Afrikaans Historical Fiction for Kids
Hendrik Leerdam Seereis na die Kaap, James Home & Peter Mascher
Based on the historical events of 1651-1652, this is an Asterix or Tin-Tin style comic book about the fictitious Leerdam family’s journey to the Cape of Good Hope. On route from Holland with Jan van Riebeeck on the Drommedaris, they encounter storms, then doldrums, a pirate ship attack and then the legendary Flying Dutchman phantom ship! That part is a bit creepy so pre-read it first, if you don’t like the idea of ghosts!
The authors have made the past come alive by liberally imagining all sorts of humorous events for this family at sea! It will captivate both first and second language Afrikaans readers between ages 9-12. This is a great book to add to the Footprints On Our Land programme and will be a perfect match for the lapbook about The Dutch at the Cape!
The author, James Home, first thought of creating a book like this when he heard that his aunt was frustrated as there were no suitable children’s books about South Africa’s history for her grandchildren.
Although there are many academic-style history books in libraries, Home thought a comic-book format would be more appealing to children. As a child he was a fan of Tin-Tin, Asterix, Richie Rich and Archie comics.
After researching various aspects of this era, he wrote the whole story in a Word document using tables and speech bubbles and then he needed an illustrator.
At a children’s party in his home town of Melkbosstrand he found just the person in Peter Mascher.
At first Mascher was skeptical, but when Home explained the story to him, his face lit up with enthusiasm for the project. Mascher is a cartoon artist and this was his first time illustrating a children’s book.
As a team they worked for three years tweaking the story and getting it to flow better.
Hendrik Leerdam is a most welcome addition to Afrikaans comic book literature for children and we think it is great that it is in the form of South African historical fiction.
This story gets our vote as a ‘living book’ in Afrikaans!
The best news is that Home and Mascher are working on a series of these books taking readers through South Africa’s history until after the South African War (Anglo Boer War). This means that this series will be the perfect match for Footprints On Our Land and our series of South African History lapbooks!