THE BOY THAT SKATED WITH THE ANIMALS - out now

I have been friends with ex-speedskater Beorn Nijenhuis for over ten years. And his athlete story is perfect for a children's book: growing up as a Canadian kid, skating in winter at his family's own lake, eventually becoming a professional speedskater starting for The Netherlands at the Olympics in Torino, Italy, 2006. Sanne te Loo made Beorns story into a wonderfully warmhearted document and Maarten Deckers did the book design. The book has little text, is based on Beorns life story and answers questions like: is the future athlete already part of the 8-year old boy, and vice versa?

The book was published by Querido and is in stores now. It can be read by kids from eight years and up. (Or read to kids from six years and older).

Below: a sample of some of the illustrations!

 

 

Macedonia again

The Macedonian publishing house Ars Lamina didn't only buy the rights to HET HONDJE DAT NINO NIET HAD, they also bought the translation rights to DOEI! (SEEYA!), the picture book Marije Tolman and I made for Querido, a while back.
I'm really excited to have two titles in Macedonia soon, and I really wouldn't mind visiting the country in the future, haha!

DOEI! was also issued in Spanish (Colombia) and German and talks about Maartje who has wonderful flying dreams, and her older brother Bor who has nightmares, and definitely needs Maartjes help...

NINO to TURKEY and MACEDONIA

Very agreable news: translation rights for THE DOG THAT NINO DIDN'T HAVE (HET HONDJE DAT NINO NIET HAD) were sold to Turkey. The book will be published by Final Kültür Sanat Yayınları. But at the same time rights were sold to Macedonia: to the publishing house of Ars Lamina. Fantastic!

Originally the book was published in Belgium, by De Eenhoorn. It won a number of awards: the Children's Literature Award in Germany, the Prix Sorcières in France, the Boekenpauw in belgium, the Gulden Palet in The Netherlands and a Silver Medal in the United States. And it was only Antons first children's book...

The book was also sold to China, Brazil, USA, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark and South-Korea.