Thursday, February 19, 2009

Gifts from Holland

We were very excited to receive these in a package from my very special uncle and aunty in the Netherlands this week! They were wrapped individually wrapped in beautiful papers, with a 'frog' card on top, and Hannah and I had to wait VERY patiently for Phil and Aaron to come home so that we could open them.Hannah was very excited about another 'Frog' book, while Aaron likes Sinterklaas best (a wordless story with lots of little details to enjoy on each page). I can't decide which one I like best. I had just been contemplating reading Jip and Janneke to the kids from my Dutch version, translating as I go, but that was going to be a bit of a challenge, so I was very excited to see an English version. The kids have enjoyed many Jip and Janneke bits and pieces from Hema, so now they get to enjoy the story as well!

My aunty knows I love children's books and when we got married we received a beautiful calendar from a Dutch publisher with images from kids books. Aaron and Hannah have four of these framed in their bedroom and I still love them very much!
Meanwhile, behind the sewing machine...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ruth, I discovered your blog a while ago and really enjoy reading it. And seeing these familiar books, I have to leave a comment! My boys love Kikker (Frog); Jip and Janneke are not that popular. I didn't know there was an English version! Do I understand correctly that you read and speak Dutch?
Best wishes, Linda Robertus, from the Netherlands but living in Brisbane since March 2007

Ruth said...

Hi Linda, nice to hear from you. Yes, I can read and speak Dutch to some extent (enough to converse with Dutch family members) although I am not always able to say things exactly how I would like to.
Hope you enjoy your time here (and find some nice Australian children's books to remember our country by !?!(Some of my favourites are 'Edward the Emu', The Diary of a Wombat, Hunwick's Egg, Possum Magic... better stop there)