Versatility

Dutch author and illustrator Wim Hofman works with a wide range of registers. Fantasy and highly original humour characterise fairy-tale-like absurd stories for young children such as Uk en Bur (1987), Grote Pien en kleine Pien (Big Pien and Little Pien, 1989) and De stoorworm (The Pest Worm, 1980). Hofman used autobiographical material in Het vlot (The Raft, 1988) and De dochters van de kolenboer (The Coalman’s Daughters, 1992). In Zwart als inkt is het verhaal van Sneeuwitje en de zeven dwergen (The Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Is As Black As Night, 1997) he subtly integrates the idiom and story elements of the well-known fairy tale in an extended, rhythmically composed epic poem which is balanced perfectly by the accompanying illustrations.

Imme Dros is another versatile author. She can write in practically any genre of the children’s book spectrum. In addition to stor ies for young children, most of which are masterfully illustrated by her husband Harrie Geelen, she also writes animal stories (in which the animals have quite human features) and novels for adolescents. The fact that Dros is a captivating storyteller is apparent in her Daan trilogy in which she evokes one boy’s childhood with great empathy and stylistic precision. The boy Daan from the Dutch isle of Texel is twelve years old in De zomer van dat jaar (That Year’s Summer, 1980), sixteen in Lange maanden (Long Months, 1982) and a student in the third part, Ongelukkig verliefd (Unhappily in Love, 1995). In the course of the three books Daan grows from being an uncertain, stuttering schoolboy and finally becomes a young man who is looking to the future.

Imme Dros’ fascination with Homer’s archetypal narrative skills took on solid form in her brilliant and accessible translation of the Odyssey (1991) and in her own interpretations of the epic: De reizen van de slimme man (A Clever Man’s Travels, 1988) and Odysseus, een man van verhalen (Odysseus, Teller of Tales, 1994).

Illustration by Margriet Heymans (from: Annetje Lie in het holst van de nacht by Imme Dros)

With Annetje Lie in het holst van de nacht (Annelie in the Depths of the Night, 1987) Imme Dros wrote a controversial children’s book which rekindled discussions of the borderline between children’s literature and books for adults. Fantasy and reality merge in this story. The innumerable word associations, puns and references make it quite a difficult book. Nevertheless, it is a brilliant, timeless story.

Imme Dros’s illustrated books and stories for the beginning reader show the same careful construction, but here her heart-warming humour sets the tone. In Morgen ga ik naar China (Tomorrow I’m Leaving for China, 1995) the little narrator sets off on a journey to China, because parents there are only allowed to have one child, ‘and a child can get away with anything in China’. The narrative perspective is funny and ingenious. The repetition and piling up of childlike arguments make the narrator’s aggravation perfectly recognisable.