My Dutch Uncle

Module 6
Borden, L. (2004). The Greatest Skating Race: A WWII story from the Netherlands. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.

The Elfstedentocht, or Eleven Cities Race, can’t be held every year in the Netherlands because the canals don’t always freeze. But Pim Mulier, who was Piet’s hero, raced in record time. Then Piet, whose young Jewish neighbors must flee from the German soldiers. They need Piet to skate with them on a very long, cold winter afternoon across the border and to their aunt’s house and safety. Piet must call on his reserves of strength and courage as he takes his little neighbors out from under the watchful eyes of the soldiers. He carries the story of Pim Mulier in his heart, as well as a little red book that reminds him of the Elfstedentocht.

My View:
When I was in the middle of my student teaching and realized that the responsibilities I had would necessarily expand to fill all my available time, I decided to take a community education class so that there would be a little chunk of my life that was not governed by lesson plans of my own making, and the first growing pains of discipline issues. The class I wanted to take was Beginning Dutch. Uncle Darrel had lived in Holland for two years sometime after the war, and he was interested in taking the course with me. I had never spent much time with my uncle, but this class brought us together. He, with his bushy salt-and-pepper hair and his eagerness, and I with my German pronunciation and careful studying must have been an unlikely team. But we had a wonderful time and formed a bond with each other. He died not long afterward, and I get a little teary thinking of the sweet days we spent practicing our Dutch together. I had only an inkling then of what I know with deep certainty now, that language and communication are just vehicles for connection. Words are important to me, and it is through words that bonds are formed, even between an old Dutch uncle and his naive niece, and even between two little Jewish children and their brave but young neighbor. Connection matters.

“An exciting historical tale, fraught with suspense and illustrated with evocative watercolors.”
— (2005). School Library Journal 51(Supplement), 26.

Ideas for the library: Every year, Marcia teaches the storytime children to ice skate on paper plates. Wouldn’t it be fun to read this story aloud to the elementary aged Book Magic group and then let them skate a course through the library! I just love those windmill gingerbread cookies, and I think they sometimes appear at Costco. Here is the plan, we’ll read the story, then don our paper skates and maneuver through a course. We can do figure eights around the Children’s Fiction, weave in and out of the paperback racks, and cross the finish line by the Marshall Public Library rock. Then, heading back to the warmth and safety of the Kids’ Corner, we will eat hot cocoa and those delicious cookies. What fun!