Abeltje

Lore & Background

The story follows young Abeltje, who gets a job as a liftboy in a department store. His boss forbids him from pressing the top green button, but when Abeltje gets into trouble, he presses it, causing the elevator to shoot out of the building and fly off. Trapped with him are a traveling mothball salesman, Jozias Tump; a singing instructor, Miss Klaterhoen; and a young girl, Laura. They fly across the ocean to New York City, landing in Central Park, where Abeltje is mistaken for a missing boy. They then travel to South America, where Tump becomes president of a banana republic, and after a coup, they escape again in the lift.

The novel has been adapted for radio and film. A radio play aired in the Netherlands in the 1950s. In 2002, Abeltje and its sequel were published together as Abeltje en de A van Abeltje. A four-CD audiobook read by Schmidt's son, Flip van Duyn, was released in 2008.

Reader's Guide

Abeltje holds significance as a landmark in Dutch children's literature, marking the early success of Annie M. G. Schmidt, one of the Netherlands' most celebrated authors. Its instant popularity led to a sequel within two years and sustained publication through multiple editions. The story's premise—a flying elevator—has drawn comparisons to Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972), though the article notes only similarities in plot. The book's legacy extends through various adaptations: a 1950s radio play, a 1998 film that won the Golden Calf for best film, and a subsequent television series. Its translation into nine languages (Danish, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish) demonstrates its international reach. The 2008 audiobook read by Schmidt's son further connects the work to the author's family. The film's modernizations reflect how the story has been updated for new audiences while retaining its core narrative.

Publication & Early Triumph

Abeltje arrived in 1953 as one of the earliest children's novels from the pen of Annie M. G. Schmidt, the already celebrated Dutch writer. De Arbeiderspers handled the initial release, and the book's reception was nothing short of meteoric. By the time the sequel, De A van Abeltje, hit shelves in 1955, the original was already on its fourth printing—a remarkable pace that signaled the story had struck a deep chord with young Dutch readers and their families. The novel's publishing life continued to evolve over the decades. In 1988, the rights transferred to Querido, a house that has kept the title in print ever since. That edition also brought a new visual identity, with the distinctive illustrations of Thé Tjong-Khing giving Abeltje and his airborne companions a fresh, memorable look. The book's trajectory from a first-try children's effort to a long-running, multi-edition classic speaks to the universal appeal of Schmidt's whimsical storytelling.

The Story & Its Characters

At its heart, Abeltje is a tale of a young boy who takes a job as a liftboy in a department store. His employer lays down one iron rule: the topmost, green button on the elevator panel must never be pressed. Naturally, when Abeltje finds himself in a jam, he gives in to temptation and hits the button. The elevator rockets out of the building and into the sky, carrying four passengers: Abeltje himself, a traveling mothball salesman named Jozias Tump, a singing instructor called Miss Klaterhoen, and a young girl named Laura. Their airborne journey takes them across the ocean to New York City, where they crash-land in Central Park and Abeltje is mistaken for a missing boy. The group then flies on to South America, where Tump is improbably installed as president of a banana republic and the missing boy is set free. But a coup quickly topples Tump, and the four friends must once again flee in their runaway lift.

Adaptations Across Media

Abeltje has a remarkably rich afterlife beyond the printed page. As early as the 1950s, the story was brought to Dutch ears as a radio play, introducing the flying elevator to a new generation of listeners. Nearly five decades later, Warner Bros. produced a feature film titled Abeltje (released in English-speaking markets as The Flying Liftboy) on November 26, 1998. The movie, which modernized certain details—giving Abeltje a skateboard and an earring, making Laura his girlfriend rather than a neighbor, and turning his mother's flower shop into a garage—went on to win the Golden Calf for best film in 1999. Its success spawned a seven-part television series broadcast in the Netherlands in 2000. In the audio world, a four-CD audiobook narrated by Schmidt's own son, Flip van Duyn, was released in 2008, while a combined 2002 edition paired Abeltje with its sequel under the title Abeltje en de A van Abeltje.

International Reach & Literary Echoes

The story of Abeltje has traveled far beyond the Dutch-speaking world. Translations exist in Danish, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish, making the flying liftboy a familiar character to children on multiple continents. The novel's global footprint is a testament to the universality of Schmidt's premise: a child's small act of defiance launching an extraordinary, globe-trotting adventure. Interestingly, the plot shares a striking structural echo with Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, published in 1972. In Dahl's novel, the central characters also find themselves hurtling around the world inside an elevator. The parallel is hard to miss, and it places Abeltje in a small but notable lineage of children's literature in which a humble vertical transport becomes the vehicle for a grand, almost surreal journey. Whether Schmidt's 1953 original inspired later writers or both authors simply tapped into the same imaginative wellspring, the elevator-as-airship remains one of children's fiction's most charming conceits.