Read more about this genre in the essay Master storytellers in pictures and words, or scroll through our selection of the finest children's and youth literature from Flanders.
Verplancke surprises and astounds with this witty parable that goes against the flow.
De Morgen
Rosa the salmon can’t decide whether to calmly stay where she is or leave for the unknown. In the end the itch in her tail pushes her on her way. Her daring brings her both adventure and emotion. ‘Rosa the Very, Very Brave Salmon’ urges us to be headstrong and to show the bravery it takes to swim against the flow and see what that audacity brings.
Brother is mad about birds. And he’s ill. So ill that Sister is afraid he’s going to die. Since he wants to know what happens if you die, Sister invents the Land of Yesterday, where you fly to if Death comes to fetch you. Their dead dog Bobby is happy there too, so they decide to throw a party for the anniversary of his death. But an uninvited guest shows up: Death. Melancholy and poetic, funny and sad, ‘Say Hello to the Geese’ is a moving story about the inevitable.
A surprising new Flemish voice. Restrained and pure.
Jaapleest
For the second summer in a row eleven-year-old Maia and her parents go to a holiday park called Hotel Kosmos. But Maia’s parents are not getting along well. As her parents struggle to save their relationship, Maia finds new friends. In this moving and tragicomic book, Schmitz succeeds in incorporating Maia’s sorrow into a real holiday story.
Strange and wonderful, and ultimately very very memorable
School Library Journal on ‘I Wish’
Ingrid Godon and Paul de Moor explore the life and work of the famous Belgian painter James Ensor through a unique lens. The book immerses readers in Ensor’s thoughts with poetic snapshots of his life, from his childhood experiences with masks in his mother’s gift shop to his enduring fascination with light. The narrative stimulates curiosity rather than providing straightforward information. Godon’s enchanting illustrations, inspired by Ensor, feature masks, skeletons, and grotesque faces, showcasing her artistic prowess.
Sometimes the very best books originate at the interface between fiction and nonfiction.****
De Standaard
Ten factories open up their doors for once. Pieter Gaudesaboos and Bart Rossel show how ten objects are made, each time in eight clear steps. While the text sticks to reality, the pictures steal the show with their playfulness and fantasy; the factories run flat out to produce everyday and familiar objects. The sparkling colours, delightful compositions, humour and rich details in the illustrations hold your attention throughout.
‘Down Day’ does not avoid difficult subjects, and perhaps for that reason it’s an exceptionally comforting book.
De Standaard
Gaston struggles with the loss of his best friend after accidentally dropping Fons's hamster. Feeling alone as his parents focus on fertility treatments, he finds comfort in a duckling. As the duck grows, so does his mother’s tummy. But then Gaston learns of his unborn sister's death. Dieltiens tells this story of loss with great feeling, with perfectly chosen words, plenty of room for suggestion and wonderful characterization.
An exceptionally good standard work to leave lying around everywhere in classrooms and living rooms
Denkkaravaan
Barbara De Munnynck brings 100 remarkable events of world history to life in a fascinating way. The stories include interesting facts and fun anecdotes about well-known and less well-known events or people. The narrative tone, the powerful illustrations of Isabelle Geeraerts and the humour in both text and image make ‘A Small World History in 100 Big Dates’ an excellent book for generating enthusiasm for history and research in readers young and old.
‘Under the Bridge’ has the presence of a thriller, but also lifelike characters and astute sentences.****
NRC
After a Friday night celebration under the bridge, Jowi ends up in a coma after a fall from that very bridge. Did he jump? Was it an accident? Or did someone push him? In an ingeniously structured story, the reader gradually finds out exactly what happened. ‘Under the Bridge’ is an intense reading experience and a demonstration of De Vlieger’s extraordinary voice.
Carlo Collodi’s wooden puppet continues to inspire authors and illustrators all over the world. With ‘Oh Pinocchio’, Carll Cneut and Imme Dros add a remarkable retelling to that tradition. In the book Dros works magic with her pen and Cneut with his paintbrush.In ‘Oh Pinocchio’, Cneut and Dros bring the 140-year-old wooden puppet back to life in a way that is truly impressive.
A clever and sultry story in sensual language that shimmers between the lines
Het Parool
Fourteen-year-old Jakob is head-over-heels in love with Julia, his older brother Esse's girlfriend. Jakob finds out that Esse is risking a great deal in his efforts to make his dream a reality. To impress Julia, Jakob tries to save his brother, but things don’t turn out the way he hoped. Herman van de Wijdeven shows himself at his best, with extraordinarily well-drawn personalities, tension that winds to a fever pitch, sensual language and a lot that can be read between the lines.
A tour de force. Engagingly and faultlessly executed
De Morgen
In ‘A Book Full of Houses’, Pieter Van Eenoge is able to give free rein to his love of architecture. In his clear painting style, which gives the impression of being almost geometric, he brings famous houses and architectural forms to life. This is a colourful and intriguing work that treats both iconic architectural achievements and bizarre curiosities with equal amounts of love.
After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Lena is utterly at a loss. She becomes convinced a sea monster is to blame, but nobody believes her. Along with her new friend Vincent, she sets off in search of proof. ‘Sea Sparkle’ is both a thrilling adventure story and a spot-on portrait of a young girl who is struggling to deal with overwhelming grief. A strong and multi-layered debut.
De Vlieger approaches her subject with sincere admiration, and it shows.
NRC
The chicken is more intelligent, more important and more beautiful than we tend to think. It’s high time to become more familiar with this exceptional creature that’s found everywhere but about which we know little. 'The Big Chicken Book' is bursting with love for the bird, convincing even the most ardent chicken-haters.
As a child, Tomiko dreams of other lives and the other people around her. She wants to be far away from the red door that follows her everywhere. When she gets bigger, she decides to flee, further and further from the person she was as a little girl. But even though Tomiko travels to the other side of the world, she can’t leave her past behind. In this debut, Kevin Sezgin creates an intriguing world reminiscent of the work of Shaun Tan.
On a cold winter’s day, Mika and Pip, a couple without children, make a snow child. The child of ice comes to life, laughs and runs, and is given the name Winter. When Winter secretly goes outside to play hide-and-seek in the spring sun, no one can find him... 'Where is Winter?' is a comforting story that makes us feel what the arrival of a child means, how painful parting can be, and how hope brings life.
Playful, inventive and magnificently illustrated story
De Morgen
Chicken Vera is the only one of the flock to survive a fox’s raid, because she’s sitting on eggs. Next to the barn she finds a frightened fox cub that has lost its hunting mother. She knows she really ought to chase the cub away, but her motherly heart is too big. She hides him under her wings and names him Spark. In the tradition of old fables and fairy tales, ‘Robber's Cub’ is a timeless story about tolerance and about caring for others, even for an enemy’s child.
Faded glory reigns in Solnistad. Until someone says they think they spotted superstar Esmeralda Jonagold at the railway station. A rumour mill starts up. Could it be that she will make her great comeback? ‘Murmurs’ is a delightful story about rumours and fantasies that get bigger and bigger.
Another gorgeous Timmers spectacle, full of captivating details.
De Morgen on 'The Monster Lake'
Bear can’t find his glasses anywhere, and without them he can’t see properly. On his way to Giraffe, Bear sees all kinds of animals that were never there before. He makes Giraffe curious and they set off together to retrace the route. But now with his glasses on (they were on his head all along), Bear can no longer find the deer, the crocodile, the elephant and the flamingo. Might his glasses be broken?
Dazzling and distinctive design combined with subtle humour
Pluizuit on 'Henry'
Brothers Aldo and Rino love Nonna’s spaghetti. When Nonna trips and drops a plate on the floor, the two brothers have to share the remaining pasta. They bolt it down, until a single strand remains. With one end in his mouth, each does all he can to prevent the other from eating the last bit. In this playful and surreal story full of visual humour, friendship, sharing, brotherhood, letting go and getting things into proportion are central.
Sensitive and delicate, with streaks of unruly humour
De Morgen
Slug tells Toad that something is about to happen, without saying exactly what. Together they wait. When the sun rises, it becomes clear to the reader what Slug means but meanwhile Toad has become too agitated to be able to enjoy the sparkling splendour. ‘Just Look!’ appeals to us to look around us, but even more importantly to want, to dare, to see everyday miracles.
A contemporary story that slowly seizes you by the throat
Pluizuit
In the underwater state, the pale baron is the leader. He has a strong dislike of poets: one day he fires all of them into space. Fortunately, Felix and Felka are not poets but singers. Yet their names too find their way onto the list of ‘inferiors’ that the dictatorial baron wants to remove from his land. A painful story with humour about how we treat, or are in danger of treating, each other nowadays.
Pure and adventurous without any fuss; a breath of fresh air amid the hype of children’s book country.
Friesch Dagblad
Eleven-year-old Atta lives in the Stone Age. She is jealous of the boys, who are allowed to go hunting with the men. So she takes matters into her own hands – and finds herself eye to eye with a savage mammoth. Atta is a cocky and headstrong girl that gains a better knowledge of both herself and her prejudices in this thrilling adventure. Jolien Janzing brings to life a version of prehistoric times that makes a delightful setting.
Aline Sax convincingly shows how words can be used to make the horror of war almost tangibly present in the reader's mind.
Mappalibri
Berlin, April 1945. Through the eyes of a German girl, Aline Sax arrestingly describes the horrors of war. She does so in short, measured, rhythmical sentences that slow the reader down and increase the impact. In filmic images, a reality unfolds that stresses the moral ambiguity of war. This haunting novel in verse looks at human beings from every angle, as cruel, courageous, cowardly, hopeful, but above all resilient.
The few, but beautifully chosen words support the magical pictures in the same way the friends are a powerful support for one other.
Boekenzoeker
A girl looks out of the window, bored. She’s searching for something, even though she doesn’t know what. Suddenly, she hears wings flap. She goes outside, curious, and meets Bird and Fox.
'Fox, Bird and Me’ is a hopeful tale about the power of friendship and it shows how we can overcome difficulties with the help of others. But it can also be read as a book that calls for a revaluation of nature whilst also paying attention to mental wellbeing: a book about life itself.
Inspiring stories and beautiful illustrations make this book a real treat.
Voor uitgelezen kinderen
In ‘And They Lived’, Baeten presents an alternative reading of four well-known fairytales in which the female characters take the lead. Visually too, this book breaks with the classic approach to fairytale princesses. The colourful, atmospheric pictures with their wealth of diverse characters fill the pages.
A delightful book to read aloud on cold, wet days.
De Standaard
Crocodile Maurice ends up in a wood by accident. All animals quickly become fond of his cheerful company. But when a storm comes, he’s left behind, alone. What’s more, all the animals soon forget their new friend. Fortunately there’s Mole. Friendship and sociability, fleeing and finding refuge, and the beauty of caring for each other are central in this colourful picture book.
Not just for those who need such tender solace but for everyone else too, young and old. Highly recommended.
Pluizuit
When Yule’s mother dies unexpectedly, everything around her feels different, sterile and cold, as if the house and everyone in it are suddenly made of glass. Only warm memories help Yule little by little to escape from her glass house full of sorrow. ‘Forever Close By’ is a book that brings warmth and comfort after the loss of a parent. The sensitive writing is strong in its simplicity, the powerful poetic sentences fitting seamlessly with the fascinating illustrations.
Van Der Veken’s line is so sharp that his world is beautifully streamlined.
THE NEW YORKER ON ‘FABRICA GRAFICA’
Jan Van Der Veken plunges with panache into the history and technological developments of space flight. With his fantastic retro-futurist drawings he proves himself an extraordinary illustrator with a style all his own. This nonfiction title for astronauts-to-be is once again an impressive achievement of graphic design.
Mira adopts a rescue dog called Turbo, a hopeless case. She recognizes herself in the dog’s trauma and fears, and decides to look more deeply into Turbo’s old life: she sets out in search of the hunter who brought him up the hard way. A powerful novel in Marita de Sterck’s unmistakable style.
Simply brilliant. A cathartic book that needs to be experienced
De Volkskrant
Raaf has had a bad day at school and yet again his mother has disappeared. So when the bell goes, he decides not to head straight home. He turns left instead of right. It’s the start of a remarkable road trip. Evelien De Vlieger interweaves a light adventure with an underlying layer of darkness in a way that is quite extraordinary.
Another gorgeous Timmers spectacle, full of captivating details.
De Morgen
Four ducks get bored of their little pond. ‘Come on, we’re going to the lake!’ decides one of the four fearlessly. Erik walks at the back of the group and cautiously expresses his doubts. The lake? Doesn’t a terrible monster live there? Unimpressed by Erik’s objections, the group continues undaunted, off on an adventure. In ‘The Monster Lake’, Leo Timmers demonstrates once again what makes him unique as an illustrator.
A collaboration between two gifted artists which resulted in a magnificent picture book.
TZUM
Right from the very first sentence, ‘From Looking Came Seeing’ submerges the reader in the sense of loss felt by a woman whose husband has gone from her life for ever. Godon, with characteristic brilliance, portrays the loneliness, emptiness or aimlessness that his departure brings with it. In a soft, carefully considered palette, she closes down and opens out the woman’s world. Without doubt both a homage and an invitation to the human gaze.
A compelling historical adventure full of exciting, filmic scenes. Van Rijckeghem proves yet again that he’s one of the best writers in the genre.
Trouw
Denmark, 870 AD. Yrsa is a tough Viking girl with a club foot who won’t let herself be pushed around. She is tasked with looking after a Christian hostage, but the two girls and everything they believe in couldn’t be more different. ‘Daughter of Doom’ is a cinematic adventure novel in which two women hold their own at a time when this was anything but a given. A remarkable book about fate, faith and free will, in vivid language.
A literary masterpiece. ‘Morris’ is Moeyaert at his best.
De Standaard
Morris climbs a mountain to fetch his grandmother's dog safely home for the hundredth time when a snowstorm catches them by surprise. Moeyaert depicts Morris, with masterly precision, as a loner who carries sadness within him and at the same time – almost to his own surprise – doesn’t let anyone mess him about. Sebastiaan Van Doninck's illustrations bring warmth and colour into the snow-white cold of the story.
Nelle is a dreamer. She likes school, but Mr Bart less so. In turn, the school teacher isn’t crazy about children. Nelle’s parents don’t have a lot of money, but by chance Nelle is able to buy a ticket for the school raffle. The most incredible thing happens: Nelle wins the first prize, a trip to a sun-drenched island for her and her parents.
Saved! is a compelling picture book, full of beautiful details, which invites our imagination to examine the effects of global warming. ****
NRC Handelsblad
Arend is born in a nest on an ice floe. The sun never sets there, which at first Arend finds rather pleasant. But then the ice melts and the nest slides into the cold sea. Arend acknowledges defeat. He takes to the air, spreads his wings and lets the wind carry him along. From the sky, however, Arend can see that the water is rising. Soon all the animals will drown, he thinks. Somebody must do something, but who?
We seldom see so much humour, beauty and linguistic creativity.
Cutting Edge, on ‘Show and Tell Me the World
In this unusual and colourful look-and-learn book, Schamp takes us on a journey through the centuries, from the invention of the wheel to the car of tomorrow. ‘The Biggest and Cheeriest Book of All Vehicles’ carries the unmistakable stamp of Tom Schamp. You’ll never tire of looking at the packed pages with their vibrant colours. A book that fills both children and the adults reading to them with joy.
Sassafras De Bruyn’s illustrations turn the book into a real gem.
Pluizuit on ‘The Book of Life’
People have always told each other stories – about gods, humans, minor quarrels or powerful magicians. In 'For as Long as People Have Existed' Sassafras De Bruyn has chosen thirty stories from all over the world, each of which has a metamorphosis at its heart. Her drawings, printed in tints of deep blue, create an extraordinary and surreal atmosphere that fits the book perfectly.
‘The King’s Golden Beard’ is an allegorical fairy tale as absurd as it is topical, with delightful humour. It makes children think about the meaning of power and the use of power, and demonstrates the dangers of dictatorial rulers.
Splendid true-to-life characters. Beerten’s sentences are measured and expressive, her dialogues informal, sometimes suggestive.
Het Parool
After the First World War, little Fredo migrates with his father to Liverpool, where he lives an unassuming but pleasant life. When the Second World War breaks out, every Italian in Britain is suddenly suspect. Fredo goes into hiding in the countryside with a woman with whom he finds solace, but when the war ends he’s asked to leave. In despair he travels back to his native Italy. Els Beerten’s sharply delineated characters and the profound psychological insights that we detect between the lines add up to a magnificent epic about migration, parent-child relationships and homecoming.
A book to cherish and enjoy, to take into your heart along with Bahar
Pluizuit
'Bahar Bizarre’ is a joyful and uncomplicated story about growing up and identity. How are you supposed to know what you want to become? And how soon do you need to know? Bahar is a happy little girl with a unique outlook on the world and recognizable feelings about searching an unfamiliar place for a way to fit in, about making friends and being accepted.
One day, Crocodile decides to leave his pond and to head into the big wide world. That’s when he realises that quite a few of his friends are in trouble. ‘The Kind Crocodile’ is a light-hearted and funny cumulative tale about the unexpected power of teamwork.
A tale of exceptional beauty. Moving, tender, thoughtful and unique
Ligne Claire
A postman at sea befriends an enormous, ancient whale which carries an entire library inside her belly. When two extremely talented professionals join forces, the result is bound to be impressive. Zidrou’s poetic and playful fable about the importance of inspiring stories is lifted to an even higher level by Judith Vanistendael, whose gorgeous paintings depict the characters and their surroundings with great love and tenderness.
Ruben’s grandfather Emiel is eighty-five and becoming more and more forgetful. Clearing out is dead wife's things triggers quite a few half-memories in him. Marita de Sterck tells a story of memory and love, and the pain caused, and eased, by both.
A multi-layered and dynamic adventure, full of surprises and ingenuity
Ricochet Jeunes
A boy writes a letter to a girl. But just as he’s about to post the letter, a sudden gust of wind takes off with it. At the end of the book, the girl herself is also writing a letter. She gives it to her pigeon, which traverses the book in the opposite direction: from back to front. And so the last page becomes the first.
In the playful numbers book ‘What’s In That Hat?’, celebrated illustrator Judith Vanistendael joins forces with typesetter Peter De Roy. The two use basic wooden blocks designed to create woodcuts and Vanistendael conjures up animals in coloured pencil. The end result is a seemingly simple, but ingenious little book.
Little Mouse is running through the woods, trying to find granddad. Owl seems to know where granddad is and offers Little Mouse pride of place at his table. But Little Mouse soon discovers that Owl has other plans. ‘Little Mouse’s Big Adventure’ is a thrilling adventure and a gripping, heart-warming and humorous story to read to children.
JURY OF THE SILVER AND GOLD PAINT BRUSHES ON ‘CIRCUS NIGHT’
A little girl goes swimming with her mother and dreams about all the things she’ll dare to do when she’s bigger. She makes wild plans and dreams big, but secretly she’s glad she can be small for a while yet. ‘Later When I’m Big’ is a poetic book in which reality and fantasy overlap.
A work of art full of tiny and often funny details
Het Laatste Nieuws
Peter Goes delves into the science and myths surrounding the most important star in our galaxy. In beautifully composed spreads that brim with ingenious details, he throws light on the knowledge and convictions of people including the ancient Greeks, the Aztecs and the inhabitants of the Indus Valley, and describes the scientific developments of more recent times. ‘The Sun’ is a new highpoint in Goes’ oeuvre.
A sea of beauty. It’s difficult to imagine a more beautiful plea for love.
De Standaard
Penguin crosses the ocean to the house of his friend Bear. He wants to tell him a big secret, so big that it will change everything: he’s in love with Bear. Even the most hard-hearted of readers will be captivated by this love story for its humour and the playful, exceptional use of colour. ‘A Sea of Love’ shows that love is love, no matter who you are.
Lola is clever. Very clever. She solves every single problem with her inventions. But there’s one problem she doesn’t have a solution for: her little brother Lander seems sad. Why doesn’t he want to play with her? In her colourful drawings, Debroey shows that knowledge can be for everyone and that you’ve always got something to learn, no matter how clever you are.
A dog asks a cat to tell it something, anything at all. But the cat can’t think of a single thing. Then the dog flips things around and challenges the cat to think of nothing. It blows a fuse in the cat’s head: there’s always something. Something or nothing, that’s the question in this fun and philosophical picture book.
A delicate, enchanting narrative, clear in words and pictures.
De Morgen
‘The Bamboo Girl’ is an engaging and lavishly illustrated liberal adaptation of a 10th-century Japanese fairy tale. Mattias De Leeuw conjures up the Japan of times gone by, while Edward van de Vendel’s language is poetic and concise and full of beautiful imagery. A wondrous, extraordinary and moving fairy tale.
Yet more evidence of Jef Aerts’ flair for language; some of Ronke’s perceptions are pure poetry.
MappaLibri
Ronke loves running. Preferably by the sea, with the wind in her hair, the sand beneath her feet and the smell of salt in her nose. But two years ago, she crashed into a toddler on the beach. Ronke is blind, that’s why. In ‘Ronke’s Night’ Jef Aerts brings the wonder of science and the power of the imagination together into a thrilling and poetic adventure.
You really do want to keep on looking at his illustrations
MappaLibri
A girl searches in vain for her father. When she spots him in the distance and walks over to him, he disappears, and then appears to be waiting for her again. But as soon as she gets closer: nothing, nobody. This mysterious book with powerful monotypes addresses a topical issue: children in search of their roots and family bonds.
A philosophical story that will leave you speechless, with equally delicate illustrations
Pluizuit
A white little girl plays indoors in her safe white room and constructs a fantasy life for herself. At night she dreams of adventures in the world outside. ‘Blanca’ is a philosophical story about not being able to go out and being thrown back on your own resources, a warm ode to the imagination, dreams and desires. The sensory illustrations in soft hues show how colourful white actually is.
It is about the pure pleasure of looking, and then looking again
De Morgen on ‘Whose Zoo?’
A playful, wordless picture book with a starring role for fruits, vegetables and insects, which encourages readers to look, search and look again like never before. Geert Vervaeke plays with simple, pure forms and vibrant colours that, when combined, produce unexpected new images. She hopes that this book will encourage children to let their imagination run wild.
Van Der Veken's line is so sharp that his world is beautifully streamlined.
THE NEW YORKER ON ‘FABRICA GRAFICA’
In ‘Boats’ we dive into the wonderful world of ships and shipping. The book includes a quirky selection from the technical aspects of ships, and is peppered with extraordinary facts and anecdotes. The playful illustrations in 'ligne claire' style and the extensive technical drawings make this book a graphic masterpiece for every captain in the making.
Yet another triumphant experiment for the award-winning Timmers
New York Times
Elephant is shipwrecked, right in the middle of the ocean. Luckily he finds an island that’s just big enough to stand on. Several rescue attempts go awry, but the island becomes a wonderful place in the process. In this jolly book, Leo Timmers swaps his beloved wheeled vehicles for boats. ‘Elephant’s Island’ is captivating proof of Timmers’ skill as an illustrator and storyteller.
This collection of four short stories for children by renowned Brazilian author Clarice Lispector is bursting with quirkiness and amusing ideas. And who better to illustrate these remarkable tales than Gerda Dendooven? In Dendooven’s work it’s not just the people whose faces are full of personality – she can seemingly effortlessly imbue a chicken or a rabbit with an inner world. Her utterly unique style complements Lispector’s like no other.
Charming and written with great passion. The love of language is palpable throughout.
NRC
In ‘The Bike Book’ duo Paul de Moor and Wendy Panders invite you to take a seat on their tandem for a wild ride, showing you everything that’s beautiful about bikes along the way. With his confident language, De Moor effortlessly sweeps you up in his enthusiasm. He leaves nothing out, so you can’t help but agree with the book’s subtitle: everything about the best invention ever.
Ramos’s playful, lovely art stands strongly on its own
The New York Times on ‘Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color’
A beautiful princess called Tourmaline is imprisoned in a tall tower. Only the bravest knight of all can free her. Knight after knight is sure that he’s the bravest, but they all fail in their quest. Luckily there’s one fearless knight who doesn’t let anything daunt him. Or should that be: daunt her? A gentle, funny and atmospheric plea for more openness and less prejudice.
Modest and endearing yet grandiose and awe-inspiring
Pluizuit on ‘Pigeon’
Henry has a beautiful view of nature from his window, but his room is bleak and bare. Luckily he knows how to fix this: he’ll bring some of that beauty inside. In ‘Henry’, the acclaimed illustrator duo Jacques & Lise play with concepts like ‘empty’ and ‘full’, and the pages feature real peepholes. A beautifully designed book.
The ancient Greeks didn’t have it easy. Their country seemed to be awash with magical creatures, usually with malign intentions. And they also had to fear the wrath of the gods. This book recounts all the well-known Greek myths and legends in a modern and humorous way.
A dangling rope takes us on a chase through a city in this scintillating picture book without words. It is grabbed in turn by a water ballerina, a super hero, a window cleaner, a monkey in the zoo and a bandit on the run. Where does that rope come from? In this cheerful story, Mattias De Leeuw exploits the innate flamboyance of his drawing style.
Tomorrow morning Bluebeard and his brave knights will make mincemeat of Redfang and his men. Redfang is hatching the same plan. But as the two warring bands advance towards each other, they discover that bloodshed can wait. Game on! Restricting himself to using only a four-colour ballpoint pen, Benjamin Leroy has created a high-spirited adventure in four colours.
Cast-iron dialogues. Charlie’s anger is authentic and breath-taking
JaapLeest
Charlies father has left, without any explanation or goodbyes. She is furious. Not so much with her father as with her mother, who must surely have driven him away. When she discovers her father’s real situation, Charlie turns her anger on him. Everyone’s lying, Charlie thinks, and she decides to do the same. Charlie is a keen observer with a black sense of humour, and ‘Liar Liar’ is a razor-sharp portrait of a girl who knows she is being overlooked.
A clear and accessible book written with children in mind
De Morgen
In this fun looking book the authors take an accessible approach to children’s most frequently asked questions about microbes, bacteria and viruses – the kinds of questions we are all preoccupied with in this era dominated by the Corona crisis. Sebastiaan Van Doninck’s illustrations are cheerful, colourful and fun.
It’s bedtime for seven young penguins, but they don’t fancy going to sleep at all. They want to play in the snow. When a red thread twirls past, their curiosity is piqued. A playful, accessible book to read at bedtime to adventurous and curious minds. Wide-awake toddlers everywhere will recognize themselves in this book!
This nonfiction book plunges us into the intriguing world of secret agents around the globe. From an overview of famous spies and fancy gadgets to tips to kickstart your own career as a spy. The imaginative and atmospheric illustrations complement the text and make 'Espionage' a gorgeous book for readers of all ages.
This is an unassuming and tender tale that gives a voice to birth mothers, who are rarely heard. The book is strikingly minimalist, with just a little text and a small illustration on each page. A book about the powerful bond between parent and child, about taking your distance, and about unconditional love.
Two dogs are sitting quietly in Brasserie Bulldog. Bad weather is forecast and it’s not long before the wind starts to cause chaos in their corner of the brasserie. For goodness sake, who left that door open?With his own unique collage style, Koen Van Biesen presents a lively new story full of details that catch the eye only after several readings.
Ten teams line up at the start of the Flying Competition for Birds. They’re all bursting to win, except that Team Owl has overslept yet again. In thirteen large, detailed landscapes illustrator Sebastiaan Van Doninck takes the reader along for a thrilling contest full of humorous details. In the bright watercolours we discover the real story of the race.
Bergé manages to touch upon a surprising number of topics, and always in a playful manner.
Het Parool
The hundred short chapters tell you all there is to know about classical music – about musical genres, famous composers and exceptional pieces of music, some more famous than others. Each chapter consists of a history section and listening tips, all in support of the main aim: to encourage the reader to go and listen to all this beautiful music.
A scintillating ode to an unbridled imagination, with exceptionally dynamic pictures
De Morgen
Juno is someone else every day: a conductor, a deep-sea diver, a racing driver, a teacher. Her imagination knows no bounds. But then a large beast creeps into Juno’s imagination, over which she soon loses control. With a stripped-down, minimal text andexuberant illustrations, ‘Someone Else Every Day’ is a playful ode to the imagination, while not denying that it can have a downside too.
Pure emotion evoked by a succession of drawings. A gem
Veto Stript
In this terrific adventure chockful of exuberant fantasy and fun ideas, Daan and his ginger cat Panza are gathering the ingredients for that evening’s spaghetti. Stedho proves that this graphic novel doesn’t need words to tell its story. Daan, Panza and granddad Pier promptly conquer a place in the hearts of readers, be they children or adults.
The warm, colourful illustrations give the book great added value. Emotions are captured vividly, in both colour and composition.
Pluizuit
Noen comes home from school angry, sad and confused.She’s being bullied because of her dark skin and curly hair. Her sister Maan tries to comfort her by pointing out what’s special about Noen’s skin and hair. She turns it into an ode to all brown girls, putting into words what brown girl magic means to her. This book offers girls of colour not just a window on the world but a mirror in which to see themselves.
Wonderfully strange and strangely wonderful, an epic dream captured in superbly meticulous detail
Shaun Tan
A paper boat is launched in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It makes a long journey, meeting the strangest of beings, passing between towering mangroves and braving a devastating storm. In ‘The Wanderer’, his debut, Peter Van den Ende presents a wordless spectacle of pure imagination.
Nelen has a very measured writing style, which is seemingly simple but very moving. A marvellous book
MappaLibri
Brothers Luca and Berio are inseparable. Their trapeze act is one of the highlights of the travelling circus they belong to. At the top of the tent trust between them is literally of vital importance. ‘All Things Light’ is a tender story set against a very dark backdrop, with Mussolini and his Blackshirts in power. The threat that has permeated every part of Italian life now also seeps into the circus on the fringes of society. A filmic and poetic book.
Vermeire penetrates to the core of Monet’s artistry
De Standaard
Claude Monet immortalised his love for his garden in hundreds of paintings: we all know his world-famous waterlilies. In much of Vermeire’s work plants, flowers, trees and animals occupy an important place, so she is the perfect illustrator to capture Monet’s explosions of colour in a picture book.
The master of animal illustrations and the king of animal stories come together in this inimitable book. In seventeen stories we meet animals who would like to be different, until they realize how special they already are. Both visually and in its storytelling, this is a delightful book.
De Leeuw does not need much to create a world of his own, showing us that simple can be great.
JaapLeest
While his sister has been in the land of Nod for a while, brother is not yet ready for bed. First he has to tuck in his cuddly toy, chase away bad dreams, count the stars and feel cold. 'Sleep Tight!’ is a cheerful little book about not wanting to go to sleep, the power of fantasy and… of books.
Typical Timmers slapstick, with plenty of quirkiness, optical illusions and eye for detail
JaapLeest
The king has seen a dragon and is afraid to go to bed before his three bravest knights have slain it. But where does the dragon hide in the dark? The three knights are undaunted, convinced they will soon find him. But it is not as easy as they had thought. A great adventure in saturated colour.
The illustrations, with a retro-futuristic streak, give the book a stylish aura.
Pluizer
'Planes’ is a remarkable reference work for pilots-to-be. It answers all kinds of questions about flying, the components of a plane, the influence of the weather and the atmosphere and about communication in an ever more crowded airspace. The unique illustrations in the so-called atomic style contribute to the book’s industrial look. Van Der Veken produces clever, highly stylised illustrations that are not only technically correct but also atmospheric and poetic.
One evening, the newsreader is at a loss for words, because it turns out there is nothing to be said about tomorrow. There will be no tomorrow. And outside a jet black darkness gradually takes over the city. An extremely optimistic book about the end of time.
Pieters invests Rabbit and Hedgehog with both a heart and a soul
NRC Handelsblad
Rabbit and Hedgehog are sworn friends. In these short stories, they ponder life, their friendship, the meaning of ‘later’, and always go back to each other after an argument. In the tradition of Arnold Lobel’s ‘Frog and Toad’ and Toon Tellegen’s animal fables, Paul Verrept and Nils Pieters have created two lovely new characters to cherish.
In ‘The Book of Life’ Floortje Zwigtman and Sassafras De Bruyn take a light-hearted look at everything to do with having a baby. Citing facts and legends from around the world, they show that wherever you go having a child is an event that gives rise to stories. Funny, lively and brimming with both facts and fiction, ‘The Book of Life’ is one of a kind.
A picture book full of crazy dialogue and vivid images providing hours of narrative fun
MappaLibri
This story started off as a theatrical performance, which is reflected in the humorous dialogue and sharp, staccato lines. The bright colours in the illustrations complement the theatrical story exceptionally well. A pleasure to look at, with vivid colours, comical characters and imaginative details.
His language roars, rumbles and crackles. Only a born storyteller can write like this.
NRC Handelsblad
In the figure of the wonderfully defiant Stans, Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem creates an unforgettable character, and subtly brings topical issues such as gender and identity into an extremely convincing historical setting. Ghent, Paris, Vienna and the battlefields near the Danube come to life in his sensuous language, so much so that the reader can smell the blood, taste the beer and feel the cannons in his belly.
Verrept needs just a few words to evoke the drama of far-reaching events.
MappaLibri
Fifteen-year-old Nabila has had enough of the monotonous life in her village. Egged on by the spirit in her head – her djinn – she travels to Beirut as a stowaway in her uncle’s taxi. Verrept sketches the hopelessness of life on the street in a city torn by both war and the widening gap between rich and poor. The greyish images with powerful charcoal lines and sombre colouring accentuate the dark threats to the city.
A beautiful and refreshingly written Christmas story
MappaLibri
The unusual premise, Jan De Leeuw’s humour and light-hearted narrative style and the playful illustrations by Mattias De Leeuw make this winter fairy tale so much more than just another adaptation of the Christmas story. It is a book about giving and taking, with a touch of magic.
A great stylist, with an eye for detail and a knack for turning brief scenes into little gems
De Standaard
Jadran is five years older than Josh, but his head and his heart are those of a child much younger. When they find an injured young crane one day, Jadran wants to teach it to fly at any cost. The two boys go on a journey that is brave, adventurous and hopeless all at the same time. Poetic and sensitive without ever becoming sentimental.
A master of suspense and of the subtle untangling of painful situations *****
De Standaard
Her mother thinks Bianca is a girl that requires special treatment. Her father thinks she is unmanageable. And Bianca herself? She doesn’t say a word. Until one hot afternoon in August, Billie King, her favourite actress, is sitting in the living room, sipping a cup of tea. With Billie King around, Bianca is brave enough to take a decision. Moeyaert creates an oppressive atmosphere, in which smouldering tensions can erupt any moment.
Calm Leon takes Otto on a journey through the world of colour. This Encyclopaedia Otto-colorista is a feast for the eyes: after the restrained grey, black and white, the pages are a riot of colour and detail and there is always something new to discover. An abundance of colour you can’t stop looking at.
Vereecken captures the harsh reality in poetic sentences. An extraordinarily strong novel ****
Cutting Edge
Summer 1914. Through the eyes of eleven-year-old Alice we see the increasing alarm among the grownups: war is said to be imminent. Alice’s naivety makes way for a brutal confrontation with reality, but ‘Everything Will Be Fine, Forever’ is first and foremost a celebration of life and hope.
Viktor, a recreational hunter, has long dreamt of shooting a cheetah. When he finally manages to, his happiness does not last long. At night, he dreams of the cheetahs that have lost a friend. He is overcome by an unparalleled feeling of empathy and remorse and thinks of a shrewd plan to make amends.
Emotions distilled in text and image about panic, trust, security and the fear of being abandoned
De Standaard
Bet is tired of her tricyle and wants to start cycling on a proper bike. But nobody is prepared to teach her. She is angry with everything and everyone. This intense and authentic book, with a style that borders on expressionism, earned Gregie De Maeyer the Flemish State Prize for Youth Literature.
Shepherd Yara has only known her grandmother, herbalist Tanne, for a few years. Slowly but surely Yara learns why Tanne’s parents, husband and even her own daughter have turned their backs on her. Meanwhile, Tanne is growing increasingly convinced that the devil is coming for her. A fascinating book that reveals the truth bit by bit and draws the reader into a world of magic.
An unusually atmospheric and touching book about jealousy, friendship and betrayal
Trouw
Eleven-year old Bent wants to break things and punch the new boy in the face. But behind all his anger lies fear and sadness. Jumping back and forth in time Herman van de Wijdeven peels away layer upon layer of the story, until we know what happened exactly on that fateful afternoon two days ago. Van de Wijdeven sketches a beautiful portrait of a friendship between boys that is being pushed off course.
The illustrations are works of art in their own right
Cutting Edge
Pieter Gaudesaboos has created a colourful series of books about remarkable houses full of surprising animals. ‘My House Is At the Zoo’ and 'A House Full of Friends’ are not merely colourful books for reading aloud, they are look-and-find books to teach children to look more closely at the illustrations. Just the job for true detectives!
A broad, shallow, teeming torrent of facts and marvels: Readers tempted to take a dip will be swept irresistibly along.
Kirkus Reviews
All aboard for a fascinating voyage of discovery in and around the water! In ‘Rivers’ Peter Goes travels to the most famous seas, lakes and rivers across Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Goes creates playful and extremely detailed double-page spreads in which text and image form a unified whole.
The pleasure of drawing leaps off the pages, which are packed with jokes
MappaLibri
Daddy Monkey and his son are on their way home on the banana bike. But it’s so busy, and everyone’s driving so slowly! And Monkey Junior is in the mood for monkeying about. He escapes from his safety seat and goes off to explore the traffic jam. The street is like a playground! This wordless picture book is full of stories and fantastic details in vibrant colours.
An extremely successful experiment with astute metaphor
Mappalibri
According to William Golding, if ‘Lord of the Flies’ were written with girls as the leading characters, they would never lower themselves to barbarism. Van den Broeck demonstrates in this powerful homage to Golding’s classic that this isn’t necessarily true.
An animal inside an animal inside an animal. Nothing is as it seems in this wordless look-and-find book. Geert Vervaeke plays masterfully with perspectives, compositions and positive and negative space. This book is one big optical illusion inspired by the Rorschach test and optical illusions.
Her illustrations are delicate, intimate and extremely beautiful.
The Guardian on ‘When David Lost His Voice’
In this stunning visual tour-de-force, much-lauded cartoonist and illustrator Judith Vanistendael reinvents herself. She returns to the essence: armed with scissors, glue, paper and a risograph printer, she creates the purest sequence possible. ‘Round the Block’ is an ode to fantasy and Vanistendael’s more than successful debut for a new target audience.
An unbelievably beautiful book. A unique, authentic voice in Flemish literature.
Mappalibri
With a great sense of humour and a lightness of touch Evelien De Vlieger paints the portrait of a girl on the cusp of life, who thinks she wants to forget. ‘Wish You Were Here’ is about facing yourself, about letting go, and about daring to admit that you can’t. A bitter-sweet book full of lust for life.
A dazzling imaginary world full of colours and scents
Ons Erfdeel
In ‘Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire’, a collection of 37 short stories about winter, Carl Norac and Gerda Dendooven give both a voice and a face to the year’s coldest season. They make winter sound and look radiant like never before. ‘Mrs Winter’s Hearth Fire’ celebrates winter in all its facets.
The illustrations are a feast of detail with lots of bright, cheerful colours.
De Leeswelp
Nellie the Mouse and Cezar the Frog have been inseparable for over twenty years and are best friends to little children. There’s a whole string of books and other publications around these two figures: from picture, text and activity books to a television series and hand puppets. Ingrid Godon and Bette Westera have now joined forces to give the franchise a fresh new overhaul.
In this two-metre-long colourful leporello, teeming with details and humour, we follow a girl and a boy on their voyage of discovery through a skyscraper and meet its remarkable residents. An enchanting wordless book that doubles as a measuring chart and exudes imagination and joyfulness.
Modest and endearing yet grandiose and awe-inspiring at the same time
Pluizuit
Basiel, an enthusiastic pigeon fancier, travels the world with Pigeon and wins everything there is to win. But as he wants more and more, Basiel sets his sights on something no pigeon has done before.
All of his books are a feast to read and look at together
de Volkskrant
Leo Timmers shows off his best side in this cheery story about the scared cat Harry. He gives form to Harry’s quest with beautiful compositions and a relatively subdued colour palette. Timmers paints the fearful cat and his unfamiliar surroundings in his unique style, with precise details. A new highpoint in Timmers’ exceptional oeuvre.
This duo invariably persuades with original and humorous stories
Cutting Edge
Tinkleman may be a super-hero, but his extraordinary gift - being able to fill an entire swimming pool with pee, and to pee in a nice straight stream without any splashes - is not often called upon.
A fantastically-designed book with surprising, funny facts and wonderful illustrations
Kinderboekwinkel Kakelbont
Did you know that a giraffe can lick the inside of its ears? That we have been brushing our teeth for thousands of years? That you can weigh your head by putting it in a bucket of water? Or that astronauts pee into a vacuum cleaner?
‘321 Super-smart Things You Have To Know’ is a fine pillow book for younger and older Einsteins.
In this philosophical picture book, Elvis Peeters and Sebastiaan Van Doninck explore themes including home, property, and the budding awareness that others may have a very different take on things. ‘My Rock’ is a story about sharing the same space – a story that couldn’t be more topical today.
Discover why the glow-worm glows, how the bombardier beetle got its name and in what way a caterpillar can disguise itself. An exceptional ode to the ultimate boss on earth, who will mesmerize young and old.
Peter Goes created a magnificent search-and-find book of mazes and more. He once said ‘I unwind by delving deeper and deeper into drawings’, and it is clear that he invites his readers to do the same. Lose yourself in his labyrinth, and make sure you don’t skip the endpapers! They too will enchant you.
Following the adaptation and sanitisation of fairy stories by the Brothers Grimm, Disney and others, writers are increasingly restoring these tales to their original, complex and sometimes dark and creepy forms. Marita de Sterck is the unbeatable master.
Aerts has the ability to make emotions glow beneath his words.
Kinderboekenpraatjes
Some friends are much more than that. They grow up like twin cherries on the same stalk. Adin and Dina have that kind of friendship. ‘Cherry Heaven’ is a sensitive story about going away and coming back, and about the power of friendship: in spite of Adin’s move to the city, the two children do whatever they can to stay connected.
Impactful. Shows shameful current realities that get deep under the skin.
De Morgen
A girl is hiding in the back of a lorry. She’s sharing the space with a horse, her mum, and Captain Compass, her best friend. They’re on their way to another country, where the walls don’t dance and the houses don’t fall, and where the sky doesn’t rumble like thunder when there’s not a cloud to be seen. A light book about a weighty subject.
In unconnected short texts, Ruth Mellaerts draws the reader into familiar situations, memories, thoughts and feelings. The interaction between words and illustrations lifts the book to a higher level and creates calm and beauty as well as words to ruminate on.
A great creative and imaginative adventure full of surrealistic braveness and subtle humor
Global Illustration Awards Jury
Oskar is a special toy dinosaur. Ever since a little boy received Oskar as a present, the two have been inseparable. So when the boy suddenly loses his buddy, he doesn’t just accept it, but sets off fearlessly in search of the creature. This is the start of a fantastic adventure in which mountains are moved, seas are crossed and the two friends face great dangers.
This absurd picture book is a successful introduction to the richly nuanced oeuvre of René Magritte, which at the same time invites one to explore further. Verplancke shows himself a born surrealist.
When a little girl sees a jet-black puppy in her bedroom window in this wordless picture book, it marks the beginning of an exceptional night. The clown on the bedroom wall also comes to life and transports the little girl to the circus. In ‘Circus Night’, De Leeuw plays with reality, imagination, dreams and fantasy.
‘The Book of Children’s Books’ is a kaleidoscopic book for reading, looking at and leafing through, for all readers who know how it feels to be a child, and a source of information and inspiration for publishers, booksellers, librarians, teachers – and for everyone else who is passionate about books.
Suzy Doozy is a headstrong girl with boundless energy and imagination. In a series devoted to her adventures, she more than lives up to her impish name. Benjamin Leroy and Jaap Robben illustrate and write with a lot of empathy and love for this recalcitrant heroine.
The illustrations demonstrate impressive skill and a steady hand.
JaapLeest
Walter is always falling asleep. It doesn’t matter where he is: at his birthday party, on the seesaw, in the swimming pool. His parents try everything they can think of to wake him up, but nothing works. Until a little dog walks in by accident and licks Walter’s face. A wonderful universe full of magical details.
True gems of illustrations. An exquisite picture book
Pluizuit
Owlet and Twiglet are two little owls who live in a nest on a branch of their beloved Apple Tree. The old tree has looked after them ever since their parents were killed by a hawk. Now it’s time for them to fly the nest, but will they have the courage? Sabien Clement expresses the vulnerability of the little owls in a beautifully sensitive way.
‘I Must’ is a collection of powerful portraits and philosophical texts full of compassion, vulnerable and confrontational at the same time. It exposes a merciless and terrible human tangle of obligations and expectations. Godon and Tellegen inspire thoughts, give a name to feeling and trigger involvement.
The central character in ‘Me and the Bear’ is young Leo, who in his own eyes meets with resistance everywhere. Only a brown bear does not run away from him. That is the beginning of a friendship that gives Leo enough confidence to go on.
We seldom see so much humour, beauty and linguistic creativity.
Cutting Edge
In this colourful encyclopaedia, children discover the world and learn new words in a playful way. The result is a hefty introductory and comprehensive work, full of dynamic characters and objects, offering a generous sampling of Tom Schamp’s craftsmanship. His illustrations represent a blend of Richard Scarry’s ‘Busy, Busy Town’ and Martin Handford’s ‘Where’s Waldo’.
‘Mammoth' is the story of Theodore Bob Princel the First. Theo’s parents are rich and successful, and they want nothing less for their son. He and Nanny Leg-Hair race through lesson after lesson after lesson. Until Nanny takes a nap, leaving Theo to set off on an adventure.
This adaptation of the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ classic is one to remember. Little Red Riding Hood remains the familiar protagonist, but this time is a self-aware and determined girl who knows what she wants. And what she wants is red.
Beautiful sentences, funny jokes and original ideas
Jaap Friso
This is not just any counting book: it is cleverly constructed around an increasingly complex list of presents and characters. De Leeuw uses fine, spontaneous lines to draw and paint characters of flesh and blood within stunning settings full of colour and life. It is a collection of sparkling scenes that completely absorb the reader’s attention.
The Very Tired Man and the Woman who Passionately Loved Bonsai
Pure beauty
De Wereld Draait Door
A woman reads a wanted ad in the newspaper one day: “man seeks woman to die for”. When she rings the number, she hears someone sigh. She’s never heard such a beautiful sigh before.
In this picture book for adults, Kaatje Vermeire’s pictures and Peter Verhelst’s words each tell a story of their own. The reader combines the two, creating an artwork on every page.
The atmospheric, bitter-sweet illustrations make the sadness palpable and yet palatable.
De Morgen
'Stella. Star of the Sea' is a tale about loneliness, being different and searching for your place in the world. It is also a story about the boundless nature of parental love and about letting your children go so that they can be themselves. When writing this story, Dendooven was inspired by disturbing photos of refugees and by the horrors experienced by children in war zones.
Rosemary thinks fairies are terribly boring. And the worst of it is that she’s a fairy herself. She would rather be a witch.
To celebrate his twentieth anniversary as an illustrator, Carll Cneut has created new illustrations for this popular picture book.
The first real Dutch-language equivalent of the Treehouse Books
NRC Handelsblad
Gibbe wakes up one morning in the park, with no idea how he got there. Then he meets the Monday man (‘I’m the one who takes you safely to Tuesday’). This book is built on irony and absurdity and defies all the rules of children’s books. Completely crazy, it maintains its ironic style throughout.
Michael De Cock’s retellings of Greek myths leave room for the imagination and reconstruct these ancient stories in a contemporary and accessible way. A collection of beautifully illustrated and timeless adaptations of classical tales.
Godon is a master of using minimal media to represent emotional states.
Zilveren Palet jury
Let yourself be moved by this playful, poetic story about a grandson and his grandfather, who is slipping into dementia. With large, colourful and raw illustrations ‘My Grandpa is a Tree’ makes a sensitive subject approachable.
Verster is a master at evoking atmosphere and longing.
JaapLeest
Five-year-old Matteo has the best day of his life when he gets a soccer ball and a pig for his birthday. For Vasco the pig, it’s also the best day of his life – it’s not even his birthday and he still gets Matteo. Edward van de Vendel beautifully describes the loving friendship between Vasco and Matteo, while Alain Verster adds another dimension to the story through his illustrations.
When Hummingbird asks Croc to play a game, the crocodile’s reaction is a little condescending: 'No, you’re far too teeny-tiny.' When Croc finally comes round and they play hide-and-seek together, Hummingbird’s size is its strength: it’s not easy for the crocodile to find the little bird in the dense jungle.
Lina and Judocus have a unique take on the world. They talk about the big things and the little things in life and if there’s anything they don’t know they just make it up. Lina and Judocus are only too happy to question all those things adults take for granted. All too often, the siblings know best. And who’s to say they’re wrong?
Simple observations transport the reader into a silent world of universal emotions and wishes.
Mappa Libri
The narrator unfolds a day in the lives of a handful of characters, uncovering their wishes, memories and doubts. The short, associative, expressive texts create evocative insights into their inner lives. The dreamlike images, filled with humorous touches, are an ode to beauty, nostalgia and the power of the imagination.
The wave of migration in the 1960s and 70s in a child-size format
Knack Focus
Grandpa Monji tells his granddaughter and grandson the story of how he, a Tunisian, ended up in Belgium. The young reader learns about another time, a time when people moved thousands of kilometres for work, and a marriage between a Belgian woman and an ‘outsider’ encountered a great deal of suspicion. A plea for mutual understanding, and a sensitive book about respect, with a dash of humour.
‘The Big Book of Trains’ more than lives up to its title: it offers an historical overview of the development of trains, starting with the Industrial Revolution and the steam train. In his familiar, delicate style and from different perspectives, Mattias De Leeuw creates his own universe, executing it in great detail.
A rich, accessible treasure trove of facts and figures
Financial Times
‘Timeline’ is a trip through time, past dinosaurs, Vikings, Aztecs and spaceships. It is an illustrated journey through our world’s culture and events and travels from the Big Bang to the iPod. Peter Goes constructs a continuous line, on which different historical periods make their appearance one by one.
Bron is growing to be too big for his mother’s milk. He can't wait to explore the world around him, and all the interesting things just waiting to be discovered. Bron slips away, and is captured by people. Fortunately, Ma manages to enlist the help of a whole group of other animals, and together they manage to free Bron.
Jack doesn’t want to be a gnome anymore, but dreams of becoming a cowboy. Dimitri Leue packs this funny story about breaking away from conventional patterns with puns and absurd jokes. Tom Schoonooghe’s illustrations in coloured pencil are cheerful, lively and full of details.
Rough-and-tumble versions you have never heard before
De Morgen
In ’Dirty Skin’ anthropologist Marita de Sterck has collected forty Flemish folktales, uncensored and as close as possible to the oral tradition. Sometimes farcical and often grotesque, they are jam-packed with violence, lust, jealousy and the black arts.
The Boy, the Hornbill, the Elephant, the Tiger and the Girl
So beautiful that you often want to read passages twice.
Friesch Dagblad
A boy is taken to a secret valley by the men of his village, where he is to be initiated into everything a man needs to know. Fear, courage, loss and death are the themes that emerge from Peter Verhelst’s poetic words. Carll Cneut complements the story with pictures that show the beauty of nature and the insignificance of humans.
Supersaturated hues and maximum automotive whimsy make this one to pore over.
Kirkus Review
Gus is a happy do-it-yourselfer. No job is too big or too difficult for him. Luckily, he has plenty of useful stuff lying around and he always comes up with creative solutions. Timmers has thoroughly indulged himself designing the most ingenious vehicles, replete with pedals and handles.
An ambitious young adult novel about the things that divide us: money and religion
Trouw
Babel is an exciting, profound novel, in which Jan De Leeuw again shows that his great strength lies in creating complex, thoroughly credible characters. In this flawlessly constructed story the puzzle is slowly laid out and no one turns out to be what they seem. Apparently effortlessly De Leeuw embeds the human struggle of his characters in a web of religion and superstition, Biblical and jihadi themes.
Norway, a sleepy fishing village at the beginning of the 20th century. Finn tries to contact his father, out at sea. Against the background of a village that is being forced into modernisation and the inhumanity that sometimes accompanies it, a story of sadness and indefinable longing unfolds, which also smoothly incorporates gripping scenes.
‘Horse in Boots’ is Jef Aerts’ third powerful children’s novel in a row. Aerts excels in combining adventure and excitement in poetic language full of subtle metaphors. The moving friendship between a girl, a horse and an elderly woman is rendered in a succinct but richly evocative style.
In this gem of a story, Bart Moeyaert writes with surprising lightness about loneliness and dying. Gerda Dendooven’s robust green-and-black drawings capture the tenderness of death and the strangeness of this imminent demise.
Aline Sax shows how the damage inflicted by the wall carries on beyond its physical destruction.
MappaLibri
Three generations of Berliners, one wall. In ‘Crossing the Line’, Aline Sax has written an epic tale of life with the Berlin Wall. This tense sketch of a family’s struggle for survival presents daily life in Berlin in a fascinating and convincing light. The threat of the Stasi gradually permeates, and the feeling that no one can be trusted continues to reverberate throughout.
‘The Bench’ is the moving story of a man overwhelmed by loneliness and anxiety. The poetic text and the atmospheric illustrations exude heartfelt melancholy and mournful solitude. Godon makes pain, desperation and yearning tangible.
Roger The Soap Knight is passionate about taking baths, scrubbing up, working in the garden (then taking another bath) and doing the laundry. But he’s also passionate about fighting. Together with Gaston, his clean white horse, he sets out to vanquish a dragon.
A creative twist that children who like a bit of the shivers will delight in no end
School Library Connection
A five-year-old boy has come along with his father to have a go on his favorite swing near the woods. But while he's been having fun swinging, a huge monster has woken up nearby from a very long nap. Children will be on the edge of their seats listening to this lively picture book, which is full of humour and suspense. This book offers the right amount of thrill, balanced with humour and the warmth of the relationship between the boy and his father.
Sam is crazy about robots and goes around telling everyone that they live on a distant planet. Nobody believes him. Fed up, he decides to create someone who does understand him. Using parts from a vacuum cleaner, a desk lamp, a radio and a rake he puts together Franky, his very own robot.
Piglet thinks he’s the strongest and even dares to enter into a trial of strength with Elephant. This results in a number of humorously detailed but doomed attempts to lift the ten-ton animal. The combination of dark tones, supplemented by a striking red and bright blue, make for eye-catching pictures.
The king has twelve daughters, whom he keeps close to him. The girls feel trapped in a golden cage. Until one day they discover a secret staircase that takes them to a magic garden. In ‘The Magic Garden’ Dendooven blows a breath of fresh air through ‘The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes’ by the Brothers Grimm, and adds a feminist-tinted ending.
‘Beware of Grandma’ tells the story of a remarkable weekend. The star role goes to a quirky grandmother who travels to a hut in the forest with ten children. The story is packed with adventures and outlandish situations, each magnified by one constant: harmony between text and image.
In this adaptation of ‘Puss in Boots’, illustrator Sebastiaan Van Doninck brings tension and life to the story with his powerful compositions, beautiful watercolour tints and bright colours as needed. This classic tale-with-a-twist is a veritable feast for the eye.
Six characters try to guess what’s inside the crate they’re about to transport. They all imagine it’s some kind of exotic animal. Though they transport the crate with the greatest care, they can’t prevent it from breaking open repeatedly. And each time a smaller crate appears. A veritable feast!
A vivid depiction of what war does to ‘ordinary people’
Tzum
Mona is sixteen in 1935 when she learns the tricks of the trade as a serveuse: she is expected to use her feminine charms to coax men out of their money and water down their drinks. In the chaos of wartime, she makes a stubborn decision that will turn her friends’ lives upside down. But can she mess with people’s lives the way she messes with their drinks?
‘I Think’takes a close look at thinking from different perspectives. Ingrid Godon does this through a mixture of sketches and stylised, timeless portraits of young and old people, using a soft red to highlight details, while author Toon Tellegen works with gently philosophical reflections.
A tribe is preparing to catch a sabre-toothed tiger. Using a little white rock Olun draws the tiger on a rock, and thus manages to capture the hungry beast in the drawing. Unwittingly, he also lays the foundations for cave drawings. A humorous book full of entertaining details, that invites reading and re-reading.
Valentina, the emperor’s spoilt daughter, collects birds. When she encounters a talking bird in her dreams, a use for the empty ‘golden cage’ is quickly found. Cneut’s prints exceed all the limits of the illustrative powers of expression: this is art with a capital A.
A poetic story about grief which is nevertheless quite funny. The pictures by Sabien Clement complement Anna Vercammen’s words beautifully, and the illustrator’s elegant lines portray the queen’s slow disappearance in an original way.
Jan is nine and he’s perfectly ordinary. He would love to be special, though. Kathleen Vereecken and cartoonist Eva Mouton joined forces to create this story full of humour, in which the illustrations and the text come together to form a happy whole. This book is fresh, funny and heart-warming.
The ‘Job and the Pigeon’ books are a series of first readers about a quick-tempered boy and an assertive pigeon. Any six-year-old will immediately identify with the story, and the book is also packed with original ideas and surprises.
De Vlieger has explored and expanded her horizons with verve.
Jürgen Peeters
Klaar finds an old notebook in her grandfather’s handwriting and starts reading about his adventures in Canada, in 1929. She discovers that her grandfather was on the run for something and why he came back. 'Don’t Go to Canada' is an ingeniously-constructed coming-of-age novel.
A proper young adult book has no age limits and can be enjoyed by everybody. 'One is Enough' is just such a book.
De Standaard
Juliette is growing up in a musical family, but life is no picnic; after the death of her father, her mother proves demanding to live with. The latent tragedy develops inexorably. Els Beerten uses deep psychological insight to bring the affairs of Juliette and her family to life.
Nothing but superlatives. The master’s hand can once again be recognised.
Cutting Edge
While the other animals take life as it comes, the goose and his brother ask themselves questions that are sometimes bigger than themselves. Bart Moeyaert finds the perfect balance between gentle humour and taking their concerns seriously. This lends the stories a timeless and universal character, poetically worded by Moeyaert in his distinctive economical style.
In this book of verse, Edward van de Vendel captures fifty everyday sounds for the smallest of children, in an extremely original way. With no buttons to push, no mimicry or clichés, this beautiful book is full of original rhymes.
Not only stunningly beautiful, it is also very interesting. ****
De Morgen
A boy hears a girl calling him one morning. Is it his sister, the sister in the faded photograph on the wall? This is the beginning of an unforgettable adventure. Jef Aerts and Marit Törnqvisthave created a beautiful book about death. It is emotional without being sentimental, stepping smoothly back and forth between magic and the literalness of childhood.
It starts almost imperceptibly, with something innocuous. Tommy is shy, he blushes easily. A little girl notices it, points to him and winks at Paul, the biggest bully of all. Jan de Kinder offers us a powerful story about strong children on the playground who don’t like bullying.
Rhythm and text propel you forward, leaving you breathless.
De Leeswelp
The hare, the horse, the boar and the deer run as fast and as far as they can. Their shadows run with them. They run over the plain, through the sand, through the grass.
This picture book allows even the very young to come into contact with poetic language at a high level, without it becoming inaccessible.
An unusual tribute to the consolations of imagination
The Wall Street Journal
In this moving story about the healing powers of the imagination, Anton Van Hertbruggen and Edward van de Vendel broach major themes such as sadness and loneliness. Dreamy, realistic and fascinating enough to want to look at again and again.
When Yannick Agnel, an Olympic champion, wants to train him, Alex can hardly believe his luck. He gives it his all, and his parents, who don’t see his talent, increasingly become an obstacle to his ambitions. Do Van Ranst sketches another dysfunctional family, and does so with panache.
Beautiful adaptation of Stravinsky’s 'The Soldier’s Tale'
De Morgen
‘Someone’s Sweetheart’ is a fairytale in verse form, about a Russian soldier who is given two weeks annual leave from the battlefield in World War I. In the penetrating, moving text, Moeyaert continually plays with foreboding omens. The sinister atmosphere is enhanced by Korneel Detailleur’s impressive grey illustrations.
A small village behind the front, during World War I. While soldiers struggle to fight, life behind the front goes on. At the inn, where soldiers come to catch their breath, lives a blind girl. One day, she finds someone sitting on her bench: a black soldier, with the ‘scent of roasted nuts’.
An extremely strong book, a wartime childhood that can be taken as a reference
Edward van de Vendel
Flanders, 1914. The war is approaching audibly. Young Nelle volunteers as a nurse in a hospital, seeing this war as a chance to become more than just a baker’s daughter, a mother and wife. Her boyfriend Simon doesn’t want to go to war, but he is pushed by his father, who is fascinated by heroism and the art of warfare, and he ends up in the trenches with his best friend Kamiel.
Such layering, such rich atmosphere and magnificent dialogue, this is unprecedented
Jaap Friso
Matti sets out on the ice road to town on the coldest night of the year to bring his father’s favourite fish to safety. Out on the ice at night, he meets Drika, who is almost blind, and who, like Matti, has a goal to achieve. 'Fish Don’t Melt'is an atmospheric and exciting story about a night full of threat and disaster, but above all a book about love.
Wild, breathless stories in this great collection of small texts
Süddeutsche Zeitung
This beautifully illustrated treasure chest holds a collection of Bart Moeyaert short stories and poems for children. No matter how different the stories and poems are, they all show Moeyaert’s craftsmanship. Such variety, such a wealth of imagery and style – it all combines to make this book an exquisite anthology.
A book for sensitive readers, young or otherwise, who enjoy taking time for nuances
Cobra
Paris, just before the French Revolution. Camille and Louis’ father is a silk merchant, which entails regular journeys to China. Until one day he does not return. Kathleen Vereecken sketches a beautiful and subtle story about loss and how to cope with it against the background of a city where tensions are rising.
Her rich vocabulary and thoughtful wording leave a lasting impression.
Trouw
‘Birdie’ is a gripping story about growing up and loneliness. Written from the perspective of adults as well as teenagers, this crossover novel will appeal to both demographics. Van den Broeck creates incredibly believable characters with elaborate characterisation and fluid streams of thought.
A fine debut – it looks like the well of promising young Flemish illustrators has not run dry yet.
De Standaard
A man is sitting in his cabin in the forest, all by himself. When he stares out of the window, all he sees are trees. It is a beautiful forest, but the man isn’t happy: he demolishes his little house and with the timber he assembles a pair of tall stilts. With giant steps he can now go and explore the wonders of the world.
This is not your average picture book, but a highly original and gripping story.
Pluizuit
Willy’s father is keen to teach his son something new every day. But every time he looks over the boy’s shoulder, something goes wrong. Then one day his father decides to send Willy out into the great, wide world to discover his talents.
‘Somersault Day’ is imaginative from beginning to end.
De Standaard
Zsofi jumps off a star and falls down to earth, little suitcase in hand. This is her Somersault Day. A woman climbs out of Zsofi’s suitcase, picks her up and holds her tight. Somersault Day’ is a gripping story about life, love, death and saying goodbye.
‘Roger is Reading a Book’ is both a tribute to the quiet life (the bliss of peacefully reading a book) and to going out and having fun together when city life beckons. The same hustle and bustle in town returns in 'Roger is Going Fishing' where Roger cycles out of town to go fishing. His neighbour Emily on the back of his bike, with the fishing rod in her hand, catches plenty of things before they’ve even left the town.
A nostalgic journey through time by means of beautiful pictures
De Morgen
With ‘My Favourite Dictionary of Toys’, young children can learn their first words: ‘dog’, ‘boat’ and ‘pear’, but also ‘speed merchant’ and ‘smitten’. With his typical style – a mix of collage, drawings and graphic work – Gaudesaboos creates a colourful book yet without excess, because he limits himself to depicting only a single word per page.
Without a doubt one of the most beautiful books of the year
De Morgen
One cold winter’s night, a man goes out looking for a child because his wife so desperately wants one. But he has doubts about every child he meets in his search. Until he finds a branch that looks like a baby.
Parents’ love for their children, however different it can be from what you might expect, is magnificently rendered in this heart-warming tale.
Well written, beautiful language and original ideas
De Leeswelp
A rich and varied book worth cherishing. An eight-year-old boy introduces his eleven grandparents through stories, poems, recipes and comic strips. Evelien De Vlieger shatters all the clichés – or nearly all of them – about grandparents. The illustrations are so detailed it’s hard to tear your eyes away from the pages of this beautiful book.
Moonie is staring at a vase one day when thirteen tiny blue deer come trotting out of it. The deer do not turn out to be friends in whom Moonie can confide, and they don’t come when she calls. Van de Vendel presents a convincing picture of the inner world and conversations of children. De Leeuw employs a minimal background and simple lines and makes very effective use of colour.
The early 1960s. Joris is ten and likes nothing more than playing war in the dunes. Inside his dad’s old army trunk, he finds a mysterious photograph of his parents with a young man. Who is he? And what does he have to do with the night of 2 April?
Marita de Sterck gives fairy tales back their primal power.
De Morgen
In ‘Beast in Bed’, tales like Rapunzel and Snow White are restored to their former glory, giving them back their emotional and literary force and their fierce energy. A must-read for anyone who loves pure folk tales.
‘Applesauce’ is a refreshing complement to all the picture books in which dads are always heroes. Here you see a father as he really is: he often realises his role of superdad, but occasionally he can be found lazing on the sofa and sometimes he even changes to scary and grumpy, with thunder in his voice and lightening in his hands.
Thomas is dead, but three people can still see him: his inconsolable mother, his beloved Orphee and his dying grandfather. De Leeuw writes highly sensitive, keen prose with poignant images, and is painfully honest in showing that damaged, lonely people can be unreasonable and unkind, and that love can be an immense burden.
An epic story about life and identity that is hard to put down
De Morgen
Kaspar Hauser has intrigued historians, writers and artists for centuries. Kristien Dieltiens has constructed a masterful novel around his life. 'Cellar Child' begins with an impressive scene that grips the reader and refuses to let go until the breathtaking finale 480 pages later.
A gripping and authentic tale of love, friendship, grief and loss
NBD Biblion
Eppo is taking a trip. Hitchhiking to France he is picked up by Tabby, who has her own reasons for leaving home. Tabby talks nineteen to the dozen; Eppo is an introvert. Through his eyes we join them on their journey, which has more to do with what lies behind them than with where they are going.
'Little Paradise’ is a tale of longing, of family, of breaking free and wanting to belong and the difficult balance of all those elements. But it is also full of adventure, with storylines that cleverly twist and turn and an action-packed climax.
A warm story you can relate to, skilfully written and illustrated
De Bond
Bernie and Flora are a bear and a duck who like the same things and have been friends for years. A series of four books describes their adventures together. The books are an ode to friendship and love, and they also show how both characters need to have respect for each other’s individuality.
Like every year, everyone gathers on the top of the hill. Ant is very happy that it is finally her turn to chair the meeting, in which they will discuss a difficult question. Elephant asks how you know that you love someone.
'I wish' presents the reader with 33 portraits that take you back to a bygone age. Toon Tellegen wrote accompanying fragments of thoughts, little reflections with a philosophical character. 'I wish’ is a unique and personal document on ‘la condition humaine’, which reveals great sensibility.
Otto and his dad spot some weird and wonderful sights as they drive through the village into the dazzling heart of the city. In dynamic prints full of detailed pictures, Tom Schamp brings all kinds of animals to life in the most bizarre and remarkable vehicles. This wonderful picture book guarantees to provide hours of viewing pleasure.
A tender story offering a glimmer of hope for all the frightened little outsiders
De Leeswelp
Telemarcus cannot or dares not dive. One day, when all the young pigeons have to take a gruelling diving test to receive their diploma, he anxiously awaits his turn. With his soft-hued illustrations incorporating old photographs, Alain Verster evokes a nostalgic atmosphere. A highly successful and amazingly illustrated book about the fear of failure.
One big, hilarious pile-up – that’s ‘Bang’, a fabulous picture book story with hardly any words. Animals of all kinds go crashing into each other. They all have their own reasons for not noticing they’re about to smash into the others. But what a happy crash it is! The colourful illustrations make this book a feast for the eye.
Passion, brotherhood and betrayal make this book roar like the sea.
NRC Handelsblad
Nelen depicts wonderful and believable characters with her strong sense of atmosphere and observation. In her poetic style, which leaves a lot unsaid, she evokes a dreamlike, misty atmosphere, filled with vague longing, masterfully succeeding in creating an exciting story set against a fascinating historical background.
An intimate story, written with wonderful tautness
De Morgen
‘The Milky Way’ is an intimate story about growing pains, absence and transience. It is also about the thin line between fiction and reality, and inventing stories as a barrier against things that are too big and too scary. About wanting to stay small, but having to grow up.
Brothers Harry and Huibert, 'so sour even the flowers on their wallpaper are wilting’, appear to be pretty content with their stagnant lives: day after day they soak their dentures in vinegar and breakfast on pickled herring and nettle tea. That routine is disrupted when they receive a letter that turns their lives upside-down and uncovers a dark secret from their not-so-colourless past.
Adam believes it’s his job to keep everything in the Garden of Eden, where he lives with Eve, in good order – to curb nature, that is. Eve is beginning to sigh more and she’s taking less pleasure in life. Keen to do something about it, Adam yields to Eve’s fatigue and stops his maintenance work. From then on, everything is allowed to grow rampant.
One day a stranger offers to make Mr. Renny’s dreams come true: everything he paints will come to life. Then his friend Rose asks if she can buy one of his paintings. The spell has to be broken – and soon! In this story, with a big nod to Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte, Leo Timmers combines a rich imagination with a clear, purified visual language.
Maia and her grandmother have a ball whenever they are together. But then Grandma suddenly falls ill and when she wakes up she has lost her words. Far from the realms of cliché, Tine Mortier and Kaatje Vermeire show how a sharp young girl copes with difficult themes like ageing and death.
Dazzling etchings that intrigue to the very last page
De Morgen
One day, the circus of Dottore Fausto arrives in Tito’s village. An impressive figure enters the ring and everything changes through his presence. Isabelle Vandenabeele’s black and red woodcuts are dazzling, magnificent, rough, simple, expressive and exuberant.
Rosie goes to live in a new flat with her mother and quickly makes friends with the boy on the floor above, Moussa, and with the elderly Mrs Hemelrijk. Together they have a fun adventure on the roof, which has a great view over the city.
A real page-turner with innumerable surprising and thrilling twists
De Standaard
Nita Nomansdaughter is a late 16th century cutpurse. At the age of thirteen, she is sold to a travelling apothecary who swindles market-goers. Nita becomes proficient at her trade, until one day she is caught and sentenced to the gallows.
Little Man and Little Woman are longing for a child. But before they make one, Little Man and Little Woman start to fantasize about what their child should look like. However, when their baby is finally born, he is not at all how his parents imagined him to be. Still, he is just right…
Moving and cheerful at the same time, this story is told with sparkling wit
Boekenpluim jury
‘Mister Cookie Writes a Book’ is a series of small read-aloud books in the shape of a petit-beurre biscuit. The text and visual humour are tailor-made for children of four years and up. The most charming aspects of this colourful series lie in the details; of the countless visual jokes, some are no bigger than a square centimetre. Anyone with the patience to look for them all will be kept happy for hours.
Sammy is a little boy with a huge appetite, he feels like eating the biggest, tallest sandwich in the world.
An ode to the creative fantasy of toddlers, who love to convert features of their surroundings into something quite different for a while. This is a look-and-find book full of visual discoveries that will endlessly excite the smallest of children, and indeed their parents.
Grief, caring, love, despair – the whole panorama impresses with its light tone.
Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis jury
As fifteen-year-old Jonas is eradicating all traces of his mother’s restless night, he discovers that she has committed suicide. He barely reacts at all, deciding to concentrate on the events of the day. With great verve, Jan De Leeuw succeeds in creating a sense of alienation, a concept that lies at the root of this cross-over novel. He pairs metafiction with seriousness and slapstick with sadness, all with flair.
An extraordinary novel, told in words and sentences of the finest crystal
De Standaard
In the enlightened 18th century, Leon is abandoned and taken in by an uncaring foster mother. Méline, the daughter of the family, takes pity on the tough little boy and makes his hard life bearable. When she commits suicide, Leon knows there is only one thing he can do: live.
A richly documented novel written in a sensual style
De Standaard
Papinette, a curious servant girl in sixteenth-century Antwerp, has no father but many mothers, because all the other servants boss her around. Kristien Dieltiens interweaves the moving, yet disturbing story of Papinette with the history of Antwerp and the rich artistic tradition that has developed in this Flemish city.
'The Dog Eaters' describes the plight of ordinary citizens during WWI, as seen through the eyes of Victor, the epileptic 17-year-old son of a notary. With its mythical atmosphere and almost unbearable tension, this is an unforgettable novel for readers of all ages.
Literature of wonderment. For children. And for those few adults who are still capable of wonder.
De Groene Amsterdammer
In winter everybody hopes spring will arrive soon. Squirrel is counting down to his final beechnut, Elephant would like to push winter away, while Owl is writing a letter… Nothing seems to help. Until suddenly spring arrives and everybody starts visiting everybody else.
A small boy compiles a mythical portrait of his grandfather: he is the father of the wood, of the village, even the whole country. But sometimes the roles are reversed. On such occasions the little boy waits until it’s his turn to be the comforting ‘little dad’ to his mournful grandpa-without-grandma.
A masterful symbiosis of colour, form and composition
Boekenpauw jury
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, ‘The Secret of the Nightingale’s Throat’ is a literary retelling that will appeal to readers of all ages. In the long line of illustrators who have made pictures to accompany Andersen’s tale, few have managed to catch the emperor’s despair as vividly as Carll Cneut.
Majestic. A book like this is written once a decade at most.
Dagblad van het Noorden
1943. In rich and vivid language, Els Beerten maps out the hopes, dreams and desires of four friends, deftly capturing the blurring of the boundaries between good and evil, black and white. A moving and subtle portrayal of the darkest pages of our history. All of the characters follow their instincts and act in good faith. But what happens when the course you have chosen turns out to be the wrong one?
The young aristocrat beautifully and convincingly portrayed in this book is Marguerite van Male, a girl of flesh and blood, a wayward, boyish, wild and eccentric child, constantly at odds with her authoritarian father. She cannot be forced to do anything and refuses to be corseted – literally and figuratively – by anyone.
'Linus' is a book that demands to be reread, for the story as well as the abundance of unique illustrations.
Het Laatste Nieuws
Linus lives with his mourning mother, who wanders around the house like a ghost. He has nobody to play with. Everywhere he goes, he draws signs pointing to his house, but nobody ever comes to visit. Until he writes a letter to his late brother Boris. One day, he turns up on the doorstep.
You never tire of the generously inviting three-dimensional world of Tom Schamp.
Boekenpauw jury
Schamp evokes a colourful and many sided universe, full of fascinating and dazzling details. With his well-chosen, beautifully filled out pictures Schamp presents a surprising, individual take on the creation story.
On Rosie’s tenth birthday, almost a year ago, her sister Pia gave her a notebook containing ten self-written verses and a mysterious task in the form of a riddle. Shortly after this Pia died. To keep Pia’s memory alive, Rosie sketches a series of astonishing portraits of her sister. ‘A Riddle for Rosie’ is one of those rare picture books in which a high quality text is accompanied by illustrations that themselves can be read as works of art.
Hallgerd is born in the frozen North, a land of wolves and snow – and of kings who vie for power. One night, she loses everything she holds dear. After that night Hallgerd has only one thing on her mind: revenge. A brutal and gripping story of revenge, lust and love in the time of the Vikings.
In the middle of the night a million different butterflies fly round the head of Stach, a young elephant. Stach is completely bewildered, but his parents know what he has to do. He must set out in pursuit of the butterflies. On his journey Stach realises that no one sees the butterflies but him.
Masterful. Brilliantly evokes an important historical period
De Leeswelp
‘We Two Boys’begins in 1910 when the Flemish family De Belder is getting ready for their new future in the promised land, the United States of America. Eventually it is only the young Adrian, however, who makes it all the way to New York. Aline Sax sketches a lively and convincing portrait of New York City.
A little boy is both scared of and fascinated by an old woman he often sees. Until one day she drops her bag, and she suddenly looks a lot smaller. ‘The Woman and the Little Boy’ shows children that prejudices actually make no sense. Because big old women are not usually scary giantesses, but sweet little old ladies.
Dolores grows up as a dwarf, in 15th century Biar in Spain. When she is five she realises she is different to other people. But she refuses to reconcile herself to limitations and glosses over her handicap with a generous dose of humour.
Louise is nostalgic for the time when she was a real creepy girl. And she longs for Rotboy, with whom she used to do scary things. Now she’s all by herself and life is boring. Louise decides to go to the Shivver Woods, the best place for creepy adventures. There she bumps into Rotboy.
Alex is a gluttonous little pig. ‘Don’t eat when we’re not eating’, his mother says. Alex is stopped by a monster who eyes him as a tasty morsel, whom he manages to distract with clever tricks. But every monster has a mother, and all mothers are more or less alike. A veritable feast for keen observers.
In this reworking of a medieval story, the magnificent illustrations by Klaas Verplancke bring Reynard vividly to life. Each iconographic image is a genuine masterpiece, full of quirky details that the reader can explore for hours on end.
Fox and Hare live together in the wood, next door to Owl. They love each other and they tease each other and, as befits an inseparable duo, they’re complete opposites. Vanden Heede succeeds in creating unforgettable characters in a fresh and funny style. The story’s so much fun that the readers barely notice the words and sentences are getting longer and longer.
A book about shock and shame, about the power of the imagination and about the longing for forbidden fruit
De Morgen
Marita de Sterck beautifully depicts the claustrophobic atmosphere of the strict boarding schools of yesteryear and the shame and secrecy surrounding menstruation and budding sexuality. Rhythmic sentences are bursting with sensual suggestion and thrilling secrets about the body, secrets that must not be spoken.
Sensitive language and delicate treatment of emotions
De Standaard
A Creole plantation on the Mississippi, in Louisiana. Planter's daughter Lara and slave girl Rebecca grow up together and become bosom friends. Vereecken describes her characters with great subtlety and nuance. But the division between black and white, between slave and master, cruelly and irrevocably tears them apart. A profound and compelling novel.
Beautiful illustrations: evocative images with clever ideas
De Leeswelp
Mouse is wrestling with an identity crisis. He’s always comparing himself with others, and sees himself as inferior. He dreams of being another animal. But Mouse learns that the other animals' lives also have their drawbacks. At the end of his journey of discovery, he realises that there’s only one animal he really wants to be: Mouse.
The illustrations glow, and conjure up the feeling of a safe home.
Trouw
Nelly builds a gigantic house at a spot with fantastic views. But when her friends Bird, Bear, Duck and Cow come by to visit one by one, she realizes she misses the view of the forest, the mountain, the pond and the meadow. So Nelly begins by knocking down the walls, until all that’s left is the roof over her head.
Jan De Leeuw's book is unusual and surprising in equal measure.
Gouden Uil Young Reader's Prize jury
Fantasy and reality are combined in a mesmerizing fashion. Tension is built up and maintained throughout the book with skill and expertise, the plot remains exciting from the first page to the last, and there are a number of clever surprises built into the narrative. ‘Nightland’ is an exhilarating and layered literary work, which does not reveal all its secrets in a single reading.
A gripping and plausible book, which excites, moves and compels the reader to think
De Morgen
Joppe and his fellow nursing students organise a mass demonstration against the war in Iraq. In the meantime, he tries to win the heart of the intriguing but independent Alya, but his sick great grandfather Tist throws a spanner in the works. De Sterck combines the stories of Tist and Joppe in a particularly tight composition, which results in an emotional attempt at reconciliation between three equally stubborn generations.
Every image has an unspoken meaning that lends tension to the story.
De Groene Amsterdammer
In a story imbued with the scent of cheap cigarettes and the sound of accordions and jukeboxes, André Sollie depicts a teenage boy’s overwhelming longing and the sadness of his surroundings. This is a sensitive and touching coming-of-age novel about a boy in search of love, affirmation and support.
A beautiful picture book to get to know all the colours of the rainbow.
Stiftunglesen.de
Since 2004, this loveable little white fish has been part of Guido Van Genechten’s oeuvre. In this first adventure, little white fish goes in search of his mother. Along the way, he meets creatures of all kinds and colours: a red crab, an orange starfish, a yellow snail, a green turtle, a blue whale and a purple octopus.
The beautiful design is eye-catching from page one: different colours, fonts and flourishes.
Leeswelp
‘Nine Banana Slices In Search Of A Place To Sleep’ is a surprising photobook that presents a fun variation on the well-known nursery rhyme 'Ten Little Indians'. Nine banana slices are fed up with being in the cold fridge and go in search of a better sleeping place. Along the way, one after the other is left behind: in a dirty cup of hot chocolate, in the fur of a dog, in a shoe...
Vrancken shows you can write a story for six to ten-year-olds that is fun, accessible and believable, and, thanks to the surprising ending, meaningful too.
Boekenleeuw jury
Chef is a bossy little dog. When another dog joins the household, the beautiful, big and clever Herder, he is hugely jealous.
The nameless fifteen-year-old protagonist lives with her parents 'at the end of the world': on a hairpin bend that ends on an unfinished bridge. Drivers are regularly caught unawares by the bend in the road, and crash into the front of the house, where they are nursed back to health.
‘The Creation’ is a poetic book about a little man who is not afraid to fire existential questions at God and who gradually finds his own place in the world. Author and illustrator combine simplicity and scintillating philosophy.
‘Little Red Rag’ is a graphic masterpiece which introduces the reader to the life of Rag, a little girl who always dresses in red. Her loneliness prompts her to escape into a fantasy world in which a herd of bulls are both her friends and foes.
Noor is eighteen and is running a marathon. Within the tight framework of the marathon and its slowly passing miles, Els Beerten sends Noor back and forth through time. The more miles she runs, the deeper she descends into herself and the more space she creates for her past. A layered novel that remains with the reader for a long time.
A feast for the eyes, and an intelligently composed life lesson for both child and parent
Het Belang van Limburg
A little princess loves cuddling, but her mother, Queen Mummy, never has any time for her. She is too busy receiving important visitors. And so the princess goes in search of the Queen of Cuddles. Along the way, she meets various queens who do have time for her and with each of them she has some lovely moments.
Lighthouse keeper Tijs spends all day looking out at the sea. He’s waiting for his friend Sailor, who has promised to return so they can travel the world together. It’s all Tijs can think about.
‘Waiting for Sailor’ is a book that will long stay with you and where you can turn to whenever you find yourself missing someone.
A world that sizzles with activity and teems with life
De Standaard
In 'In the Shadow of the Ark' Anne Provoost takes her inspiration from the Biblical account of the Flood. Re Jana and her family leave the rising water levels of the marshes for the desert where it is rumoured that the largest vessel of all time is being built. The writer enthrals with a chronicle of quickly changing events in what is nevertheless a calmly developing story, with vivid scenes that appeal strongly to the imagination.
Moeyaert proves without doubt that even a happy childhood can be a goldmine for a writer.
De Volkskrant
Bart Moeyaert is the youngest of seven brothers. His early years in his native city of Bruges were particularly happy and furnished him with an abundance of material for this much-praised autobiographical collection. In the forty-nine stories, humour, warmth and a sense of solidarity are prominent, but between the lines lies a far richer spectrum of emotions.
A rabbit family that you instantly adopt as your own
De Leeswelp
Ricky Rabbit is different from the other rabbits: his right ear droops, while his left ear stands straight up. Whatever he does, the other rabbits make fun of him. In the end, his humour earns him a place in the group as the entertainer.
I am well past fifteen years old, but I am glad that this book has come my way.
Het Parool
Through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old girl, we witness the life of a broken family over the course of three stories. In the first of the three we plunge straight into a fierce family quarrel. All survive intact. But the tone has been set. Bart Moeyaert deals with love in a sensitive and refreshing way, expertly unravelling its complexities while at the same time leaving its mystery intact.
‘The Rose and the Swine’ was inspired by ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and is a tribute to the primal force of the fairy tale. Provoost, a celebrated author for all ages, offers her readers works of the highest literary quality.
There cannot be many writers as tough and sensitive as Bart Moeyaert.
NRC Handelsblad
A master of creating an oppressive atmosphere, Moeyaert succeeds in making his readers sense everything. There’s no air, there’s no escape, just an inevitable chain of events. In haunting and poetic prose, Bart Moeyaert displays his razor-sharp observation of the human psyche and the dangers of prejudice.
'Falling' exhibits the traits of a classic tale of destiny.
Woutertje Pieterse Prize jury
Lucas is spending the summer with his mother in his grandfather’s house as he does every year. This year, however, everything is different: his grandfather died at Christmas and gradually tongues are beginning to wag about his war years. In a sober style and with atmospheric, detailed descriptions and convincing dialogue, Anne Provoost creates an extraordinarily oppressive feel to her novel.
Geert De Kockere’s poetic language and Lieve Baeten’s gorgeous illustrations lift this book above the average, as does its content: together with Elly Dark Blue, readers learn that there is more beyond a monochromatic world.
