(2) K-3 Translated by David Colmer. Mr. Coats feels the cold. He stays indoors, huddled next to the fire in all seasons. He's lonely. He thinks of a solution, then ventures out to buy three thick coats and puts them all on at once. He's still cold. He buys twelve more coats. Still cold. He puts on coats and more coats until he is so bulky he cannot get through his doorway and ends up living outside in his yurt-shaped coat-house, sleeves functioning as stovepipes. Not until a kind neighbor match-makes him with another coat-house dweller in a nearby town does Mr. Coats realize two life lessons: there's somebody for everybody, and love keeps you warm from the inside out. Good conversation helps, too. "Mrs. Coats and Mr. Coats had a lot to talk about: electric blankets, hot water bottles, earmuffs, cups of hot chocolate, sun lamps, fur-lined boots..." This wry, absurdist tall tale provides a wonderful canvas for wild fabric patterns as Posthuma layers checks upon stripes upon tartans in a wild collage of color. Originally published in the Netherlands in 2006, the story travels well across the ocean to a new generation of readers.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) K-3 Translated by David Colmer. Illustrated by Marit Törnqvist. This gentle, moving (and very beautifully illustrated) Dutch import opens as a young boy sits alone at an enormous but almost empty table, placed across the double-page spread at an uneasy angle. "The first time I heard her I was sitting at the table eating some marzipan." The child, as directed, covers his ears and hears his deceased sister. Later that night, the narrator's sister, glowing brightly against the dark bedroom, tugs her brother out of bed and on a journey to visit the hospital where she died and the cemetery where she is buried. The boy is able, as part of the nighttime visit, to give his sister her first taste of marzipan, and she, through their matter-of-fact conversation, gives him the knowledge that she is not in pain. Both the sadness and the deep love the child carries for his sister are conveyed in Törnqvist's mixed-media art. The colors are soft and inviting: the sky is streaked with blue and purple, the churchyard is a vibrant green hillside. Flocks of birds fly across many pages. In spite of the fundamentally sad subject, this is a story about healing. The final spread shows the narrator sitting at the same enormous table, but this time it is covered with a tablecloth and delicious foods. He no longer feels quite so alone.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(2) K-3 Translated by David Colmer. Illustrated by Marije Tolman. A lively young fox wanders off to explore, falls off a bluff, and hits his head. Now the story becomes Little Fox's dream, in which he recalls the smell of his mother's milk, the first mouse his father brought to the den, and seeing the moon for the first time. Little Fox's memories are full of sensory images ("when you stand in the wind your hair stands on end! And when you turn around, it blows the other way!"). The narration then moves out of Little Fox's dream, this time for double-page spreads of a red-haired child riding a bike across the countryside. Back in the dream, Little Fox recalls an encounter with that child, a time when the child rescued him after he got his head stuck in a glass jar. As the fox wakes, he finds himself rescued once again. This time the child is returning the dazed fox to his woodland home, where "everything is good." Tolman directs the viewer in and out of Little Fox's dream. When Little Fox is awake, the pages are expansive Risograph prints of photographs of Dutch landscapes. Little Fox and the other animals are painted on top of that background, standing out against their environment. Dream sequences are painted against a cream backdrop in soft greens and browns. In both settings, the bright reddish orange of the fox is the focal point, and the fox is visually connected to the red-haired child. The stunning art and immediate, childlike narration combine for an effective exploration of themes of risk, growing up, and connection.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(3) K-3 Translated by David Colmer. Illustrated by Wolf Elbruch. This is a unique collection of poems covering all aspects of sports and sportsmanship, including winning and losing and believing in yourself. With poems on running, cycling, tennis, and swimming as well as tree sports and playing in the snow, this Dutch import has far-reaching appeal. Each poem is illustrated with a silly animal-athlete caricature.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(2) 4-6 Translated by David Colmer. Illustrated by Philip Hopman. This sequel to A Dog like Sam has a similar arc to its predecessor, with a focus on relationships between dog and human. The author maintains tension without sentimentalizing the dog, the boy, or rural life. A straightforward prose style is matched by the elegant pen-and-ink drawings that pull us even further into the distinctive landscape and into each scene's emotional tenor.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2017

(2) 4-6 Translated by David Colmer. In this Dutch novel from 1970, Mr. Tibble is a shy, failed newspaperman; Miss Minou, a cat imprisoned in human form, gets scoops from her cat cronies and passes them on to Tibble. The human characters in this romp are painted with an affectionately satirical brush, and the cats are hilarious--all ego, street smarts, and sensuality. Pretty much catnip for feline fanciers.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2016

(2) 4-6 Translated by David Colmer. Illustrated by Philip Hopman. Great Pyrenees dog Sam appears one day at Kix's family's farm. The story seems to be headed along familiar foundling-pet lines, but things take a darker turn when Sam's original owner--the mentally unstable adult son of an unpleasant neighbor--turns up. This Dutch import speaks the international language of dog-lovers while also providing an unvarnished yet ultimately compassionate portrait of mental illness.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2017

(2) 4-6 Translated by David Colmer. Illustrated by Sieb Posthuma. A skinny, long-nosed poet fills his pen from the ink pond in his garden and offers the reader a selection of story poems featuring personalities old and young, human and animal, animate and inanimate. The wordplay is energetic; healthy handfuls of enjambment mitigate against dreary dum-di-dum; and the small narratives celebrate lateral thinking, community, and kindness.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2014

(2) YA Translated by David Colmer. Fourteen-year-old Susanna's father was killed by a hunter's stray bullet seven years ago, and her mother is still ravaged by grief. In their tightly contained community, the barking of dogs ignites a village feud, and while an attractive stranger advises Susanna to leave, she longs for reconciliation within her own village. Complex and enigmatic, this is a book whose powerful themes and open ending could provoke discussion among thoughtful readers.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2000

(4) 4-6 Translated by David Colmer. In an oblique yet intense story, a boy faces his rage for the lonely farmer who might become his stepfather. Ward and his friend Bernie kill the farmer's duck; the farmer kills Ward's dog; Ward carries the dead dog under his coat while seeking retribution. The audience for this Bergmanesque tale, a prizewinner in Europe, will be limited.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton