A Day on Skates: The Story of a Dutch Picnic by Hilda van Stockum (2007-05-01)

This children’s book, written in the early 1930s, is charming and sweet. I don’t usually read children’s books now that my two are grown, but this was well worth a read. It makes me wish that I had known about it back when they were young. It’s fun to get the whole Dutch feel with the story and the illustrations are an absolute delight.

This beautiful new edition of Hilda Van Stockum's picture-book masterpiece was warmly welcomed by my family. You see, until now we owned an old copy from eBay with cracked and brittle pages. But it was still a favorite.A Day on Skates is a simple story of a Dutch brother and sister who go on a skating picnic with their teacher and classmates for a whole day. For modern children, the setting and events open up the imagination to far away times and places. There are humorous episodes and simple lessons in humanity present in the story. The writing is lovely and engaging. The pen-and-ink illustrations and occasional full-page color paintings are a perfect complement to the story.A particular strength of the author's writing is her sympathetic view of the human condition. Here is a perfect example from the story:"Every Dutch boy and girl loves to skate, and every Dutch man and woman, too. And no wonder. Holland with its canals and streams has many miles of ice when the cold at last arrives. Both Evert and Afke had learned to skate when they were very small. Indeed, Afke had been only three when she first tottered on pigmy skates, carefully held up by her father. By now she had become quite an expert, and Evert was even better. He had won several prizes in his school's skating tournaments. One of the prizes had been a beautiful book called Robinson Crusoe, which he had read so often that the cover had come off. Another time he won a silver pencil, which he gave to Afke, and the last time it had been a book entitled Good Henry, the story of a boy who was always good. This he had promptly traded for a penknife."We bring this book out again and again, particularly on chilly winter days. Although the text is a bit longer than your average picture book, it's broken up into short chapters. We tend to read a chapter at a time spread out throughout a day.This would make a lovely gift for children of all ages.

A very cute story that my 6 year old daughter loved. I read it aloud to her.

A wonderful story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this to my 8 and 5 year olds, and they enjoyed hearing it! It's captivating, interesting, sweet and simple. We plan to read it many more times.

the book has arrived and i am very pleased with the book

This book is so amazing. Everyone loves it. Even my 8 year old brother who hates to read. Something about the writing is just so warm and interesting. I love old fashioned books like this.

This is the sweetest story! A lot of words for reading-aloud... but great for curling up with a cup of tea and reading yourself. :)

I bought this book because it was about Holland. It brought back memories of our visits to Holland and was a simple story of a class field trip, completed by traveling on ice skates, a favorite passtime in Holland in the winter time. The illustrations were delightful.

adorable nice little story with beautifull drawings that is so nice for children to watch en hear about the story

adorable nice little story with beautifull drawings that is so nice for children to watch en hear about the story

wonderful illustrations

I arrived in good order and I LOVE the illustrations