“Everything in this book actually happened,/unless it didn’t really happen/—then it’s really made up.” With this misleading motto at the front of her new book, which is part of the Tiger Reading series, for beginning readers, Joukje Akveld immediately issues a warning. Be wary, the title is allowed This all really happened sound, yet reality may not be what it seems. This sounds intriguing, but also somewhat complicated: metafiction in a story for children who are learning to read, does that work?
Nice and boring
Fortunately, Akveld starts easily. In fact, with the introduction of her protagonist Cees (‘with a C’) and her four cats (with the unusual names Jozef, Mozes, Lucifer and Kazimir), who have been portrayed in an unfamiliar way by illustrator Kees de Boer, the story seems very bland and obvious to start with. What immediately distinguishes the opening pages from other first reader’s books, however, is the ironic metanarrative commentary of a bird that De Boer playfully allows to flutter into the book. In a yellow balloon cloud, he remarks from the sidelines: “Four cats./Isn’t that a bit much?”
This little bird, which continues to fulfill its role as a cheerful calling horn throughout the story events, is an ingenious invention by Akveld. The comments of the animal, whose facial expression often speaks volumes thanks to De Boer’s cartoonish drawing style, keep the tension in it. In addition, children will recognize themselves in the witty critical notes that the bird cracks. The cheerful flutter’s reaction to the fact that Cees is a frequent reader (“Pfff. Nice and boring. / All day in a book.”) will not differ much from what most people over six think, if they have already discovered through reading puzzles that they have started a story about a girl who – inspired by her mother who writes children’s books – enjoys reading in the garden.
Catastrophic Consequences
But that supposed dullness doesn’t last long. After the rippling start, complete chaos quickly ensues. A barking neighbor dog, a DIY neighbor across the street, and the necessary singing, partying and barbecuing ‘oversiders’ create a deafening cacophony of sounds that completely spoil Cees’ reading pleasure.
De Boer depicts this colorfully, with many onomatopoeic words and nice bold letters that he lets thunder through the book, while Cees turns into a real fury while stamping and roaring. You can actually see her despair growing: she puts carrots in her ears, headphones on her head, but nothing helps, until she decides distraught to get into her father’s demolition machine, with all the catastrophic consequences that entails. How catastrophic they are, the reader may discover for himself. In any case, the rash demolition scenes, humorously enlarged by De Boer, show that things are certainly not gentle and Cees is ruthless, under the motto ‘anything goes in stories’.
So everything really happened? That remains to be seen. The ingenious closing illustration of a book with a Droste effect, in which Cees is depicted reading on the garden bench in endless repetition, aptly shows that the boundary between what actually happened and what was actually invented can be unclear. So the question remains who wrote this book (on the drawing). Cees’ mother? Or is it Akveld, who, coincidentally or not, calls it a revenge story? This quirky metafictional game for kids makes This all really happened one of the best Tiger Reading titles. As well as offering children a crazy reading adventure without forcing them into the mind-numbing AVI straitjacket (the goal of the series), it’s also a very successful introduction to the power of fiction and proves that fun and literature go hand in hand.