De brief voor de koning
I've noted before that I'm not really all that fond of the works of the very well known and very highly regarded Dutch author Tonke Dragt. Neither her style in illustration, nor her stories have ever held me spell-bound.
Except when they are read to our children by my wife, Irina. Because she is very fond of them and succeeds in conveying that fondness in the way she reads the story. The rather stiff and cardboardy characters come to life, and the rather stiff and stilted dialogue begins to flow.
In fact, when she'd finished reading this story about a young knight-to-be who gets enticed away from his pre-knighting vigil by a mysterious stranger, goes on a long journey, picks up a love and a friend and delivers the letter the title refers to, I tried to read the sequel myself.
After a few pages I decided I'd just wait until it turns up in the to-read stack...