Jet Boeke

Last updated
Boeke in 2014 Jet Boeke, illustrator.jpg
Boeke in 2014

Jet Boeke (born October 28, 1948, Wageningen) is a Dutch children's author and illustrator. She is a contributor to the Dutch version of Sesame Street, and is famous worldwide for her book series Dikkie Dik. [1]

Biography

When Jet Boeke was younger, she traveled through central and South America. During that time she would sometimes make portraits of people in exchange for food or shelter. During this time, she had met an American illustrator who worked for Sesame Street. She had seen the children for the first time on American television and was immediately very enthusiastic about it. Back in the Netherlands, Sesame Street had just been getting started. and was slowly becoming popular. She had then gotten in touch with the Sesame Street program. They had asked her to come up with a new idea for the show, and she had suggested that the show read picture books to the audience of the show. The idea of hers had been approved, and the protagonist of the story ended up being her cat, Dikkie Dik.

Her cat plays as a huge influence and inspiration to Jet Boeke. Every year, she makes a new series of picture books for Sesame Street by making the stories and then sketch out the drawings. She wishes for the drawings to speak for themselves without any words. After Dikki Dik books would show up for years on television, a demand for them began in regular bookstores. Now Jet Boeke has a wide collection of stories about her orange cat Dikki Dik who will forever be her inspiration.

Related Research Articles

<i>Sesame Street</i> American childrens television show

Sesame Street is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop and was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. It is known for its images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, and includes short films, with humor and cultural references. It premiered on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high viewership. It has aired on the United States national public television provider PBS since its debut, with its first run moving to premium channel HBO on January 16, 2016, then its sister streaming service (HBO) Max in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Picture book</span> Book with images at least as important as words

A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.

Horrid Henry is a children's book series by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross. It has been adapted for television, film and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Sendak</span> American childrens book author and illustrator (1928–2012)

Maurice Bernard Sendak was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, first published in 1963. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was affected by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Sendak also wrote works such as In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, and illustrated many works by other authors including the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik.

<i>Sesamstraat</i> Dutch version of the American childrens television series Sesame Street

Sesamstraat is a Dutch television series in the Netherlands, and a localized version of the U.S. children's program Sesame Street. In its early days, the show was broadcast in Flanders (Belgium) as well. It is the second longest-running foreign adaptation of Sesame Street without interruptions, behind only Sesamstraße. It targets children between 3–7 years old.

Elmo's World is a segment that is shown in the American children's television program Sesame Street. It always comes last and premiered on November 16, 1998, as part of a broader structural change to the show. It originally lasted fifteen minutes at the end of each episode. The segment ran until 2009, and then returned in 2017. The segment was designed to appeal to younger viewers and to increase ratings, which had fallen in the past decade. The segment is presented from the perspective of a three-year-old child as represented by its host, the Muppet Elmo, performed by Kevin Clash in the original series and Ryan Dillon in the 2017 reboot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dikkie Dik</span> Dutch series of childrens picture books

Dikkie Dik is a Dutch series of children's picture books, starring the eponymous orange tomcat Dikkie Dik. The books are drawn by author Jet Boeke, and feature short, concise texts by Arthur van Norden. The series started in 1978 as part of the Dutch version of the children's TV show Sesame Street, but soon the stories appeared in bookstores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanda Gág</span> American artist and childrens writer (1893–1946)

Wanda Hazel Gág was an American artist, author, translator, and illustrator. She is best known for writing and illustrating the children's book Millions of Cats, the oldest American picture book still in print. Gág was also a noted print-maker, receiving international recognition and awards. Growing Pains, a book of excerpts from the diaries of her teen and young adult years, received widespread critical acclaim. Two of her books were awarded Newbery Honors and two received Caldecott Honors. The New York Public Library included Millions of Cats on its 2013 list of 100 Great Children's Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mo Willems</span> American childrens books illustrator and writer

Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series Sheep in the Big City for Cartoon Network, working on Sesame Street and The Off-Beats, and creating the children's book series Elephant and Piggie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Kate Upton</span> American-English cartoonist and author (1873–1922)

Florence Kate Upton was an American-born English cartoonist and author most famous for creating the Golliwog character, featured in a series of children's books.

Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps is a 1957 book by Dutch educator Kees Boeke that combines writing and graphics to explore many levels of size and structure, from the astronomically vast to the atomically tiny. The book begins with a photograph of a Dutch girl sitting outside a school and holding a cat. The text backs up from the original photo, with graphics that include more and more of the vast reaches of space in which the girl is located. It then narrows in on the original picture, with graphics that show ever smaller areas until the nucleus of a sodium atom is reached. Boeke writes commentary on each graphic, along with introductory and concluding notes.

<i>The Snowy Day</i> 1962 book by Ezra Jack Keats

The Snowy Day is a 1962 American children's picture book by American author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. It features Peter, an African American boy, who explores his neighborhood after the season's first snowfall. Keats’ illustrations helped pave the way for more inclusive and diverse children's literature. Keats received the 1963 Caldecott Medal for his collage artwork, which made The Snowy Day the first picture book with an African American protagonist to win a major children's award. The book's reception was largely positive, although some critics pointed out subtle stereotypes, such as how Peter's mother was portrayed. Since its publication, The Snowy Day has sold millions of copies and has been translated, adapted, and honored, leaving a lasting impression on generations of readers.

<i>Pinky Dinky Doo</i> Childrens TV series

Pinky Dinky Doo is an animated children's television series created by Jim Jinkins. It was produced and co-owned by Jinkins' Cartoon Pizza and Sesame Workshop. The series was made in association with Discovery Kids Latin America, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. For the second season, Abrams Gentile Entertainment, and the Canadian studio Keyframe Digital Productions joined as production companies. Each episode follows an imaginative pink-haired girl named Pinky Dinky Doo, her brother Tyler and pet Mr. Guinea Pig as she makes up her own stories.

Gail E. Haley is an American writer and illustrator. She has won the annual awards for children's book illustration from both the American and British librarians, for two different picture books. She won the 1971 Caldecott Medal for A Story a Story, which she retold from an African folktale, and the 1976 Kate Greenaway Medal for The Post Office Cat, her own historical fiction about a London post office.

<i>Catwings</i> Childrens book series by Ursula K. Le Guin

Catwings is a series of four American children's picture books written by Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by S. D. Schindler, and originally published by Scholastic from 1988 to 1999. It follows the adventures of kittens who were born with wings. Catwings is also the title of the first book in the series. The series is in print from Scholastic as of August 2015.

Lara Kate Jones was a British artist, children's author and illustrator. She is best remembered for her Poppy Cat series of children's books, which have been published in 20 languages and sold over two and a half million copies.

<i>Street Gang</i> Non-fiction book by Michael Davis

Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street is a non-fiction book chronicling the history of the children's television program Sesame Street. Street Gang is journalist and writer Michael Davis's first book, published by Viking Press in 2008. On bookshelves in time for the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, the book developed out of a TV Guide article Davis wrote to commemorate the show's 35th anniversary in 2004. Davis spent five years researching and writing the book, and conducted hundreds of interviews with the show's creators, cast, and crew.

Judith Byron "Judy" Schachner is an American children's writer and illustrator. Her works include the Skippyjon Jones series. Schachner lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Bob, and a dog and her two Siamese cats.

Afine Kornélie Dik, better known as Phiny Dick was a Dutch illustrator and writer of children's books and comics. She was the wife of Marten Toonder from 1935 until her death.

<i>No Kimchi for Me!</i> 2017 picture book by Aram Kim

No Kimchi for Me! is a children's picture book by Aram Kim. It was published on September 5, 2017, by Holiday House. The book tells the story of Yoomi, an anthropomorphic cat who doesn't like kimchi, and so is mocked by her older siblings. The illustrations are reminiscent of Kim's debut picture book, Cat on the Bus.

References

  1. "Sesamstraat - Schuif gezellig aan". Uitin Brabant (in Dutch). 12 September 2010. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2010.