The children’s book De Wollef en de seve geitjes, a retelling of The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats in broad Amsterdam dialect, is back in the city’s bookshops.
Married graphic designers Maarten de Ru (50) and Sacha Serano (49) had decided last year to stop making it for health reasons.
A fairy tale in thieves’ slang
Published eleven years ago, it draws on Bargoens, the old Amsterdam thieves’ language, and sends mother goat to the Dappermarkt with a cigar.
The couple say children love the coarse language, and around 25,000 copies have been printed.
Writer Roxane van Iperen counts it among her five favourite books.
Illness and a final print run
In 2019 Serano was diagnosed with breast cancer, and five months later De Ru learned he had a malignant brain tumour that cannot be treated.
Serano was declared cured a month ago, while De Ru’s speech has stayed impaired since his brain surgery.
They stopped a year and a half ago, but a year later they missed it and ordered one last print run of 5,000 copies.
They are cycling around Amsterdam with the books again, with their dog Boris riding in the box.
If the cigar-smoking goat has you wanting a copy of your own, check out our guide to Amsterdam’s bookshops.
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