REREAD: Ann & Peter in Belgium
Sep. 6th, 2017 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllAnn & Peter in Belgium: Liesje Van Someren, Frederick Mueller 1962
I reread this book because I was going to Belgium on holiday this summer. It’s part of a series written by several authors in which Ann and Peter Kennedy travel all over the world, mainly Europe. Basically it’s a guide book brought to life for children/young people with a perfunctory mystery slapped on because that is what is expected. It is weaker than Viola Bayley’s work in this genre, or this book certainly is, and, of course, some of the information is wildly out of date (you get the price of some goods and activities in francs and then in shillings and pence).
Ann and Peter are staying in Lieges for a few weeks with the Opdebeek family. The father, a doctor, knew their father and there are two children, Albert and Yvonne, who are close in age to Ann and Peter. They’ve been exchanging letters before the visit, and, fortunately, their hosts speak fluent, idiomatic English, as the English children’s French certainly isn’t up to food names. With the help of Opdebeek’s friends Pol and Monique also, the children visit the big towns of Flanders, have a weekend in Brussels, and then go on a camping trip around the Ardennes with the adults. Their hosts are remarkably well-informed about everything: it is medieval building this, Old Master that, local legend this, and it is hard to follow because it’s a token gesture at fictionalising a guide book.
There are some flashes of personality but not much characterisation, Ann has an interest in art, so is often to be found sketching, but that is also a convenient way of providing exposition about Belgian artists. Peter is more mechanical minded and outdoorsy. His having been a Boy Scout turns out to be useful, especially with the mystery. There’s also a fair bit of gender stereotyping – the boys are brave and strong, the girls more easily frightened and expected to change outfits often. I’m not sure whether that was just of its time or a reflection of the host country’s culture. The weather is always good apart from one plot-related thunderstorm.
So, I found it a bit hard to stick with, because the narrative is that they travel from place to place and occasionally remember the mysterious goings on at the mysterious old mill, but the illustrations by H. Toothill are good – and I think that’s telling, because it takes a lot for me to have anything much to say about illustrations in a book!
I reread this book because I was going to Belgium on holiday this summer. It’s part of a series written by several authors in which Ann and Peter Kennedy travel all over the world, mainly Europe. Basically it’s a guide book brought to life for children/young people with a perfunctory mystery slapped on because that is what is expected. It is weaker than Viola Bayley’s work in this genre, or this book certainly is, and, of course, some of the information is wildly out of date (you get the price of some goods and activities in francs and then in shillings and pence).
Ann and Peter are staying in Lieges for a few weeks with the Opdebeek family. The father, a doctor, knew their father and there are two children, Albert and Yvonne, who are close in age to Ann and Peter. They’ve been exchanging letters before the visit, and, fortunately, their hosts speak fluent, idiomatic English, as the English children’s French certainly isn’t up to food names. With the help of Opdebeek’s friends Pol and Monique also, the children visit the big towns of Flanders, have a weekend in Brussels, and then go on a camping trip around the Ardennes with the adults. Their hosts are remarkably well-informed about everything: it is medieval building this, Old Master that, local legend this, and it is hard to follow because it’s a token gesture at fictionalising a guide book.
There are some flashes of personality but not much characterisation, Ann has an interest in art, so is often to be found sketching, but that is also a convenient way of providing exposition about Belgian artists. Peter is more mechanical minded and outdoorsy. His having been a Boy Scout turns out to be useful, especially with the mystery. There’s also a fair bit of gender stereotyping – the boys are brave and strong, the girls more easily frightened and expected to change outfits often. I’m not sure whether that was just of its time or a reflection of the host country’s culture. The weather is always good apart from one plot-related thunderstorm.
So, I found it a bit hard to stick with, because the narrative is that they travel from place to place and occasionally remember the mysterious goings on at the mysterious old mill, but the illustrations by H. Toothill are good – and I think that’s telling, because it takes a lot for me to have anything much to say about illustrations in a book!
