Books 8 to 12 years

It helps to have friends. This applies not only to people, but also to nature. Friends can save your life, no matter how different they are. They can chase away predators, remove parasites, or even improve your reproduction. Travel with us through forests, deserts, oceans, and jungles and discover how animals and plants have adapted to each other in the most extraordinary ways. View Georgina Taylor's breathtaking illustrations and read about nature's most fascinating collaborations—between oxpeckers and giraffes, between anemone fish and sea anemones, between certain bats and pitcher plants, and much more.

Mies van Hout Lizzy is not like other children. She can't stand it when someone touches her head, the mess in her room always has to stay the same way and she goes to a special school. She doesn't belong in the neighbourhood - the other children play without her. But then suddenly the new girl appears. She is big and clumsy, has lush blond curls and calls herself Big. Big takes care of Lizzy and something that resembles friendship develops between the two girls - a friendship in which Big calls the shots and Lizzy is gradually forced to do things she doesn't really want to do. Lizzy doesn't know how to stand up to the bossy Big. Besides, she tells herself, she now has what she always wanted, a girlfriend? However, Big goes further and further in her bizarre plans. Until things escalate - then Lizzy finally finds a way to say 'no' to Big. But from that moment on, the situation really gets out of hand.

Lotje wants to be a violinist, she feels it down to her toes. But unfortunately, what she feels does not come out of her fingers. When she starts playing, the animals run away, all the people slam their windows shut and the flowers retreat into the ground in fright. Lotje can't do anything, no matter how hard she tries to stick to Miss Krabbenbak's rules. But then she meets a man with a caravan who gives her a violin. He says that she shouldn't pay attention to all the rules. And when Lotje plays the strings of the violin, it sounds exactly as she feels it. Beautiful. Enchanting. So beautiful that she starts to float. Literally! But Miss Krabbenbak wants her to play by the rules again. What now?

Jette has just had her birthday. She is now ten years old. Ten! Not her little brother Emiel: he will always be six. He was so ill that the doctors could not cure him. Dark clouds of anger and sadness hang over Jette. Although there are also fond memories: of the holiday with their parents, of the pizza heaven, of how they played funeral. Because forgetting Emiel: never. Jette wonders how life will go on without Emiel. And actually she would also like to know why the sun is so hot, whether worms can catch a cold and what happens to you when you die. And: do fish actually sleep?

A mystery, a conflict, an irresistible children's book. When her parents renovate the house, Iris goes to stay with her grandmother. Mimi and Iris are best friends and Iris loves being with her... Her grandmother is not your average boring grandmother: she is always full of energy, dances in the kitchen, swims in the sea, even when it is cold... Every day is an adventure. But Mimi does increasingly strange things. Does she really spread jam on her scrambled eggs because she likes it? Are all those things that are piling up in the house really things to keep? Or is something else going on? Iris has to find a way to deal with Mimi's ever-changing behavior. She doesn't want people around her to find out what is happening. Especially not Mason, the curious new boy in her class! And who is Coral? The girl in the photo above the fireplace, who looks so incredibly much like Iris? A story that tosses you back and forth between joy and sadness – humorous and heartbreaking – that will have you unable to stop reading.

True stories about extraordinary kings, insane empresses, wasteful sultans and tough princesses. Want to know...:
whether you can encounter King Willem-Alexander in a pilot's uniform?
what a Norlander is? what pharaoh Tutankhamun got in his grave? who spent the shortest time on the throne and was only king for 20 minutes? how Bloody Mary got her name?

I'm Toffee. How I got that name, I'll explain to you later. First I'm going to tell you how it all started. It started on an ordinary Saturday. My sister and I were hanging out on the couch watching TV. By the way, my sister's name is Gum. Yes, that's another strange name, I know. I'll explain it all. Later. It's just too much to tell you all at once: all that stuff with Schorre Morre, the Waterwaack, the Zomp, uncle Trees, the Rimboe van Rambo, the Bronbaas, aunt Thé and the Wieswos and such. So I Really Have to Start at the Beginning! The twins Toffee and Gum tell together about their crazy adventures in the Zomp. Because imagine that your parents - who always have a competition to see who earns the most money - suddenly receive a letter stating that your mother is the legal heir of her great-great ...

The sultry and harrowing story of King Henry VIII's young fifth wife, as told through the eyes of her governess. At the age of eighteen, Joan Bulmer escapes a gruesome marriage by taking a job as a governess. She is charged with the welfare of six girls, barely younger than herself, who are to be groomed for a life in the nobility. Although the girls are difficult and frivolous, Joan has a soft spot for them - especially the young, wild child Kate Howard. When Kate is given the honour of becoming a lady-in-waiting to King Henry VIII's fourth wife, Joan goes with her. What seems like a dream position becomes a nightmare. Henry VIII sets his sights on the beautiful Kate, and all of Joan's fears are confirmed...

Where is the line between dreaming and being crazy? Marius - Mouse to his family, Maas to his friends - is an outsider. Not as tough as his brother, and he prefers to be with his grandfather or to look at the stars, because he wants to be an astronaut. Every time he walks to his grandfather, he passes an institution. The 'madmen' behind the fence fascinate him. Then Marius gets into a fight with Vogelpoep, the dangerous-looking big boy who, according to the stories in the village, is also crazy. Marius increasingly doubts himself: where is the line between dreaming and being crazy? Exciting, striking and moving: in an eventful six months, Marius gets to know himself and his family better, because grandpa also has a secret...

During the search for his missing father, the dragon Bogdor is not the only enemy Wolf has to deal with. Wolf was no longer safe in the castle, but does his new home offer sufficient protection? Can his new friends help him overcome his powerful opponents? And will he succeed in finding out what happened to his father? The medieval adventure of Wolf and his friends reaches a bloodcurdlingly exciting climax in this 2nd part.

December is certain that she is actually a bird... December is almost twelve. She has lived in foster homes for a large part of her life. But she doesn't care. She is certain that she will soon grow wings and fly away. The scar on her back is proof of that. She jumps from increasingly higher trees in the hope that her wings will break through. But then she ends up with Eleanor: a woman who takes in wild animals and also loves birds. And December gets a girlfriend. Does she actually still want to fly away? She keeps practicing to be sure...

Life in the most boring town in the world, Burgerville, is shaken up when Jane Doe shows up at high school. Mysterious, recalcitrant and headstrong - Jane reveals nothing about herself and her past. History buff Raymond Green gradually gains Jane's trust, thanks to his knowledge of the green cows of Burgerville, human marmots and even more nerdiness. An unbreakable friendship develops between Ray, his vampire fiction-loving friend Simon Blackburn and Jane. But then history starts to catch up with Jane... A breathtaking debut about the beautiful, terrible, wonderful, funny and sad truth of the present, the past and the future.

Comic strip and reading book in one, even for less fluent readers!

Victor can fly. There's just one problem: Victor can only fly when no one is around. If anyone sees him, he'll crash head over heels. Too bad, because Victor wants nothing more than to be famous. But how? The school dance is coming up and Victor is determined to shine. Will he get applause? Or will he fall flat on his face (literally!)?

Awarded with Vlag en Wimpel 2018!
Perry has lived his entire life at Blue River, the prison where his mother is serving her sentence. Perry sees the prison as his home and its residents as his family.
When his mother is about to be released, District Attorney Thomas VanLeer suddenly takes Perry out of prison—away from his mother—and into his home. Outside the gate, Perry discovers that VanLeer is delaying his mother’s release. He won’t let that sit.
With the help of his girlfriend Zoey and the school librarian, Perry manages to get back into the prison. There he collects the stories of the residents and his mother. Stories that are different than he thought.

The little witch lives deep in the forest with her raven, Abraxas. She doesn't yet know all the witchcraft by heart. That's why she's not allowed to participate in the witches' gathering on Bloksberg. But the little witch is going to show those mountain witches, forest witches, swamp witches, mist witches, storm witches, wind witches, knot witches, and herb witches a thing or two! She gets up to quite a few pranks. The little witch helps some, teases others, and goes from one adventure to the next. You just have to love a witch like that.