THE GREATEST SKATING RACE: A WORLD WAR II STORY FROM THE NETHERLANDS is one of my favorite books by Louise Borden. (I’ve learned so much from her work and will post more in the future.) It’s a 4,391-word picture storybook – a length and format rarely published in the current market, unfortunately. I hope that changes…
Piet is a young boy who dreams of skating in the Elfstedentocht – the famous “Eleven Towns Race” along the canals in the Netherlands. His sports hero is Pim Mulier and he hopes to skate just like him one day. But with his father away fighting in the war, Piet faces a skating challenge he never imagined. A classmate’s father is arrested for having a radio and Piet must lead the classmate and her little brother to safety in Belgium. By skating along the canal and pretending to be at play, the children must evade German soldiers who might arrest them. Told from Piet’s point of view, it’s a gripping story for both children and adults, and may open up discussion on difficult war topics. The old-world illustrations by Niki Daly capture the tenderness, fear, and bravery of this harrowing journey.
Thank you, Louise and Niki, for sharing such an amazing story.
This is comforting, since Louise Borden has written MANY books for children! She has advice I keep meaning to check out here: http://louiseborden.com/writer.php
(Quote from an interview with Carrie Schmidt,”Through a Writer’s Eyes,” for The Writer, June 2009 – writermag.com)