Halloween is the day of spoken and heksen and pompoenen and skeletten. Young and old dress up in een kostuum and walk around their neighborhood asking for snoep. I have great memories of Halloween throughout my life, and it is a day I really enjoy! Although in the Netherlands Halloween isn’t as big as in the U.S., I decided to dedicate this post to Halloween with scary children’s stories from the Netherlands.
Paul van Loon, born in April 17, 1955, is a Dutch children’s book writer. His style of writing combines scary stories with humor. In 2008, he was awarded the Orde van Oranje Nassau for his contributions to the Dutch culture. He has published over 100 books and is very well known in the Netherlands.
De Griezelbus is a series of books by van Loon. The story takes place in Kinderboekenweek and Group 7 of Tulip Elementary School is invited by the writer Onnoval to take to a ride in the Griezelbus. Onnoval will read a few stories from his collection; these stories are about items in the bus as well as Onnoval himself. Little do the children know that they are in what will become the ride of their lives.
In 2005, De Griezelbus was made into a movie. I am including the movie trailer, but don’t forget that the books are always better than the movie!
Since I was a little girl, I was fascinated with languages and writing. I speak English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and a little bit of French. I am a writer, reader, language teacher, traveler, and a food lover!
I now live in The Netherlands with my husband Riccardo, our cat Mona, and our dog Lisa, and the experience has been phenomenal. The Dutch culture is an exciting sometimes topsy-turvy world that I am happily exploring!
