Little Man finds a Home by Max Velthuijs translated by Rosemary Lanning

Dutch edition of Little Man Finds a Home

"There was once a tiny little man who lived in an old carboard shoe box. He was happy there."

But then the rain comes and it rains so much his little house is destroyed. So, he sets off to find a new home. He tries living with a bird in a tree but alas he falls out. He tries living in a glass jar with a frog (our Frog is Frog character) but alas it is much too hot. He joins a rabbit in his cosy burrow but alas when thirteen baby rabbits arrive it is way too crowded. Then he meets a Little Woman picking apples and she offers him the perfect home and the perfect place for a party with all of his new friends.

Little Man finds a Home was published in 1983 under the title Klein-Mannchen hat kein Haus.

This book is such a special one to have found at a recent charity book fair. You might already know I am a huge fan of the Frog is Frog series by Max Velthuijs. When I read Little Man finds a Home, I saw the familiar little frog in his striking boardshorts - could this book have been written before the famous series? I went hunting and discovered that YES that is how we come to have Frog.

And I think there were other books in this original series, Klein Mannetje helpt een vriend (Little Man helps find a friend); Klein-Mannetje vindt het geluk (Little Man finds happiness); Klein-Mannetje heeft geen huis (Little Man has no House); Klein Männchen und das Glück: Drei liebenswerte Geschichten (Little Man and Happiness - three stories).

I read this on the IBBY International page - Max Velthuijus won the IBBY Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2004. He sadly died in 2005 aged 81.

Frog started as a secondary character in the books about ‘Klein-Mannetje’ (Klein-Männchen), but beginning with Kikker is verliefd (Frog in Love, 1989 Andersen Press, London) he became a character of his own, with his own feelings and thoughts. The stories about Frog and his friends contain elements of fairy tale and fable. Just like in a traditional fable there is a message in his books but presented as a general and universal truth. Not a finger raised in warning. Velthuijs doesn’t warn his readers he shows them how the world is organized and how people react. Without closing his eyes to how people can treat others unjustly, he always comes with a positive solution for the dilemmas of Frog and his friends.

In his Frog books Velthuijs brings existential themes/subjects in words and pictures back to their essence. Kikker en het vogeltje (Frog and the Birdsong) is a beautifully simple account of the mystery of death and the need to celebrate the joys of being alive. This complex and challenging idea is presented with strong, dramatic pictures. Kikker en de Vreemdeling (Frog and the Stranger) deserves a special mention for the way this story deals with prejudice and fear for outsiders, racism and mutual understanding. Lovesickness is the central theme in Kikker is verliefd (Frog in love); solidarity in Kikker in de kou (Frog in Winter); and fear in Kikker is bang (Frog is frightened).

The animals in the picture books are, as Velthuijs said, ‘a kind of children of me, they have their own personality in which there is always a part of myself.’ Frog is childlike wide-eyed, Pig is home-loving, Hare is the intellectual one who always has a thoughtful judgement and Rat is an adventurer, perhaps the most enterprising animal in the Frog books. All Velthuijs’ stories are suffused with a sense of security, and the moral of each story is presented with gentle humour. It is this humour and security – in words and pictures, which the Frog books show to perfection.

I also own some drinking glasses with images from Frog is Frog - they were a truly special gift from a friend a few years ago! They almost look like this - we both wondered how they came to be in a charity shop here in Sydney Australia.