The first short poem from Annie M.G. Schmidt about Pippeloon Bear appeared in 1950 in the collection ‘het Fluitketeltje’. After that the poems about the little bear became classics in the Dutch language. There are twelve short poems in total, which appeared together in 1958. They are intended for children form 6 years and up. Through the years, different artist have illustrated the poems. Among them are Jan Jutte and Harrie Geelen. In 1995, the book won the Golden Pencil award.
Pippeloon Bear was also translated into German (Pippelu die kleine bär) and French (Le comptines de Robinson).
Annie M.G. Schmidt
Born: May 20th 1911, Kapelle, the Netherlands
Died: May 21st, 1995
Debut: ‘En wat dan nog?’
Works: Abeltje, Jip en Janneke, Pluk van de Petteflet, Otje
Awards: Hans Christian Anderson Medal (1988), Dutch State Award for Children- en youth literature (1965)
Biography
: After the HBS, Annie M.G. Schmidt began a course shorthand and typing
with Schoevers. Then she worked as an au-pair in Hannover. Back in the
Netherlands a library schooling and worked for different libraries.
After the Second World War she began working for ‘Het Parool’, a Dutch
newspaper, where she got her own children’s corner. As early as 1938,
her first poems appeared, but her first book appeared in 1950. She lived
a couple of years in France, but after her husband died, she returned
to the Netherlands.
Profile : Annie M.G. Schmidt has written a
lot. Besides her books, stories and poems for children she also wrote
books and poems for adults, plus test for songs, cabaret, plays and
radio- and television programs. In the fifties she yearly wrote a volume
of poems. These poems were playful and about silly things happening to
distinguished people and children rebelling.
