidt-style single-parent household. ‘Wiplala’ was originally written in the 1950s but came out in a new edition with illustrations by Philip Hopman in 2007. A film version is currently in production.

‘Dunno’ by Joke van Leeuwen. [Dutch title: 'Kweenie']

Brilliant integration of text, typography and illustrations in this story about a character who falls out of a bedtime story and the little girl who tries to return him to his parents. Trouble is, there are so many stories… Which one was it? A children’s story about story telling itself sounds way too postmodern, but this book works on every level. More information about this book can be found on the website of the Dutch Foundation for Literature: http://www.letterenfonds.nl/en/book/291/dunno

‘Annabel Lee in the Dead of Night’ by Imme Dros, [Dutch title: 'Annetje Lie in de holst van de nacht'] with black-and-white illustrations by Margriet Heymans.

This is a hallucinatory story about a little girl in an uncertain world whose feverish dreams take on a life of their own. It’s eerie and strange, but my own daughter loved it and read it over and over. It was published in English in the 90s, but is now out of print. If nothing else, a new translation could respect the author’s wishes and call the main character “Annabel Lee” in English, as a homage to Edgar Allan Poe, whose work inspired the original.

Ingrid Godon and Toon Tellegen’s I Wish [Dutch title: Ik wou]

Maybe an art book more than a children’s book, Godon’s emotionally-charged naive portraits are wedded to Tellegen’s prose portraits to form a moving whole. And while I’m on the subject of Tellegen, his poetry and animal stories have been rightly praised in the UK, but his other work deserves publication too. Sneaking in another title, Pikkuhenki, with illustrations by Marit Törnqvist, is a gem in the fairy-tale genre with a great story about a tiny Russian witch who discovers that she has enormous powers and overthrows an evil tsar.

And that brings me to my last recommendation, another book my daughter couldn’t get enough of, insisting I it read over and over for her bedtime stories: Fairy Tales from the Low Countries by Eelke de Jong and Hans Sleutelaar, illustrated by Peter Vos. I’m partial to fairy tales, true, but the problem is that most collections are either poorly written or poorly translated or both. That’s not the case here, where the style is always clear and beautifully fluent, a joy to read out loud. This book reminds me of Italo Calvino’s Italian folktales, and besides variations on familiar Germanic themes, there are plenty of stories you’ve never heard before. My favourite: “One Hunchback Mocks Another”. Warning: not for Disney fans.

My thanks go to David for his excellent choice of books waiting for English translations. I do hope one or two publishers might be tempted by his suggestions!

I feel a little bit guilty for almost reaching the end of this post without mentioning Miffy or The Diary of Anne Frank – perhaps the two biggest exports from the world of Dutch children’s books. There are also many other books I’ve not been able to include in an attempt to keep the post from running on past everyone’s bedtime, but let me end by pointing out three publisher who have made a name for themselves publishing (amongst other things) brilliant Dutch children’s books in translation: Pushkin Press and Gecko Press with a special honorary mention to Book Island who have published several great books translated from Flemish by Belgian authors and illustrators.

Come back tomorrow when you could win a copy of The Cat who Came in off the Roof by Annie M. G. Schmidt, translated by David Colmer AND The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt, translated by Laura Watkinson! Two of my favourite books in any language, I’m sure you’ll love them too.

Departure Time Truus Matti, translated from the Dutch by Nancy Forest-Flier

There is the girl who remembers nothing and finds herself in the abandoned hotel with the Fox and the Rat and the mysterious piano music.

Then there is the girl who has moved and carries the guilt of the letter she wrote to her father last year-- a letter of anger that ended up being the last one he would receive before he dies in a swimming accident.

The book alternates between the two stories and it's not overly difficult to figure out how they are related, although it doesn't fully come together until the end.

I wasn't a huge fan of the story with the girl in the hotel. It drags. There's a lot of mystery as to what's going on, but not a lot of suspense, and I ended up not really caring. It also had talking animals, which aren't really my thing, except that they didn't really do animal things and could have been humans so it didn't bother me as much as it could have.

I did, however, enjoy the story of the girl dealing with her father's death. The short chapters cover her life before he died and what's going on now, a year later, plus some of the in-between. Due to their brevity (and present tense voice) they're almost like snapshots of life. They move quickly and her anger and grief and remorse are palpable.

It was this second story that kept me slogging through the first story. As much as I ended up liking the book, the unevenness was hard to get through.

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Departure Time
By Truus Matti
Translated by Nancy Forest-Flier
namelos
$18.95
ISBN: 978-1-60898-009-3
Ages 9-12
On shelves now.

Translated children’s novels have a tough row to hoe. In my experience as a children’s librarian I’ll often find that folks react to them in a variety of different ways. Sometimes they like them, but often they’ll dislike the books and then fail to express what it is about the book they don’t like. Often it all breaks down into feelings. I’ve had people tell me that they found The Swan’s Child by Sjoerd Kuyper “special”, though they couldn’t pinpoint why. Others have said that The Squirrel’s Birthday and Other Parties by Toon Tellegen just wasn’t their cup of tea. I find this reaction to translated works frustrating but there’s little that I can do about it. I mean, you can’t contest a reader’s gut reaction, right? So it is with the deepest pleasure that I discovered Departure Time by Truus Matti. Part mystery, part fantasy, part philosophy (I keep comparing it in my head to Sophie’s World, but in a good way), I guarantee that once you start reading you may never feel inclined to stop. This is a book for the smart kids.

Two girls. The same girls? Impossible to say. When the book opens there are two competing narratives, and which one should you trust? Story #1 is about a nameless girl. She can remember nothing of her past and has no idea why she is struggling through a desert with only a bag full of music books by her side. Soon she finds a dilapidated hotel in the distance and upon entering is met by a gray fox and a large white rat. The two seem to mistake her for someone else at first, but as time goes on she earns their trust and their help in solving who she is and who the mysterious denizen of the hotel’s top floor might be. Story #2 weaves around Story #1 and is seemingly straightforward. Mouse’s father has died and in the depths of her grief and guilt, she remembers the events that led to his dying and the fateful letter that she is certain contributed to his demise. As readers parse the two stories they notice similarities between the two. Is Mouse the girl in Story #1? Who is the mysterious music player? The answers will honestly surprise you.

This is going to make me sound a bit off my nut, but you know what this book reminded me the most of? When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. There’s no good reason for this. Stead’s novel was a science fiction/historical fiction bit of realism, with a dash of the unexpected on the side. Departure Time in contrast appears to be realistic fantasy, or fantastical realism. Magical realism, let’s say. Just the same, there are similarities to be found between both books. In When You Reach Me the main character is speaking to us from the future about mysteri