All Dutch children love to read (or be read) the adventures of Jip and Janneke! My children love them, and I’m sure yours would too… but unfortunately these well-known Dutch stories are no longer translated into English. Why is a mystery to me! The stories are sweet and simple, and the pictures are absolutely adorable!

After Janneke (?) moves into the house next-door to Jip’s (?) and they meet through a hole in the hedge, they become best friends, and together they run into all sorts of typical kids situations! A lot of the stories are based on the adventures of the writer’s own little son and his next-door girlfriend, and remind me of the trouble my daughter used to get in with Courtney’s son! (Though Jip and Janneke are a bit older–about 5)! You can read an English translation of the story on how they meet here!

The stories, written by the author Annie M. G. Schmidt, started as a weekly newspaper series from 1952 to 1957. Later the stories were bundled in books, and because the stories were so short (not over 250 words) and an independent story in itself, they proved to be perfect for night-time reading! Children love the books because they are written in such simple language, and because they explore a world seen through the eyes of an innocent child.
Because the pictures, drawn by illustrator Fiep Westendorp, had to be printed on cheap newspaper, they were drawn as silhouettes. Later she would use more detail in her drawings– grown-ups or animals became line drawings, and she even introduced colours– but Jip and Janneke always continued to be silhouettes.
Everybody in the Netherlands grew up with Jip and Janneke!
Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy:

The baby looks like a piglet

A very mischievous Jip and Janneke

Cute, don’t you think?
xxx Esther