The Birthday Surprise

(Hardback)

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Description

Nina lives with her aunt Dora in the middle of the Robbers Woods surrounded by her animal friends and robbers Niek, Viek, and Riek. The robbers, though wild and savagelooking, are actually nice and kind and only steal weapons from hunters who would hurt forest animals. Everyday holds a new adventure for Nina and her woodland friends. One day while walking through the forest Nina notices that everybody is busy with something and acting suspiciously. She is disappointed to find that Sparrow, the Mouse Family, Crow, Miss Weasel, Grandpa Badger and even the robbers have no time to stop and chat. When she arrives back home, however, she gets a delightful surprise: all her friends were busy because they were throwing Nina a birthday party. A perfect birthday gift for young readers, this is a sweet story that celebrates friendship.

Reviews

"The expressive and witty and sometimes fierce watercolor illustrations - spread over a double page - complete this picture book. They are beautiful and atmospheric, it is visually wonderful to stay in this forest. Beautiful picture book that deserves a prominent place in many living rooms, and therefore also in many libraries." - Kontich Library

Author Bio

Ann Lootens was born in 1960 in Bruges (Belgium). Being a teacher, she published her first childrens book in 1995; a funny story for first readers, easy to read, and read aloud. Since then, many articles in childrens magazines, and more than 60 childrens books (both picture books and readers) have been published with great success. 2 of her works have received the Flemish Childrens and Youth Jury award.

Linde Faas (1985) grew up in an old house in Driebergen, which was a great source of inspiration for her. She drew the world around her, followed her imagination and lived in her own dream world. But she wanted to do more than just dream. So she went to the Art Academy in Breda to study animation. There Linde graduated cum laude in 2008 with her graduation film 'Volgens de Vogels' (According to Birds), which won several prizes and was shown at many international animation film festivals. Today Linde focuses mainly on illustrating. She made the illustrations for the German edition of 'het Sleutelkruid', written by the well-known Dutch author Paul Biegel, and works for several renowned publishers. It seems Linde is back in the old house of her youth. She's dreaming again. But this time she takes the children with her in her world.