Pluk van de Petteflet
OCLC 65557528 | |
Tow-Truck Pluck is a
Publication history
Schmidt and Westendorp began Pluk as a weekly illustrated feuilleton for Margriet, a ladies' magazine, in 1968 and 1969.[6] They were first printed in book form in 1971, and have remained in print ever since. The 1995 printing was the 18th, and brought the total printed copies to 495,000.[7] Indications of the book's lasting popularity are that 75,000 copies were printed in 1991, twenty years after its first publication;[1] the 1992 printing was the third-bestselling book for children age 6–10 in the month of June,[8] the best-selling book in that category in August,[9] and the second-bestselling book in that category in June 1995.[10]
Eleven unpublished chapters were found in 2001, a kind of prequel to the stories in the book. These were organized with the help of Fiep Westendorp (Schmidt had died already), and were then published as Pluk Redt de Dieren (Pluk Saves the Animals). That book was published in 2004 and sold 150,000 copies, making it the best-selling Dutch children's book of the year.[6]
Content
The book, like Schmidt's other children's novels, has a "realistic, modern setting"[11]—Pluk drives a little truck and has a difficult time finding a place to live—but his world is full of fairy-tale creatures, such as, in this case, talking cockroaches, pigeons, and seagulls; horses of record-length; extinct fantastical birds;[12] and a wolf who operates a ferry. In its combining reality and magic, Pluk is often mentioned alongside Roald Dahl's The BFG.[13][14]
Pluk, a young red-haired boy, lives alone in a little room on the top floor of the Petteflet, an apartment building. He has no parents, but he does have a little tow truck. He quickly makes friends, such as Zaza, a cockroach, and Mr. Penn, who operates a bookstore. With the help of Dolly, a friendly pigeon, he exchanges notes and candy with the girl below, Aggie, whose mother is überclean and tries to get Pluk evicted, especially when she sees Zaza in his room (her scheme is foiled with the help of a number of seagulls). With the Stamper family (a single father and six unkempt boys) and Aggie, Pluk spends a week at the beach. The book's biggest adventure is the rescue of the park, which is to make room for developments. Pluk has to travel a great distance to get help from a mysterious hermit (who refers to himself as a hermite); the magic berries he brings back have a strange effect: the construction crew and all the other adults (including the mayor) get giddy and forget all about their task—instead, they go and play.[15] As a final adventure, Pluk helps save a strange bird, the "krullevaar," bred from a mysterious egg he and Aggie found on their vacation at the beach.
Educational value and reception
Annie M.G. Schmidt is often praised (and with her often
Translations
Pluk was translated to German as Pluck mit dem Kranwagen;
See also
- Tow Truck Pluck, the movie
References
- ^ a b c d Lammers, Fred (4 January 1992). "Pluk van de Petteflet als hoorspelseriedoor Fred Lammers". Trouw. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
- ISBN 978-90-13-04658-8.
- ^ "'Pluk van de Petteflet' platina". Nieuws.nl (in Dutch). 10 January 2005. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
- ^ "Annie M.G. Schmidt 1911–1995: Tegendraads in een burgerlijk land". The Canon of the Netherlands. Foundation entoen.nu. 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
- ^ Baks, Evelien (4 September 2008). "De kinderpostzegel is volwassen". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 July 2009.
- ^ a b Lange, Henny de (8 June 2005). "De verf waaruit Pluk, Otje en Ibbeltje ontstonden, ligt nu in het museum". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 July 2009.
- ISBN 90-214-8098-0.
- ^ "Kinderboeken Top Twaalf". Trouw (in Dutch). 2 June 1992. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
- ^ "Kinderboeken Top Twaalf". Trouw (in Dutch). 5 August 1992. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
- ^ "Kinderboeken Top Twaalf". Trouw (in Dutch). 7 June 1995. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-203-16812-7.
- ^ Arendjan Heerma van Voss, the director of VPRO, the public broadcasting cooperation which produced the radio drama, provides the voice for this bird, the Krullevaar; he confessed that he always wanted the Dutch audience to hear him say, "Yes, but I'm an extinct bird!" Quoted in Lammers, Fred (4 January 1992). "Pluk van de Petteflet als hoorspelseriedoor Fred Lammers". Trouw. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
- ISBN 978-90-5483-189-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-441-1258-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-232-4162-1.
- ISBN 978-90-5483-202-7.
- ISBN 978-0-385-60353-9.
- ISBN 978-90-6611-765-5.
- ISBN 978-90-214-7507-3.
- ISBN 978-3-89473-743-6.
- ISBN 978-3-7799-1342-9.
- ISBN 82-7384-337-8.
- ISBN 978-83-60402-17-7.
- ISBN 978-0-521-68952-6. p. 186-87.