BIRTHDAYS | November 2018

C.S. Lewis was born Nov. 29, died Nov. 22.

Best Books for Kids (PW, 2018)

25 Best Movie Adaptations of Classic Children's Books (2017)

Homeschool Resources (2017)

BookHampton Indie Pick for Kids – Nevermore: The Trials of Corrigan Crow (2017)
Best New Books for Teens, 2016 (NYPL)
Best New Picture Books 2016
Fantastic Beasts (Rowling Flick) (2016)
Alice in Wonderland's Birthday in NYC and in Oxford (2015, 150th birthday)
Books for Kids on Being Thankful (2014)
Top Books for Kids/YA about World War 2 (2012; see Nov. 9, Kristallnacht)

Birthdays and Other Events
1 - All Saints' Day - Death of Hilda van Stockum* Remembrances of HvS (2006; would be 110 in 2018). Birthday of Hilary Knight (1926 – 92 in 2018)
2 - Natalie Kinsey-Warnock (1956)
3 - Janell Cannon (1957)
8 - Bram Stoker (1847)
9 - Pat Cummings (1950), Lois Ehlert (1934), Kay Thompson (1908) - Kristallnacht 
10 - Kate Seredy (1899), Neil Gaiman (1960)
12 - Anne Parrish - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1928) - Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (1928) - Death of Charlotte Zolotow (2013) - 84th Birthday in 2018 of Olga Marlin (Joan in The Mitchells)
13 - Jez Alborough (1959) - Robert Louis Stevenson (1850)
14 - Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking) (1907) - Constance Rourke - William Steig (1907) -  Nancy Tafuri (1946 – 71 in 2017)
16 - Jean Fritz (Homesick) (1915) - Robin McKinley (1952) - Carolyn Reeder (1937) 17 - Christopher Paolini (1983)
21 - Elizabeth George Speare (1908)
22 - Death of C. S. Lewis* (Comments) (Visit to CSL's Gravesite 2016) - Gloria Whelan (1923) 24 - Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849, Personal Comments) - Mordicai Gerstein (1935) - Ruth Sanderson (1951)
25 - Marc Brown (1946 – 71 in 2017) - Ellen Zolotow (1952, "Crescent Dragonwagon", daughter of Charlotte Zolotow who died at 98; see Nov. 12) - P.D. Eastman (1909)
26 - Charles M. Schulz* (1922) (Comment) - Daniel Hahn (1973)
27 - Kevin Henkes (1960) 28 - Ed Young (1931) - Violet Moore Higgins (1886)
29 - C. S. Lewis* (1898) (Personal Comment) - Louisa May Alcott (1832) (Personal Comment) -Madeleine L'Engle (1918) (Personal Comment)
30 - Mark Twain (1835) - Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874)
*Clerihew of the author included.

Support this blog and the availability of HvS books by buying any book from Boissevain Books, like:

• Books by HvS, such as Kersti and St. Nicholas, or Little Old Bear, or Penengro.
• Princess Josephine and the Rainbow Dragon, written by Hilda van Stockum's granddaughter Kate Bodsworth and illustrated by HvS's daughter Brigid Marlin (Patsy in The Mitchells). See recent review of the book here.
• A just-published new book by HvS son John (Timmy), Oxford College Arms! The beasts in the coats of arms are fun, and the book might motivate a young person to want to visit and apply to an ancient university like Oxford.

Boissevain Books LLC is a publishing company created by the six children of Hilda van Stockum – five of them alive at the end of October 2018, Sheila having died on September 25, 2017; she was Angela in The Mitchells and the other two books in the trilogy; she is with the angels now. Every year Boissevain Books has become stronger and a new generation of the family is readying itself to take it over when the children of HvS have gone to their reward. The primary mission of Boissevain Books was to keep HvS's 25 books for children available for purchase and remembered after her death in 2006. Providing a reliable platform for books by or about other family members, including books about Hilda van Stockum and her family, is a continuing secondary purpose.

Other Months of Birthdays of Writers4Kids: October 2018 . September 2018 . August 2018 . July 2018 - May 2018 - April 2018 - March 2018 - February 2018 . January 2018 . December 2017 .  November 2017.  October 2017

R.I.P. | Hilda van Stockum, d. Nov 1, 2006

Hilda van Stockum (left) with her parents
Olga Boissevain and Kapitein-ter-Zee Bram
van Stockum (1864-1935) and Hilda's younger
brother Willem Jacob, c1914. 

NEW YORK, NY, October 30, 2018 – Hilda van Stockum (1908-2006) died 12 years ago on All Saints Day. She was an internationally celebrated author and illustrator. This is the time of year when her life and work is appropriately remembered.

Her father was Kapitein-ter-Zee in the Dutch Navy, equivalent of colonel in the army. He was in charge of the naval base at IJmuiden in World War I, at the mouth of the canal to Amsterdam.

She wrote, illustrated, and translated more than 30 published books. She is also remembered as a classical portrait and still life painter. She began writing stories for her younger brother in 1913. Her professional career spanned 65 years, from 1930 to 1995. Fifteen of her books are still available in English, with Japanese, Dutch, and other translations in print. Other books of hers are planned for reprinting. A biography is in the works and her life is well documented online.

 She wrote such children's classics as The Mitchells, The Winged Watchman and A Day on Skates, for which she took Newbery honors. The Borrowed House is published the Purple House Press, which won the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. All of her rights are managed by Boissevain Books, which also publishes books of hers like Kersti and St. Nicholas, Little Old Bear, and Penengro.

Hilda van Stockum in Art
School, c1928.

Hilda van Stockum was known for her warm and vivid, but realistic depictions of family life, often in the face of difficulty or danger. Her most famous book, The Winged Watchman (1962, named a "Notable Book" by the American Library Association), tells the story of two young boys living in a windmill who help the Dutch resistance during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. This book consistently r anks among the best reviewed of books for children on World War II. It and The Borrowed House are among the top ten books out of 200 on the Goodreads list of WW2 books for chidren. 

Her books were originally published primarily by Viking Press, during what has been called a "golden age" of children's literature shepherded by the inspiring and author-friendly editor, May Massee. They were widely reviewed and were favorites among librarians because they celebrated family life and dealt with issues of good and evil – and because librarians noticed that the books held the attention of children.

The Marlins in Montreal, c1950. Standing in back (L to R):
Olga, Randal Brigid. Front: John, Spike, Elisabeth,
Hilda and Sheila. Now 68 years later, the back row
is still standing and John and Lis are also alive.

The Mitchells (1945) was a semi-autobiographical account of how Hilda's family coped in Washington, D.C. during World War II. Someone asked her who the protagonist of the book was, and she immediately answered: "The family is the protagonist. The family weathers the storms." The Mitchells includes a description of her brother Willem van Stockum, who was killed in 1944 on an RAF mission. She often used her family as models for the written and illustrated characters in her books.

In addition to writing and illustrating her own books, Hilda translated and illustrated editions of many other authors, including editions of Afke's Ten, Hans Brinker, Little Women, Little Men, and Willow Brook Farm. She was a charter member of the Children's Book Guild and was the only person to have served as its president for two consecutive terms.

While Hilda was best known as a writer, she was also a painter of some note, showing frequently in galleries in Dublin, Geneva, Ottawa, and Washington, D.C. She was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Hibernian Academy and her paintings are in the National Gallery of Art and other major collections of 20th century Irish artists. In 1993 her still life, "Pears in a Copper Pot," was chosen to appear on an Irish postage stamp as part of Ireland's Europa series honoring contemporary art.

Hilda Gerarda van Stockum was born in Rotterdam in 1908. Her father, Abraham Jan van Stockum, was a naval officer and her mother, Olga Emily Boissevain, was the daughter of Charles Boissevain, a prominent Dutch newspaper editor, and his Irish wife Emily MacDonnell.

As a child, van Stockum grew up in Ireland and the Netherlands and traveled with her family to France, Switzerland, and the East Indies. Constantly filling notebooks with stories and pictures, she wrote and illustrated a book for her younger brother, Willem, when she was five.

In 1932, in Dublin, Hilda married the roommate at Trinity College of her brother Willem (a gold-medal-winning mathematician famed among time-travel aficionados), Ervin Ross ("Spike") Marlin. 

Spike and Hilda Marlin first moved to New York City. Hilda lectured on the use of Montessori materials (she was trained by Maria Montessori herself) and published her first children's book, A Day on Skates (1934). The book, which includes a preface by her aunt, Edna St. Vincent Millay, took Newbery honors in 1935.

The family moved to Washington in 1933 when Marlin won by competiiive exam a U.S. civil service position in the new administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was posted first to the Farm Credit Administration and then to the Social Security Administration and the Federal Security Agency (later renamed the Secret Service). Hilda continued to teach, study art, and write children's books in Washington during the war, while her husband was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Dublin and London.

After the war, her husband was with the U.S. delegation at the founding of the United Nations in 1945, and then served for 20 years as director of technical assistance for the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal and as senior director of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. The Marlin family followed him to these posts. He retired first from the UN, then became Director of International Recruitment at the State Department and retired a second time. He was asked by the AARP to form the International Federation on Aging, retiring for the third time in 1973. The Marlin parents moved from Washington to Berkhamsted, England to be near most of their children and grandchildren. He died in Berkhamsted in 1994.

Hilda's books, which are set in Holland, Ireland, Canada, Kenya, and the United States, were initually published by Harper & Brothers, Viking Press, and Farrar Straus. The Cottage at Bantry Bay (1938) was the first of three books about the O'Sullivan family in Ireland. Canadian Summer (1948) and Friendly Gables (1960) continued the saga begun with The Mitchells as the Marlins followed their father to Montreal. Many of van Stockum's works have been reprinted by Bethlehem Books and Boissevain continue to have a strong following among home-schooling families and children's-literature connoisseurs. Three of her books have been optioned for movies or television.

Painting was Hilda's earliest passion. She studied at the Dublin School of Art, the Amsterdam Academy of Art and the Corcoran School of Art. In the 1920's, she worked as an illustrator for the Dublin-based publishing house, Browne & Nolan. She illustrated her first book, an Irish reader, in 1930, and her last book in 2001, giving her a 71-year career as a book-illustrator. Another early illustration commission was a book on windmills by her cousin Jan den Tex, who assisted her on windmill details for her book The Winged Watchman. 

Hilda converted to Catholicism in 1939, following Evie Hone (who had earlier been guided by Hilda on the best use of her artistic talents),influenced  primarily by leading Catholic converts, famed writers and intellectuals of her day, such as G.K. Chesterton and Monsignor Ronald Knox. The importance of these opinion leaders is described well in Joseph Pearce, Literary Converts (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999). Her mother Olga joined her in conversion to Catholicism. 

BLOG VIEWS | Most-Viewed Posts to Date

The Boissevain Books blogsite has just passed the  5,000-page-view mark. The site was opened in 2013. Thank you for reading. We expect to be posting here more frequently from now on. These are the most-read posts so far, in order of popularity: THE BOX HOUSE | Review by Marlene Rehkamp Aug 13, 2015
TO AFRICA WITH A DREAM | Olga Marlin Is 80 Sep 15, 2014
RONDO | Where UPS, FedEx, USPS Dare Not, He Goes!!... Dec 25, 2014
WW2 | The Dutch Resistance Apr 15, 2015
NEW EDITION | The Borrowed House May 21, 2016
BOOK BIZ | Goodman's Plan for Indie Stores May 31, 2017
BOOK BIZ | Outsourcing Design May 31, 2017

VAN STOCKUM | Give Someone a Book by HvS

Give a book by Hilda van Stockum this year. Click on a title in blue below to order from Amazon

For Kids - books by Hilda van Stockum -

Little Old Bear – About an old bear that was blind and thrown away. An elderly lady sews new eyes on the bear so he can see again, and he see boys and girls having fun. He wishes one of them would be his friend. And then...!!! For kids and their grandparents.

Patsy and the Pup – A puppy follows a little girl in Ireland home. She is told she will have to bring the puppy back to the owner. She does this, and has many adventures. She wishes she could have a puppy like this. Another surprise ending, making for a happy little girl and a happy puppy.

Kersti and St. Nicholas – This book was written in 1940, the year that Hitler's troops invaded and occupied Holland. While not about the occupation (which is the subject of two other famed books by van Stockum, The Winged Watchman and The Borrowed House), it's about a girl who persuades St Nicholas to be merciful to the naughty boys and girls because they need love.

King Oberon's Forest – A book recommended by Eleanor Roosevelt (a letter from her is reprinted by permission of her estate). It is about challenges to a forest kingdom posed by progress. Illustrations by Brigid Marlin.

For Teens - books by Hilda van Stockum 

Penengro  – This is the story of a boy who leaves home and becomes part of a Roma caravan in Ireland. Hilda van Stockum tries to help us understand the life of the Roma, who are outcasts in Ireland. There is a love story between Rory and a Roma girl, carefully told and resolved.

Memoirs and Inspirational Books

To Africa with a Dream, by Olga Marlin, daughter of HvS. Olga tells of her life as an educator of young women in Kenya. She went to Kenya with two other young European women with a dream, at a time when European teachers were leaving Kenya because of the Mau Mau drive for independence. Olga became a Kenyan citizen and is still there. This is her story.  (She has also written the story of the parents of one of her co-workers in Kenya.)

A Meaning for Danny, by Brigid Marlin, daughter of HvS. Brigid tells the story of Danny, a boy with both epilepsy and autism. The remedies for one aggravated the symptoms of the other. Brigid seeks meaning for the sadness of Danny's story.

The Box House, by Brigid Marlin, daughter of HvS. This is Brigid's touching story about a neglected girl in England who seeks to replace the mother they never had and provide a home for her young siblings.

Science Fiction
Time Bomber, by Robert Wack, is based on the life of Willem van Stockum, Hilda van Stockum's brilliant brother. A mathematics lecturer at the University of Maryland, Willem volunteered for the RAF as a bomber pilot, having spent many months training pilots in navigation. He flew a Halifax with a crew of six others during the week of D-Day. He knew the lousy odds against his coming home from the war. He is buried in France, shot down on June 10, 1944. Robert Wack puts Willem's story into a sci-fi framework to get across the decisions that Willem had to make.