De brief voor de Koning

De brief voor de koning is a book by Tonke Dragt. It was first published in 1962. The book has been published in Catalan, Danish, German, Greek, Estonian, French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Czech. A sequel, Geheimen van het Wilde Woud, was published in 1965. De brief voor de koning was chosen as the best Dutch youth book of the latter half of the twentieth century.

Plot

De brief voor de koning is set in a fictional medieval world. In the story, a youth's adventure is externalized in a search for a letter, which results in a discovery of their own persona.^[1]

Reception

Tonke Dragt became one of the best known Dutch youth authors in 1962 with De brief voor de koning ("The Letter for the King"), her second book, which won the Gold Pen award (Gouden Griffel) for the best Dutch youth book of the year. She continued to produce at a high rhythm during the 1960s, but massively reduced the output of new work in the next decades, although collections of older short stories filled up many of the gaps.^[2]

The book The Letter for the King (Dutch: De brief voor de koning) has sold over 1 million copies so far.^[3] The book has been translated many times, and reached its 22nd printing in Dutch in 2007.^[4]

In 2007, it premiered as a musical theater piece. This was the second theater production based on the works of Tonke Dragt, after an adaptation of De Zevensprong.^[4]

The movie based on the book, starring Derek de Lint was released in the summer of 2008.^[5] Tonke Dragt is now considered to be the greatest Dutch female writer for children.^[3]

Awards

• 1963: Kinderboek van het Jaar (Children's book of the Year, the predecessor of the Gouden Griffel) for De brief voor de koning^[1]
• 2004: Griffel der Griffels for De brief voor de koning (award for the best Dutch children's book of the past fifty years)^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Tonke Dragt" (in Dutch). Leopold. http://www.leopold.nl/web/Schrijver-tekenaar/Auteurpagina.htm?dbid=3068&typeofpage=82337. Retrieved 2010-10-16. 
2. ^ Van Gool, Jef. Refleks. pp. 76. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "De ambassade van Tonke Dragt" (in Dutch). De Standaard. 2005-11-10. http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=gohk6dcl. Retrieved 2008-02-14. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Sonja De Jong (2007-09-25). "Tonke overtuigd: ridders zingen toch" (in Dutch). Het Parool. http://www.parool.nl/theater/2007/artikelen/092507-briefvandekoning.html. Retrieved 2008-02-14. 
5. ^ "Derek de Lint in De brief voor de koning" (in Dutch). Trouw. 2008-01-17. http://www.trouw.nl/laatstenieuws/laatstenieuws/article894936.ece/Derek_de_Lint_in_De_brief_voor_de_koning. Retrieved 2008-02-14. 
6. ^ "Victorine Hefting-prijs 2005 voor Tonke Dragt" (in Dutch). The Hague. 2005-05-13. http://www.denhaag.nl/smartsite.html?id=40070. Retrieved 2008-02-14. 

External links

About the author

• Homepage
• Biography at her publisher Leopold
• Info at Kjoek

• Works by or about De brief voor de Koning in libraries (WorldCat catalog)