''The Golden Basket'' is a

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

written and illustrated by

Ludwig Bemelmans Ludwig Bemelmans (April 27, 1898 – October 1, 1962) was an Austrian-American writer and illustrator of children's books and adult novels. He is known best for the ''Madeline'' picture books. Six were published, the first in 1939. Early life B ...

. It tells the story of a family's visit to

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

and marks the first appearance of the author's best-known character,

Madeline ''Madeline'' is a media franchise that originated as a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, an Austrian-American author. The books have been adapted into numerous formats, spawning telefilms, television series a ...

.''The Essential Guide to Children's Books and their Creators'' by Anita Silvey, page 40 The novel was first published in 1936 and was a

Newbery Honor Newbery is a surname. People *Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver *David Newbery (born 1943), British economist *Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot *Francis Newbery (disambiguation), seve ...

recipient in 1937. In the novel, two sisters, Celeste and Melisande, stay at the Golden Basket hotel in Bruges with their father, Horatio Coggeshall of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. They befriend Jan, the innkeeper's son, and encounter several of the other guests. On a visit to Bruges cathedral with Jan, they meet a dozen little schoolgirls, including Madeline.''The Newbery Companion'' by John Thomas Gillespie and Corinne J. Naden, p.86 The novel draws on the author's experience of hotel life—he was raised in his father's hotel in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and worked in

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

hotels as a young man. A visit to Belgium with his wife provided the inspiration for the setting. The illustrations show many of the sights of Bruges.

References

1936 American novels American children's novels Newbery Honor-winning works Novels set in Belgium Bruges in fiction 1936 children's books Children's books set in Belgium Children's books set in hotels {{1930s-child-novel-stub