Why a Booktrail?
WW2: A young boy living in the Netherlands has to skate for his life…
The Greatest Skating Race
What you need to know before your trail
A young boy has to do what he can to save the lives of two children who live in his neighbourhood. Their father has been taken by German soldiers and so the children are no longer safe in the Netherlands. So the is set a challenge – the best, in fact probably the only way to save them is for them all to skate to safety. So along the canals from the Netherlands to Belgium is the way they must go.
Inspired by the story of Pim Mulier who was the first person to skate the Elfstedentocht — a very challenging skating tour and a national event in the Netherlands.
Travel Guide
“You’re a strong skater, Piet, and you have a quick mind. This is why I know you’ll succeed in this important task. I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t know it could be done.”
Piet is a young Dutch boy living in the town of Sluis as the second world war is raging around the world. the Netherlands were once considered a safe country but no more. So when he is given the task to help save two boys from the village, he takes on the challenge as he understands what it would mean to succeed..or indeed fail.
For a young boy, in fact for anyone, this is along and treacherous journey as he guides the two young boys along the long stretches of canals linking the two countries. Their destination is the childrens aunt’s house in Brugge (Bruges) as this deemed to be the safest place for them – but how to get there?
The journey is fraught with danger and tension – solidiers are everywhere and three children on their own could rouse suspicion so they have to pretend they’re just out skating for fun. But keeping the facade of innocence during war is not easy.
Piet’s hero and the man he thinks of as he skates is Pim Mulier — the first person to ever skate the Elfstedentocht – “the Eleven Towns Tour”, the famous and prestigious race. He thinks that if he can be like his hero then he can be as brave and save the children.
Take a look at the race here –
In the book Pieter even maps out each of the towns on the race and writes what is special about each one. A booktrailer if ever we saw one!
From Sneek, Ijlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen and then Workum , followed by Bolsward, Harlingen, Francker and finally Dokkum.
Booktrailer Review
Clare:
I remember when I came across this book. A Belgian friend gave it to me and said it was a lovely story of hope and perseverance set in her favourite small town of Bruges. She loved to skate and we would go to an ice rink just outside of the town so she could practice.
I’d have a go but picture Bambi and you realise the level of success I had. She had bought this book as it had everything in it that made her smile. And once I’d read it, I realised that a story like this is special on so many levels -for the landscape it shows, the story of courage, the reference to the famous ice skating race and war time but through the eyes of a child. With the illustrations too, this book captures hope in words and pictures and I just feel that it’s a book I will treasure for many reasons.
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