Materials from Netherlands
Holland – a land full of surprises, strange traditions, free-spirited people and a rich history. Charlotte Dematons, known for her well-loved picture book The Yellow Balloon, grew up in France, but moved to the Netherlands to study art as so many have before her. With the eye of an outsider but a warm heart for the country that became her new home, Charlotte Dematons paints with a keen eye for the detail for everything that makes The Netherlands so Dutch.
The wonder and variety of various zoo animals is explored in this book as full of questions as Kipling’s Elephant’s Child. From an elephant to a peacock, a rhinoceros to a flamingo, an inquisitive child and his grandfather visit and ponder each animal.
Benjamin and Anna love staying with their cousin Robin in his house near the forest. In the autumn, Robin takes them to see his favourite tree–a giant oak that is 300 years old. The children build a den under the oak tree’s giant branches and watch the squirrels hide acorns in its wide trunk.
In the winter they ski through the forest and meet the foresters who chose which trees will become firewood this year–but not their beautiful oak tree!
In the spring the children go searching for badgers and see many animals that live in the forest–nesting birds, gentle deer and shy rabbits. One night, the tree helps Benjamin when he discovers a creature he didn’t expect. How can the children say thank you?
If a camel gets angry, he will throw up green gastric juice over you. A sloth moves so slowly that green algae grows in his fur. Even a blind chameleon takes the color of its surroundings. Bologna Ragazzi Award winner Marije Tolman, creator of The Tree House and The Island, illustrates in her distinctive style curious, funny, bizarre, unbelievable, disgusting and weird facts about fifty different animals. The animal facts are straightforward nonfiction, Marije Tolman’s illustrations are pure fantasy, creating a combination that is sure to engage readers.
When sailors aboard a Dutch ship in 1663 capture a creature, half man and half fish, the superstitious crewmen want to kill it, except for a young cabin boy who believes that the creature deserves to live.
Two travelers discover the secrets of sleep from the Sandman himself. Includes a book-within-a-book with helpful hints for both sleepyheads and insomniacs.
A boy counts his way through the airport and onto the plane as it flies towards its destination.
Fay was adopted when he was a baby and lives in the Netherlands. He knows only that his birth mother escaped the war in Bosnia and that he arrived in his adopted home with nothing more than a squeaky toy and a few clothes. His older sister Bing was adopted too, from China, where she was found abandoned on the street. While drawing birds at the aviary in the park, his favorite passtime, Fay meets Maud the new girl in town. Maud who urges him to search for his birth mother. With mixed feelings, Fay, along with his parents, pursues the search, but this creates mayhem at home, since there is no possibility of Bing ever being able to find her birth mother. Fay’s complicated feelings about searching for his mother and his ambivalent feelings for Maud unfold in this compelling story of finding your true identity.
Fifteen-year-old Dolf uses a prototype time machine and gets stuck in the Middle Ages. Trying to find his way back to the twentieth century, he joins a children’s crusade of almost ten thousand children on their way to the Holy Land. Dolf helps the children defy the terrible mountains, conquer disease and fight evil knights. Slowly, Dolf begins to realize that the real danger does not lurk behind the next mountaintop, but rather within the crusade itself.
Pip the gnome plays happily with his woodland friends, the mouse, robin, wren and spider. Follow them through spring, summer, into autumn and then winter. The colourful illustrations and simple words introduce very young children to the seasons, with bright green leaves in spring, warm sunshine in summer, blustery wind in autumn and snowfall in winter. Perfect for bedtime, the story ends as we look up at the stars and say good night to Pip.