Cheryl Rogers presented on Dutch Children’s Books.

The Fredonia Shakespeare Club met last month at Barlow’s Mill in Fredonia for the second meeting of the 2024-2025 season.

Club President Sharon Klug hosted the event, with Cheryl Rogers presenting her paper on Dutch Children’s Books. This year’s theme for papers is children’s literature.

While many Dutch authors offer stories similar in topics to other children’s authors, Dutch children’s literature is known for being innovative, witty and literary. Dutch children’s books often feature subject matter that is considered taboo in other countries, and frequently blur the line between children’s and adult literature.

Some characteristics of Dutch children’s books include:

— Zoekboeks, or picture books, wordless books that invite the reader to search for hidden characters, objects or events.

— Multicultural stories, fables and folktales.

— books with colorful illustrations that help to explain concepts such as kindness, diversity and friendship.

As one can imagine, there are a multitude of authors, books and characters to choose from to present for this paper. The following were presented as examples:

— Frog is a character in a series of children’s picture books created by Dutch author and illustrator Max Velthuijs. In the Netherlands Frog is known as Kikker. Together with his friends Pig, Duck and Hare, Frog lives in an anthropomorphic animal world. He observes daily events from a childlike perspective, offering children insight into social interactions.

— Jip and Janneke is a series of 8 children’s books written by Annie M. G. Schmidt and illustrated by Fiep Westendorp. The series is known for its simplicity and wit, and was originally written for Het Parool, an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper between 1952 and 1957, then later collected and published as books. Each weekly episode was no more than 250 words and was an independent story in itself. Jip and Janneke, boy and girl next door neighbors along with a cat Siepie and a dog called Takkie, were published as black silhouettes to make sure the images came out well in the newspaper.

— King & King is a children’s picture book co-authored and co-illustrated by Stern Nijland and Linda De Haan. King & King tells the story of a young prince whose mother forces him to look for his princess. However, after meeting many princesses, the prince falls in love with another prince. King & King’s LGBT content is believed to be the first image of two men romantically kissing portrayed in a children’s book, which has led many social conservatives to challenge it, on both a local and a national level.

— Miffy (Dutch: Nijntje) is a fictional rabbit appearing in a series of 124 picture books drawn and written by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. The original Dutch name, “nijntje”, is a shortening of the diminutive konijntje, “little rabbit”. Each book contains twelve pages of story, with one illustration and four lines of verse on each page, the last word of the second line rhymes with the last of the fourth. The books are written in a way that children can understand, and include real-life situations they may face yet always have a happy ending.

— Ot en Sien is a Dutch children’s book series written by Hindericus Scheepstra and illustrated by Cornelius Jetses. Scheepstra, a teacher in Drenthe, the Netherlands, drew his inspiration from Jan Lighthart, a Dutch teacher and philosopher who wanted to expose young people to what he considered a healthy daily family life. Ligthart’s philosophy was followed by many teachers in elementary schools in the Netherlands and the “Ot en Sien” books became a ubiquitous teaching tool for reading in elementary schools. This phenomenon lasted until late in the 1950s and was one of the most remarkable developments in education in the country.

As mentioned in her introduction, the themes of Dutch children’s literature often mirror themes from other authors, but there are several who push the envelope of what may be considered traditional story lines.

After the paper was presented, members enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and desserts provided by the host, and Barbara Albert poured tea and coffee.