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Windmills and wooden shoes cover

Windmills and wooden shoes

Chapter 4: HOLLAND
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About This Book

The narrative follows Dutch siblings Jan and Katrina and their friends as they carry out everyday life in a small Dutch community: chores like milking cows, churning butter, selling milk; play and games; visits to windmills and barges; cultural details such as wooden shoes, storks' nests, blue-and-white dishes, dikes and canals; seasonal events including sleigh rides, St. Nicholas and Christmas; songs and simple illustrated scenes intended for classroom use. Episodes are short and episodic, combining practical descriptions of customs and landscape with domestic scenes to familiarize young readers with Holland's rhythms and material culture.


HOLLAND

Far over the sea is a country called Holland. It is not a large country.

The Dutch people live in Holland. They have made dikes to keep the sea from their land.

Do you know what dikes are?

They are huge walls made of stone. They are very large and strong. If a dike should break, the country would be flooded.

There are many canals in Holland. Some of the canals are so large and deep that big ocean steamships can sail on them.

There are many boats on the canals. People live on the boats all the year round.