Jaap ter Haar (25 March 1922 – 26 February 1998) was a prolific Dutch author of children's literature.

Career

Early in his career ter Haar worked for the Radio Netherlands Worldwide. In addition to his day job, ter Haar made many

radio plays Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

for broadcaster NCRV featuring stories of the characters Saskia and Jeroen. These stories were later adapted and published as a book series. When Radio Netherlands Worldwide no longer permitted employees to earn income outside of work, ter Haar decided to become a full-time writer in 1952. Out of financial necessity, he published many books over the course of his career. In addition to the characters Saskia and Jeroen, he also wrote many book series featuring the characters Lotje, Eelke, and Ernstjan and Schnabbeltje. Ter Haar won the

Nienke van Hichtum-prijs The Nienke van Hichtum-prijs (Dutch for Nienke van Hichtum Prize) is a biennial Dutch literary award for children's literature awarded by the Jan Campert-Stichting. The award is named after children's author Nienke van Hichtum and was first awar ...

in 1972 for his book ''Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen''. He won the Gouden Griffel award for his book ''Het wereldje van Beer Ligthart''. In 1976 he won the

Buxtehude Bull The Buxtehude Bull (German: Buxtehuder Bulle) is an award for youth literature, established in 1971 by Winfried Ziemann, a local book merchant from Buxtehude, a Hanseatic City located in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The town council took over ...

for the book ''Behalt das Leben lieb'', the German translation of ''Het wereldje van Beer Ligthart'' by Hans-Joachim Schädlich. Ter Haar's books have been illustrated by various illustrators, including

Gerard van Straaten Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

Charlotte Dematons Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populou ...

and

Rein van Looy Reins are items of horse tack, used to direct a horse or other animal used for riding. They are long straps that can be made of leather, nylon, metal, or other materials, and attach to a bridle via either its bit or its noseband. Use f ...

. Other illustrators include Rien Poortvliet and

Otto Dicke Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

Death

Ter Haar died in February 1998.

Awards

* 1972:

, ''Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen'' * 1974: Gouden Griffel, ''Het wereldje van Beer Ligthart'' * 1976:

, ''Behalt das Leben lieb''

References

External links

Jaap ter Haar
(in Dutch), Digital Library for Dutch Literature
Jaap ter Haar
(in Dutch), jeugdliteratuur.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Haar, Jaap ter 1922 births 1998 deaths Dutch children's writers Nienke van Hichtum Prize winners Gouden Griffel winners