2023-05-25 14:43:24
Talk of the town
In Talk of the town, Vers Beton discusses something that is happening in the city every week. This week: during the national picture book promotion that is now running, independent makers from Rotterdam sometimes deserve attention.
The campaign ‘Give a picture book as a gift’ has been running since 12 May. With this campaign, a popular picture book is sold annually at a reduced rate, with the aim of giving it as a gift. Each year, the campaign highlights a book that is already a bestseller. This year’s chosen book fits in that list: Little Polar Bear, a polar bear in the tropics. A children’s performance about this book can be seen in the Rotterdam Library. Little Polar Bear has been a success formula since the last century: the first book was published in 1987. The series already contains more than ten different titles.
When I saw the campaign, I immediately asked myself: why highlight a book that does not need this attention at all? I think it’s high time to highlight picture books by Rotterdam makers whose book is not (yet) a bestseller. Because there are plenty of them in Rotterdam.
Because relatively few publishers are active here, our city is a rich breeding ground for self-published books. There are all kinds of makers who market their children’s books themselves.
Rotterdam is a rich breeding ground for self-published books
Like, for example, the children’s book Taco Tapir. The illustrator of this book, Cesar Schilder, graduated in 2012 from the Graphic Lyceum in Rotterdam. Together with his colleague he invented Taco Tapir. This project started during the first lockdown, as educational reading stories centered on proverbs. The stories were accessible for free on Taco Tapir’s Instagram account. After many enthusiastic reactions from parents who had to provide home education, the demand for a physical book arose. The collection of stories Taco Tapir will be published in 2021. The cute tapir remains a favorite with children.
Or take the makers of Rebel Lucy, who also self-published their book. This children’s book was created by illustrator Marsha Man, as a reaction to all the pink, sugary girl products in the shops.
Rebel Lucy is a quirky doerak who beats Hello Kitty, Barbie and the Disney princesses aside. The book is about Lucy, a bad girl with a mission. It’s carnival and Lucy is full of cool ideas about how to dress up. But then grandpa arrives with dressing-up clothes that don’t suit her at all. Lucy won’t let it go. Picture books are usually soft and cute, the black and white illustrations in Rebel Lucy show that this can be done differently.
The children’s books by illustrator Lisa van Winsen are very different: they are detailed and colourful. Van Winsen illustrated the books ‘Idje does not want to go to the hairdresser’ and ‘Mama, that’s how you do that’. She was already creative as a child and wanted to do “something with drawing” from an early age. Van Winsen graduated as an illustrator from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. During her studies she mainly worked digitally, but by illustrating children’s books she also picked up the brush again.
In 2021 she debuted with her first self-written work: Mila’s Vonk. This book is published by Roses Stories, an independent publisher that is committed to more representation in the Dutch children’s book trade. In the picture book ‘Mila’s Vonk’ Mila has an infinite fantasy. Mila looks at the world around her in a special way. With her imagination she turns everyday things into colorful and fantastic adventures. The text and illustrations connect seamlessly and reinforce each other. Studying the illustrations will keep you discovering details.
And the Rotterdam illustrator Sam Loman also illustrated several picture books. Loman was also creative as a child and knew from an early age that she wanted to become a children’s book illustrator. She wrote and illustrated, among other things, ‘Squirrel becomes a big sister’ for publisher Clavis and ‘Friet Flamingo’ for publisher Moon. In this children’s book, written in rhyme, children get to know special animals and strange birds. “Have you ever seen a weird guy? It sounds a bit strange, but they do exist, they really do! You don’t even have to look for them, from the Poofcat to the Lanterpanter, you’ll find them all in this book!” says Loman. The fact that the book is written in rhyme creates a cadence during reading.
There are too few Dutch children’s books that address LGBTI themes. This is also shown by a 2019 study into inclusion in Dutch children’s books. Of the books examined, 93.9 percent did not contain LGBTIQ+ characters. Only 2.1 percent of the books examined featured lesbian or bisexual women. That is precisely why I also want to tip a book from my own publisher. In 2020 I founded Uitgeverij Wilde Haren, together with my colleague D’Avellonne van Dijk. As an illustrator from Rotterdam, D’Avellonne made the illustrations for ‘The Rhythm of Ramses’.
It was important for Femke and D’Avellonne to depict a loving family headed by two women
In this picture book, Ramses goes in search of the origins of his dancing talent. Ramses was born with a sense of rhythm. He wonders where he got this from, because his mamas can’t dance. The book is also written entirely in rhyme, by Femke van Oorsouw. She wanted to make a book to explain to her child where his sense of rhythm comes from. It was important for Femke and D’Avellonne to depict a loving family headed by two women.
All the picture books mentioned above deserve to be given as a gift this week. As a small child I secretly read the stories of Little Polar Bear after bedtime. Animal stories with a moral were popular in my childhood. I missed stories with tough girls in the lead, queer stories and black protagonists. Now that I’m an adult, and looking back on my youth, I would have loved to hide one of these Rotterdam hidden gems in my bed.
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