One thing I particularly miss about the Netherlands

I have been living in Germany for over three years now, and though I like my German life a lot, I do miss my home country. It may sound curious, but one of the things I miss is the foundation 'Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek' (CPNB, "Collective Promotion for the Dutch Book"). This foundation supports and promotes Dutch literature. One of their main activities is organizing the book week, which is annually held in March. During the book week there are lots of literary activities throughout the country, starting off with the book ball, which is attended by invited publishers and authors. During the ten day "week", everyone that buys Dutch books for an amount of 12,50€ or more receives a novella that was written by a well-known Dutch or Flamish author especially for the book week. The book week usually has a theme, and the novella should fit to this theme. The book week is supported by the Dutch railways, for everyone with a book week present can travel the train for free on the second Saturday of the week. 

Besides the book week, the CPNB organizes a youth version of it in October, as well as 'de maand van het spannende boek'; a month in which crime novels are in the spotlight, and many other themed weeks. 

Since 2006, the CPNB organizes the annual event 'Nederland Leest' in November, which is sort of a book club for the whole country. Members of public libraries can get a special reprint of an existing Dutch book, and they are supposed to read and discuss it together. 

In order to get children to reading, the CPNB organizes the "Kinderjury". During one and a half month, children can rate Dutch books that have been published in the past year. The books can be bought or are available in public libraries. I remember filling out special vote cards that could be handed in at the library, but nowadays the kids can choose their favorites online. The book with the highest rating gets a price, and when a new edition of the book is printed, it's likely that the Kinderjury price is mentioned on the cover.

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