Two children, a cat, and a dog — the stories every Dutch child grows up with
Part of: Dutch Culture
Jip en Janneke is a series of short stories by Annie M.G. Schmidt, originally published in the newspaper Het Parool from 1953 onwards, later collected into books. They follow two young neighbours — Jip (a boy) and Janneke (a girl) — along with their cat Siepie and dog Takkie, through the small adventures of everyday childhood life.
The stories are written for very young children. Sentences are short. Words are simple. Nothing dramatic happens — and that's entirely the point.
Jip en Janneke has been in continuous print for over seventy years. Multiple generations of Dutch people were read these stories as toddlers, then read them to their own children. The characters are part of the shared texture of Dutch childhood in a way that is hard to overstate.
The illustrations — by Fiep Westendorp, in a distinctive black-and-white line style — are as iconic as the text. Westendorp drew Jip and Janneke for decades; her style is immediately recognisable to any Dutch person. In summer 2026, the Rijksmuseum hosts an exhibition of around 150 original Westendorp drawings — first sketches, original notes in her own hand, and finished illustrations spanning her full career.
Jip, Janneke, Takkie, and Siepie appear on products at HEMA — the Dutch department store that is itself a cultural institution. Mugs, children's plates, clothing, stationery. If you've shopped at HEMA and noticed the simple line-drawn children on the shelves, that's them.
Their faces are also on the walls of schools, in doctor's waiting rooms, and on the covers of early readers. They are the visual shorthand for Dutch childhood.
If you have young children in the Netherlands, Jip en Janneke is worth reading aloud even if your Dutch is basic — the vocabulary is deliberately minimal, and the stories are short enough to get through without losing your place. Some editions include parallel Dutch/English text. Adults learning Dutch sometimes use them as a first reading exercise for the same reason.
The stories have no moral agenda, no tidy lessons. Children do things, things happen, life continues. That refusal to be preachy is very Annie M.G. Schmidt — and, in its way, very Dutch.
These guides are written to help you understand the Netherlands — not to replace professional advice. We do our best to be accurate but we make mistakes and information goes out of date. For anything that affects your legal status, taxes, finances, or health, verify with an official source or a qualified advisor.