ellerbecks apps

Caroline Ellerbeck created two fun apps for children, sold via Appracadabra

Count the animals

First day of school

weekend!

via

cool cowboy

We regularly pay a visit to the local library. It's such a joy to discover great children's books. This week we brought home a book called Coole Cowboy (= cool cowboy ;)

by Tjibbe Veldkamp, illustrated by Wouter Tulp. The illustrations are so wonderful! So I looked up this Mr. Tulp... wow! Definiteley check out his website

books

As an end-of-year present my work always gives book coupons. Not bad! This year it was time for a new batch of kids' books. Here is what I bought:

* Het knuffeldekentje van klein konijn: Had to get this one. It's about a small bunny and his blanket, which he takes everywhere. Lo and behold (just learned this phrase from Kevin Clash, a.k.a. Elmo ;) his mother washes the blanket! Reminds me of my youngest and his blanket.
* Otis: Both my boys are crazy about tractors, so when I saw this book about a cute little tractor and his calf friend, I knew it would be an instant success.
* Franse kinderen gooien niet met eten: What an eye opener! It's written by Pamela Druckerman, an American mother living in Paris who writes about the differences between bringing up kids in the US and in France. To my opinion, Dutch culture was comparable to the French culture some years ago (I guess I was brought up the French way), but is shifting more towards the US culture. It definitely got me thinking about my own ways.
* Het grote Grimmboek: 16 Grimm tales illustrated by contemporary Dutch children's book illustrators. Beautiful!

diepzeedokter diederik

Yesterday Sinterklaas payed us a visit... which means he left 2 (!) bags full of presents at our doorstep. My eldest went through the roof with exitement. We even had to build in a little 'zen' moment, otherwise he wouldn't have stopped unpacking... so funny!

My boys got all sorts of fun presents, mostly cars, trains and puzzles. They also got this book

I did tell you about my eldest's plans to go to Australia by submarine, did I? So... how did Sinterklaas know? Hmmm...

It's a fun story about a doctor (Diederik) who goes deep sea in a submarine to help fish in need. A sea horse that can't see, a shark with an aching tooth. The illustrations are sooo good. Publisher Clavis definitely has a good eye when it comes to illustrators!

atlas - Sinterklaas series no.2

My eldest loves looking at his world globe and fantasizing about flying to far away countries (oh wonder where he got that from!). I'm thinking about getting him his first atlas.

get it here

mouse house

Recently someone drew my attention to het muizenhuis. Dutch children's book writer Karina Schaapman made a huge mouse house, almost 2 metres wide and 3 metres high! It is divided in more than one hundred rooms, from the usual bed and bath rooms to a bakery and even a brewery.

The protagonists of Schaapman's books are Julia and Sam, two little mice that have all sorts of adventures in their mouse house, or better said: mouse town. Schaapman stages scenes with the mice in the different rooms and photographs them to illustrate the story. The detail is incredible.

Het muizenhuis grew organically over time, room by room. After a while the house became too big to keep in her own home, so Schaapman donated the house to the Amsterdam Public Library (Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam - OBA). Now everybody can enjoy this masterpiece!

Even my two boys!

burp

shop alert! burp!

illustrations

Dutch children's book illustrator Noëlle Smit makes the most beautiful prints. She works with really good authors; their books are a delight to read. And my boys can't stop looking at all that's happening on every page...





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiet wil rennen by Bibi Dumon Tak & Noëlle Smit



 

 

 

 

 

 





 

 



Welkom op de Dierderij by Lida Dijkstra & Noëlle Smit



ja kwak zeg

Another book tip. At the moment we love reading Wie is er hier het dapperst by L. Pauli. It's about a mouse, snail, frog and sparrow who play a game of truth or dare, but than only the dare part. For example, the mouse has to swim under water and the snail has to leave it's house.

It has beautiful drawings, but the best part is that after every daring act, the animals clap there paws, feelers, fins and wings... and so do we... to the best of our abilities!

little green riding hood & snow purple?

You know I like coloring. So it mustn't come as a surprise that I like these fairy tale books by Caroline Ellerbeck. You can color them yourselves!

Little Red Riding Hood

Snow White

stories in rhyme

I have a new favorite book: Ik leer je liedjes van verlangen en aan je apenstaartje hangen by Bette Westera. It's a humoristic book with stories about animals acting human like. The stories are layered in such a way that both kids and parents will enjoy reading them. And the best part of this book is that all the stories are written in rhyme. This makes it even more fun to read to your kids.

I don't know where to begin explaining and exemplifying the stories in English, so I won't. I'm sorry... but at least have a look at the - also - wonderful illustrations made by Sylvia Weve.

What a find!

David Melling

 



















This David Melling guy makes some pretty darn good sketches on his blog.

more books




David Melling

 













'Net als mijn papa'

Jon Klassen

'Ik wil mijn hoed terug'




Miep Diekmann

'Ik zie je wel, ik hoor je wel'

Alain Gree

Retro at it's finest:

Books from Alain Grée. Books about cities, rivers, transportation, sports, outer space.

It's a shame they're so difficult to find.