I Think I Was Kidnapped
About struggling with homework, about not being a man but not a woman either, about families with two dads and divorce problems, about jealousy, death and bullying – Pim Lammers writes with the greatest ease about all kinds of issues that might have an impact on children’s lives today. What is interesting is that he doesn’t write about the child but from the child’s point of view. This empathetic perspective, coupled with Lammers’s choice of subjects, makes this collection most definitely a mirror of our modern age.
In spite of the sometimes tricky themes and the complicated emotions they can bring up for children, these narrative poems never become too weighty. This is because of the masterful way in which Lammers, assisted by Sarah van Dongen’s witty and lively colour illustrations, subtly plays with the reader’s expectations. Lots of the poems end with an unexpected twist that suddenly makes the extraordinary surprisingly ordinary.
Lammers cheerfully shows how our diverse society is something obvious and natural. It is also admirable how he dares to let his young readers read between the lines. Lammers effortlessly finds his way into children’s minds and speaks their thoughts with a powerful voice all of his own.
“In Pim Lammers’s writing, loving goes hand in hand with tough, and childlike wonder with raging hormones.”
