The book Miss my mother by Yvonne Keuls takes center stage in November during the reading promotion campaign Nederland Leest. The aim of the annual event is that as many people as possible read the same book and discuss it with each other.
Libraries distribute the book to their visitors and participating secondary schools distribute the book to their students. The print run still depends on the number of orders. Last year, during Nederland Leest, approximately 250,000 copies of The Walker by Adriaan van Dis distributed.
The theme this year is Growing old, staying young† “My mother is central in this book, which fits in so beautifully with the theme. She refused to go to a retirement home: she would age in her own way,” says ninety-year-old Keuls about her book originally published in 1999. “There is no greater good than to grow old with dignity, on your own terms.”
According to the Collective Propaganda Foundation of the Dutch Book (CPNB), Miss my mother a “compelling and moving story about aging with resilience and self-determination, but also about the adaptability of an Indonesian old lady to the Netherlands”. According to the foundation, it is also a book in which the generations can talk to each other and the art of aging can be read between the lines.
Primary schools participate in the Netherlands Reads with The rules of three by Marjolijn Hof. The book is about Twan, his twin sister Linde and their great-grandfather, who can no longer take care of himself. “Sometimes you have to think about getting old, even when you’re young,” says Hof about her book.