1. Pieter Koolwijk and Linde Faas: The trolls of Leif. lemniscate; €14.99; 9+
The story of the unlikely hero cannot be told enough. Certainly not if it is done by the expert par excellence: last year’s Gouden Griffel winner, Pieter Koolwijk. In the Viking village, everyone is stronger, smarter and more useful than the shy slacker Leif. His grandfather, the official village prankster, has named him his successor. Possibly his best joke ever. Ravna, the younger, stronger, smarter and, according to every Viking, much more useful sister of Leif, takes charge of the village when everything goes wrong. Meanwhile, Leif keeps talking about trolls. No one in the Netherlands can paint the Scandinavian light better than Linde Faas, who lives part of the year in the High North.
2. Joelle Jolivet: Our body. Translated from the French by Agnes Brunt. The Harmony; €29.90; 5+
Forget all the other books about the human body. There are plenty of them, but not like that of the French illustrator Joëlle Jolivet. With her linocut technique she manages to find a wonderful balance between coarse, almost comic-like lines and scientifically correct details. With her thoughtful use of color she elevates the body from something everyday to art. What makes her work attractive to everyone, but especially to children, is that Jolivet even manages to stuff an anatomy book full of jokes and finds. The pregnant woman, drawn from the side, is beautiful, for example, which is layered on top of each other. From her debut animal bookthe ideal baby shower gift, an anniversary edition has just been published.
3. Simon van der Geest and Karst-Janneke Rogaar: wolf weather. Querido; €13.99; 7+
It has been quiet for some time around Simon van der Geest, who made an impression with spinner (2012) and To be silent (2015), adventure books in which children are on the verge of doing dangerous things when parents aren’t paying attention. wolf weather is a continuation of his successful collaboration with illustrator Karst-Janneke Rogaar, who now also has a number of self-written books to her name. The two understand each other well and have the same angular, sometimes funny, sometimes a bit mean humor. As befits wolves. In their latest book, it turns out that the tough wolf Iwan turns into a thin man who only talks about the weather at full moon. She-wolf Masja, who is in love with him, has to get used to that.
4. Oliver Jeffers: It’s haunted in this house. Translated from English by Mirjam Hoekstra. The fountain; €18.99; 5+
Graphically strong tour of a haunted house. At least the hostess thinks it’s haunted, but she can’t always find the ghosts. Perhaps the readers and viewers would like to help her find it? The British Oliver Jeffers knows how to surprise with every new picture book. Not only because of the crazy subjects, especially in his popular series about a bunch of cheeky crayons, but also by regularly trying out new techniques. An edited photo collage this time, which he stole from old-fashioned books about home decor. By working with translucent endpapers, the ghosts appear and disappear when turning the pages. Jeffers prefers to do everything himself: the beautiful text is hand drawn letter by letter.
5. Edward van de Vendel, Anoush Elman and Annet Schaap: mishka. Querido; €17.99; 8+
This story really happened. Writer Edward van de Vendel became friends fifteen years ago with the Afghan family of 17-year-old Anoush Elman, who fled to the Netherlands with people smugglers. The youth novel the lucky finder (2008) penetratingly tells about that hellish journey. Today, Elman has small children of her own and it’s time to tell the story one more time, but this time to a much younger audience. In mishka is not he, but his little sister Roya the main character. Once the family lives in their first Dutch home, she would like a rabbit. Mishka arrives and soon becomes a valued family member, to whom you can tell everything. The fun, but also the tough stuff. So they do. Perhaps the most beautiful and most important children’s book of the year.
6. Jason Reynolds: Ghost. Translated from English by Maria Postema. Condor; €15.99; 10+
Some people exercise because they enjoy it and have a predisposition to it, others have a deeper reason. Ghost discovers that he can run really fast when his father is chasing him with a gun. Fortunately, the other young members of the athletics team he joins have also been through a lot. Reynolds writes about his own African-American background without mincing words, but above all witty and compelling.
7. Various authors: The great unavoidable storybook. lemniscate; €9.99; 12+
This year’s Children’s Book Week Gift was created by the two Australians behind the successful book series The crazy tree house. In protest, authors of the Lemniscaat publishing house put together a collection containing only work from Dutch soil. It contains ten poems and ten stories, including a new story by 91-year-old Jan Terlouw about wasps, but also fresh work by unknown authors who want to be discovered. The wonderful contribution by veteran Tjibbe Veldkamp, about Oele who gets bully Sjef down by including him in a story, is worth this entire collection alone.
