Annie M. G. Schmidt

Hello! My name is Annie M. G. Schmidt, and I want to tell you my story. I was born on May 20th, 1911, in a small village in the Netherlands called Kapelle. The world I grew up in was very different from today, but some things never change, like a child's love for stories. Even as a little girl, I loved words more than anything. I would read every book I could find and spend hours writing my own poems. My mother thought my poems were a bit strange and sometimes gloomy, but I just wrote what I felt. I believed that stories should be honest, reflecting both the happy and the sad parts of life. I knew early on that telling stories, whether funny or sad, was what I was meant to do.

When I grew up, I tried a few different jobs, but I was happiest when I was surrounded by books. For a while, I worked as a librarian, which was a wonderful way to be close to the stories I loved. The world went through a very difficult time during World War II, and after those years, a big change happened in my life. In 1946, I got a job in Amsterdam at a newspaper called Het Parool. This was a turning point. It was there that my career as a writer truly began. I started as a documentalist, which means I organized information and articles. But soon, my passion for writing took over, and I was given the chance to write articles, songs for the theater, and eventually, stories for the children's section of the paper. This new path felt like exactly where I was supposed to be.

My work for the children's page at the newspaper led to my most famous creation. On September 13th, 1952, the first story about two little neighbors, Jip and Janneke, was published. Their adventures were simple things that every child could recognize—playing in the garden, getting a new puppy, or making a mess in the kitchen. The stories were brought to life by the wonderful silhouette drawings of my dear friend, Fiep Westendorp. Her simple, black-and-white images became just as famous as the stories themselves. Over the years, I created many other characters that children in the Netherlands came to love. In 1970, I wrote Minoes, a story about a cat who turns into a young woman but still acts very much like a cat. A year later, in 1971, I published Pluk van de Petteflet, about a kind boy with a little red tow truck who lives in a tall apartment building and helps everyone he meets. I loved writing about children who were a little bit naughty and didn't always listen to grown-ups, because I thought it was important for them to be independent and clever.

While I am most famous for my children's books, I also wrote for adults. My creativity wasn't just for kids. I wrote the words for many popular songs, radio shows, television series, and even big stage musicals that were very successful in the Netherlands. In all my writing, I tried to be honest and a little bit rebellious. I didn't like stuffy rules or people who took themselves too seriously. I believed that life should be full of fun, laughter, and a healthy dose of disobedience. My stories often encouraged children—and adults!—to question things and think for themselves, rather than just accepting what they were told. It was my way of saying that it's good to have a mind of your own.

For many years, my books were mostly famous in my home country, the Netherlands. But as my stories were translated into other languages, people all over the world started to read them. It was wonderful to imagine children in different countries enjoying the adventures of Pluk or Minoes. In 1988, I received the highest honor a children's book author can get: the Hans Christian Andersen Award. It's often called the Nobel Prize for children's literature. It was an incredible feeling to know that my stories about mischievous children and talking cats were loved by so many, far beyond my small home country. It showed me that the feelings and experiences of childhood are universal.

I lived to be 84 years old, passing away in 1995, just one day after my birthday. But my stories have lived on, and that is a writer's greatest wish. Today, children in the Netherlands and many other countries still grow up reading about Jip and Janneke, Pluk, and Minoes. Their worlds are still alive on the page. I hope my books continue to make children laugh and remind them that it's okay to be curious, to be a little bit stubborn, and to always, always be yourself.