Belgium - Children's Books

Did you know French Fries were actually invented in Belgium? Learn more about the world-changing food at the French Fry (or should we say Belgian Fry?) museum in Bruges: Frietmuseum from Bruges. The museum is really fun and at the end includes a serving of freshly made fries with the most delicious ketchup I've ever eaten. Be sure to include this museum in your Belgium itinerary as it will surely be a highlight for the kids! Bruges is also known to be a very beautiful city (parents can watch the dark comedy crime thriller film, In Bruges) and will for sure be enjoyable as well to walk around and get some chocolate and waffles. 

Do you know of any other children’s books featuring Belgium? Please feel free to note it in a comment below!

Children's Books about Belgium

Belgian Fairy Tales: Classic Fairy Tale Stories: Belgian Fairy Tales by William Elliot Griffisis is a collection of classic fairy tales for kids first published in 1919 London.

The Hunter and His Dog: Spotting a bird in the distance, the hunter and his dog begin a madcap chase across the world of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. They stumble into some of the artist’s most famous scenes: wedding dances, snowy villages, even the winding stairs of the Tower of Babel. Will they ever find the place where they belong? This wordless book introduces young readers to the Flemish Renaissance artist and his most beloved works, including The Hunters in the Snow and Children’s Games.

Chef Yasmina and the Potato Panic: Eleven-year-old budding chef and amateur urban plant forager Yasmina relies on the extra bounty of her feuding gardener friends Cyril and Marco to cook delicious vegetarian meals for herself and her debt-ridden father, Omran. When a shady businessman buys and demolishes Cyril's and Marco's gardens to start a nefarious potato enterprise, Yasmina resorts to stealing from the rooftop garden on their Belgian city apartment. Meanwhile, city residents who are addicted to a new brand of potatoes terrorize the streets. With the help of the reclusive but brilliant upstairs scientist Amaryllis, Yasmina, her father, and her friends must address the strange behavior. 

Nowhere Boy: Fourteen-year-old Ahmed is stuck in a city that wants nothing to do with him. Newly arrived in Brussels, Belgium, Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Aleppo, Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey to the shores of Europe. Now Ahmed’s struggling to get by on his own, but with no one left to trust and nowhere to go, he’s starting to lose hope.  Then he meets Max, a thirteen-year-old American boy from Washington, D.C. Lonely and homesick, Max is struggling at his new school and just can’t seem to do anything right. But with one startling discovery, Max and Ahmed’s lives collide and a friendship begins to grow. Together, Max and Ahmed will defy the odds, learning from each other what it means to be brave and how hope can change your destiny.  Set against the backdrop of the Syrian refugee crisis, award-winning author of Jepp, Who Defied the Stars Katherine Marsh delivers a gripping, heartwarming story of resilience, friendship and everyday heroes.

Bonus! The Adventures of Tintin and Souvenirs for Kids

The Adventures of Tintin (French: Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of 24 bande dessinée albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a century after Hergé's birth in 1907, Tintin had been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies, and had been adapted for radio, television, theatre and film. Read more.

The Hergé Museum, near Brussels, invites you on a journey through the life of the creator of the Adventures of Tintin.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Complete Collection: Tintin, Hergé's classic comic book creation, is one of the most iconic characters in children's books. To celebrate Tintin's 90th anniversary, the original 23 adventures have been collected together for the first time. Now including Tintin and Alph-Art and Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, this unique collection will delight Tintin fans old and new. Perfect for lovers of graphic novels, mysteries, and historical adventures. Join the most iconic character in comics as he embarks on extraordinary adventures and solves thrilling mysteries! From the Land of the Soviets to America, to outer space and the depths of the ocean, there are over 1,600 pages of delight in these eight volumes. The ultimate gift for any Tintin fan.

The Belgian company, SmartMax, has adorable magnetic toys, such as vehicles and farm animals, that are high quality with high attention to safety. These are lots of fun and also perfect to bring along a trip!