Elvira Mendoza reviews the book Rembrandt and Kiki Move to The Netherlands, a book that shows us the beauty of Global Citizens.
Most of us at Amsterdam Mamas have been through this: packing, leaving behind everything that we know and love, and crossing countries, oceans and continents to live in a different place. If this sounds like an adventure to you imagine what happens to two siblings that move from England to Netherlands….only fun and magical things can happen. Rembrandt and Kiki is a wonderful bilingual book for children that show us the beauty of moving through children’s eyes. Whom better to be our guide on an adventure like that than children…our best teachers!
Rembrandt and Kiki have mixed parents – a Dutch mother and an English father – something I am sure many international parents in the Netherlands will much enjoy and recognize when they read it with their children. This is a book which shows the power of raising global citizens in a world that is not very good in accepting differences. This book allows us to show our children the fun of speaking different languages, of having family around the world, and the wonderful gift it is to have mixed parents.
I talked with the authors, Jane Acher-Wilms and Marlies Veenhof, and of course I asked if it was based on their own reality. Like in the movies, names and places have been changed, but they both have recognized this as part of a world, their world, where people are now moving permanently and have come to the best source to inspire themselves: their own children and their own perspective.
For those interested in publishing, something that we can learn from the authors is how they looked to their own resources and even set up their own publishing company. As the Dutch say: Where there is a will there is a way.
Rembrandt and Kiki Move to The Netherlands is written by Marlies Veenhof and Jane Acher-Wilms, and illustrated by Sarah-Leigh Wills. More information can be found at rembrandtkiki.nl.
Amsterdam Mamas received a free copy of this book in exchange for our honest review.
Photos used with permission
Elvira Mendoza
Elvira Mendoza is a Colombian full-time working mom of a four-year-old, and is married to a Dutch citizen. She has a company called Mariposa Vlinder, and loves writing and reading. She is also part of the Amsterdam Mamas Book and Film Club.
