"Never do what your mother tells you to do, then everything will be all right,” to quote Annie M.G. Schmidt. Just saying what you want to say, not making a fuss, breaking any rules that don’t make sense, and recalcitrant humour; these are the secrets of her pen [sic]."1911-1995 Annie M.G. Schmidt: Going against the … Continue reading #DutchKidLit and The Canon of the Netherlands, Part 2 – The Subversive Wit of Annie M.G. Schmidt
#DutchKidLit and The Canon of the Netherlands, Part 1 – Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl
Image: Canonslinger 2020 wall chart. The Canon of the Netherlands is a huge cultural project that tells a story about the historical and cultural development of the Netherlands from ± 5500 BC to present. The Canon was first conceived in 2006 and was recently updated in June 2020. It is now a 50-window timeline using … Continue reading #DutchKidLit and The Canon of the Netherlands, Part 1 – Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl
#WorldKidLitMonth September 2021 – Spotlight #DutchKidLit
When Karen Van Drie, the enthusiastic and dedicated Executive Director of Global Literature in Libraries Initiative, invited me to be the guest editor for the GLLI blog during World Kid Lit Month this year and to feature Dutch kid lit all month long, I was happy to do so because it would mean that I … Continue reading #WorldKidLitMonth September 2021 – Spotlight #DutchKidLit
Day 19: 🇩🇰 The Copenhagen Trilogy
The Copenhagen Trilogy consists of Childhood (1967), Youth (1967) and Dependency (1971). They were first published by Penguin in English in 2019. Book 1: Childhood In a Nutshell: Childhood is the first volume in The Copenhagen Trilogy, from one of Denmark’s most celebrated twentieth-century writers. Childhood is written in a similar vein to Elena Ferrante’s … Continue reading Day 19: 🇩🇰 The Copenhagen Trilogy
Day 18: 🇳🇴 A Modern Family by Helga Flatland
In a Nutshell: When adult siblings, Liv, Ellen and Häkon, along with their partners and children, gather in Rome to celebrate their father’s 70th birthday, their lives are thrown into disarray when their parents announce that they have decided to divorce. It is told predominantly from the perspectives of the two sisters, Ellen and Liv … Continue reading Day 18: 🇳🇴 A Modern Family by Helga Flatland
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Good Night, Earth
A charming, offbeat picture book for ages 3-6, Good Night, Earth* flips the beloved childhood favorite, Goodnight, Moon, on its head in a delightful way by imagining the bedtime ritual of a far-off alien family. Using a telescope they see that: The axolotl is so, so tired. He swallows a gulp of fresh water and reads … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Good Night, Earth
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: The End
What if the world actually ended with a bang and not with a whimper? (Pace, T.S. Eliot.) And what if you knew the end was coming? How would you spend your final days? That’s the premise in The End, an award-winning upper YA novel by Swedish author Mats Strandberg. When the story begins, scientists have … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The End
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Day Saida Arrived
When I moved to the contiguous United States at the age of 7 from Puerto Rico, I did not speak English. I still remember my first day in a second-grade classroom, where I was the only Hispanic student and no one spoke Spanish. I went up to the teacher and told her I had a … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Day Saida Arrived
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Do Animals Fall in Love?
Did you know that male pufferfish carve intricate designs into the sand to attract a female? Or that swifts mate in midair? Or that brown hares can have two pregnancies at the same time? You’ll find these fascinating facts—and plenty more—between the covers of Do Animals Fall in Love? A 142-page illustrated nonfiction book aimed at … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Do Animals Fall in Love?
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Caiman
What would you do if you found a baby caiman (a type of alligator)? Would you slip it into your shirt pocket? Unlikely as it seems, that’s what Faoro, a jeweler and watchmaker, did many years ago. The Caiman*, a picture book for ages 5-8, is his story—a real one. Faoro loved animals and let them wander … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Caiman
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 