Picture books that take place in Denmark

[Kendall]

Are there any picture books that take place in Denmark? Not information type books that give all the facts about the country; but fiction, historical fiction, based on fact fiction, or nonfiction stories.

Thanks,
Kendall

[Carol in Cal.]

So does the original Little Mermaid (not the Disney version.)

[KarenNC]

How about the Jan Brett books? Many of them are definitely Scandinavian in look, but not sure about specifically Denmark.....

www.janbrett.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1561452084/ref=nosim/theworldofroyalt
The Yellow Star: The legend of King Christian X of Denmark

[mcconnellboys]

Fat Cat, A Danish Folktale, is one. Also, I think East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Asbjornsen (probably slaughtering spelling) is Danish. This is a collection of folktales.

Regena

[nmoira]

Fat Cat, A Danish Folktale, is one.We love this book...

[dangermom]

East of the Sun, West of the Moon is Norwegian folktales. I don't know of any particularly Danish picture books besides HCA and Fat Cat, sorry. I'm sure there must be!

[dangermom]

Oh wait, there's a really awful one. The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark is a fictional book that pretends to be real until the end, at which point it tells you that no, it never happened but wouldn't it be neat if it had? Grrr.

Here's the copy from Amazon:Although it is billed as "legend," Deedy's (The Library Dragon) WWII story raises disturbing questions regarding the importance of historical accuracy. Here Denmark's courageous King Christian responds to the Nazi edict that all Jews must wear a yellow star by wearing a yellow star himself, and his act inspires his subjects to do likewise. Deedy's writing is vivid and lyrical, but in an afterword she acknowledges that her story is "unauthenticated" and that no Danish Jews were "forced" to wear the yellow star. As Ellen Levine points out in her recent Darkness Over Denmark (Children's Forecasts, June 26), the order about the star was never issued in Denmark. Where Levine cited the false story of the king's yellow star to explore the facts about Danish resistance to the Nazis, this book, in perpetuating a myth, clouds history; it also deflects from the country's most famous act of resistance in rescuing the overwhelming majority of its Jews (the afterword reports that Danes smuggled over 7,000 Jews to Sweden in fishing boats). Ultimately, despite the graceful prose, the insight offered into a dark era and Danish artist Sorensen's magnificent oil paintings, the book's fundamental flaw is difficult to overlook. Ages 8-12. (Sept.)

[KarenNC]

Oh wait, there's a really awful one. The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark is a fictional book that pretends to be real until the end, at which point it tells you that no, it never happened but wouldn't it be neat if it had? Grrr.

Here's the copy from Amazon:

Good to know. It's one I came across in a cursory search but haven't read.

Karen

[Osaubi]

We just got done reading this book Katje, the windmill cat by Woelfle, Gretchen. It is based on a true story, and I thought the pictures were wonderful.

Here is a summary: In a Dutch seaside village, Katje, a tricolored cat, used to chase mice from the mill by day and go home with Nico the miller by night. But Nico's new bride doesn't like floury paw prints in the house, and she shoos the gentle cat from the cradle when baby Anneke arrives. Feeling displaced, Katje retreats to the mill but secretly returns to the house at night to rock Anneke's cradle. When a fierce storm sends the sea breaking through the dike, Katje races to the house just as Anneke's cradle is washed out the door. The cat hops aboard, and, by countering the waves with her practiced rocking, she saves the beloved baby. Katje is welcomed back home, and when Anneke outgrows her cradle, it becomes Katje's. The design is beautiful: the warm, lovingly drawn illustrations are too small for group sharing, but they are exquisite, artfully detailed and textured in watercolor pencils. Borders of small delft tile replicas add a sense of the culture to the pictures, which give the story a folktale flavor. Smoothly told as well as finely illustrated, this heartwarming book, inspired by an actual incident in Holland in 1421, is certain to become a favorite for lap sharing.


I also read another book about the tulip trade. It was a nice easy read. It is called The great tulip trade byBrust, Beth Wagner. Here is a summary of that book(and it is much shorter).

In Holland in the 1600s, a birthday gift of eight precious tulip bulbs is traded into livestock, furniture, and a valuable painting.


HTH,
Kim