De FauTeNKaMPioeNe by Marc de Bel

De FauTeNKaMPioeNe Reviews

• 
  Thibault Busschots

  Yoko is a girl who moved from Gabon to Belgium. She’s got a great group of friends who support her. They mostly do fun, silly and stupid things together. Not everything is right in the world though, and they know it. But they always have each other’s back, no matter what.
  
  Yoko’s class gets a substitute teacher for a couple of weeks. And while nobody likes the substitute teacher, Yoko’s the one who really gets the short end of the stick. The teacher constantly makes fun of her in front of everyone, because she’s the worst student of the class.
  
  The children don’t know how to handle this bad situation they suddenly find themselves in. Until one of them has an idea. It might seem farfetched, and it will probably never work. But it’s the only idea they got. So they might as well try it.
  
  
  This is a children’s book from my youth. Two of the characters are literally the young versions of the writer and the illustrator of the book, which immediately adds a bit of realism and familiarity to the story. In terms of plot though, this is a fairly relaxed and almost episodic story. The main storyline is slowly built up in between the mostly random fun and stupid things the group does, until we get near the end. The core of the story is the friendship that never wavers between the main characters. They always try to have fun and be there for another, no matter the personal stuff they all have to deal with. And I love that they try to put a magic curse on their substitute teacher to get rid of her. Because that is exactly the sort of thing kids who don’t know any better would think of. It’s just childishly funny and absolutely lovely.
  
  
  Surprisingly, this book deals with quite a lot of heavy topics. But it doesn’t focus on them all that much, as it is still a children’s novel at heart. Like in the beginning, when the kids learn that their teacher has been run over by a truck. Or when one character struggles with taking care of his grandfather who has Alzheimer's disease. Or when we learn that the local priest likes to inappropriately touch girls. Yoko fought back when it happened to her, literally. And she immediately went to her dad, to tell him what happened. All topics that admittedly don’t exactly scream “children’s novel” but that help make those important topics discussable.
  
  
  Overall, a very charming children’s novel about friendship that does manage to pack a punch.
• 
  Anneleen

  Ah, dat was alweer lang geleden. Blijft een leuk kinderboek!
• 
  Renée

  Mijn favoriete boek toen ik jonger was!
• 
  Liselotte

  Waarschijnlijk een van de eerste boeken die mij liet huilen!