Keepvogel: De uitvinding

by Wouter van Reek

"A timeless tale of imagination and friendship that children will be drawn to and enjoy again and again."—School Library Journal"Pure magic! This is one of those books that I want to buy for every child I know! It is all here: imagination, humor, just a bit of danger, quirky illustrations, and a story line that gives children credit for being bright enough to understand multiple levels of graphic representation."—Leah van Belle, Of Cabbages and Kings

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Childrens, Stem

27 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Wouter van Reek is a Dutch writer of children's books and a film animator. Van Reek studied audiovisual design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Since 1994 he creates one short animation film each year for the Dutch version of “Sesame Street”. Van Reek is known for his animation series and picture books about Keepvogel (Coppernickel in the English version), a flightless bird with a red cape. The picture books have now been translated into six languages. Keepvogel en Kijkvogel in het spoor van Mondriaan (Coppernickel Goes Mondrian) won the Golden Apple at the 2011 Biennial of Illustration Bratislava, Slovakia.

In 2019, van Reek created the art picture book Escher, about on of the most famous graphic artists of all time, the Dutch M.C. Escher. Critics hailed Van Reek as the perfect illustrator to convey the work and world of Escher to a young public. Escher is translated into English in 2019.

Reviews

[AStar Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading a book about inventions, Copernickel decides that he and his dog Tungsten should design their own invention. And he sets up two large sheets of paper, one for each of them, on the wall for them to try out their skills.

It all begins with the best intentions with Copernickel taking the early lead in designing for while Tungsten still has a blank sheet of paper, Copenickel has just about filled his sheet with a machine for picking high-hanging elderberries.

Copernickel steps back to look at it and decides that it needs some refinement and improvement. So he begins adding different appendages while Tungsten draws a simple line on his sheet of paper. Copernickel gets so carried away that finally the whole wall is covered with his complicated elderberry picker. Tungsten still has his single line!

Copernickel's invention has so many gadgets and so many different actions, it suddenly springs into life and consumes him, processing him as though he were an elderberry! 'Whoa, stop!', he shouts and fortunately for him, just as he was about to be dropped into the crusher, the machine spits him out and stops.

Breathing a sigh of relief he decides to pull his invention off the wall with the intention of adjusting it. But before he does so he looks at Tungsten's design and declares, 'I think it's some kind of clever, useful stick.' Then he has a brainwave and adds, 'I know, it's perfect for ...'

And it was and it just goes to show clever Tungsten is and how simple things can also do the job of more complicated machinery; I will leave it to you to think what use Coppernickel put it to. But suffice it to say, he did not need to go and redesign his complicated invention!

[Nena Heesakkers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Het middenstuk over de ingewikkelde vlierbessengrijper kwam niet echt bij me binnen. Ik vond het verhaal en de illustraties niet echt aantrekkelijk om me te pakken.
Het boek is wel oké om het O&O aan te bieden: eerst over een plan nadenken, testen en dan bijstellen.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quirky translation with a brilliant message: simple design is best. Lots for kids to unpack visually, will make this a nice addition to our inventions theme.

[Maggi Rohde · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to design, simplicity is best. Tungsten the dog might not know it, but he can definitely demonstrate the principle.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming, enjoyable tale.

[Jj · Rating 4 out of 5]

originally published in Dutch, 2008.