(Lemniscaat, 1973, 363 pages)

Kruistocht in spijkerbroek (Crusade in Jeans) came out in 1973 and represented Thea Beckman’s breakthrough as an author of books for young people. The story is about the 15-year-old Dolf Wega, who travels in a time machine and ends up in the middle of a children’s crusade in the year 1212. He looks in bewilderment at the eight thousand bare-footed children who are singing and praying their way to Jerusalem. The crusade is led by two monks and by the shepherd boy Nicolaas, who has received from God the task of liberating the Holy Land from the Saracens.

(Lemniscaat, 1985, 465 pages)

The Grand Old Lady of historical children’s literature – that’s Thea Beckman’s nickname. However, Beckman was not only interested in the past. Driven by social awareness and a desire to let her imagination run free, she rid Greenland of its ice and created a new state. The result was this captivating work of futuristic speculative fiction.