Chris van Abkoude

Chris van Abkoude
Portrait painted by Jan Maliepaard
Born	(1880-11-06)November 6, 1880 Rotterdam, Netherlands
Died	January 2, 1960(1960-01-02) (aged 79) Portland, Oregon, United States
Occupation	Writer, illustrator
Genre	Children's picture books
Notable works	series of Pietje Bell novels

Chris van Abkoude (6 November 1880, Rotterdam – 2 January 1960, Portland, Oregon) was a Dutch writer and novelist of mostly children's books. He wrote the series of Pietje Bell novels from 1914 to 1936 and many books in between. He moved to the United States in 1916 and wrote all the Pietje Bell books in the United States, except for the first one, which he wrote in 1914 in Rotterdam. In 1923 Van Abkoude wrote the novel Kruimeltje (Little Crumb) and in 1999 the film Little Crumb was released. Before his writing career, Van Abkoude was a teacher; when he noticed the children did not like reading the children's books of the time, he wrote his own.

In the U.S., he anglicized his name to Charles Winters.

References

• Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (in Dutch) - A website with information on him and his books

Pietje Bell, drawn by Jan Rinke in Chris van Abkoude's 1914 novel Pietje Bell of de lotgevallen van een ondeugenden jongen