Jan de Groot

Jan de Groot was born in 1932 in The Hague, Holland, the second son of Folkert and Alida de Groot. His brother, Folkert Jr., was 12 years older. Jan was seven years old when the Germans invaded his country during the Second World War. Despite the many sudden changes that the war brought to his life, Jan and his friends were normal boys, occasionally naughty. Although too young to be a soldier, Jan was old enough to under- stand what was occurring around him, and why he could not always talk freely about his family’s activities.
The war finally ended in 1945, forever changing Jan’s family. In 1950, Jan became a merchant mariner and sailed to many places around the world. He emigrated to Canada in 1957, and from 1970 to 1980 he lived in the Caribbean. Jan has wanted to write ever since he was a child. He started writing articles for boating magazines in the 1980s and wrote his first book a decade later. A Boy in War is his fourth book. He chose to write his own story because he felt it was necessary for people to know what happens when a country becomes involved in war. “In North America, a war of this magnitude has never taken place. Here, people do not realize how it affects the civilian population.” Jan de Groot hopes A Boy in War will contribute in some small way to helping end war.

 


Titles by the Author

A Boy in War

By Jan de Groot

The war was changing everything and everyone …

When Jan is seven, Nazis attack and take over Holland. At first, not much changes. Soon, though, war starts taking things away: important things like neighbours and friends, trust and respect, even clothing, fuel, and food. Through it all, Jan is still a boy, finding ways to play with friends and paddle his sailing canoe in the canals. But he must also filch food and help protect his father’s “guests” from the enemy.

Then the enemy takes his father away. Jan and his mother are on the run. They dodge bombs, sleep in haystacks, work for their food … all the while desperately searching for refuge and hoping for normal life—and Pa—to someday, somehow, return.

An exciting, touching true story of the Second World War, told by the Dutch Canadian who lived it.

186 pp • 6 x 9 • paperback • $13.95
ISBN 1-55039-167-4, ISBN 13 978-1-55039-167-1

Riddle of the Raven

By Jan de Groot

“The statue that was hanging in the saloon started to slowly swing forward, as if it was creeping along the wall. Then it stopped, staying at an angled position. After a second, it started to move again, this time slowly crawling into the opposite direction. Everyone watched the sinister and eerie performance with an expression of horror clearly shown on their faces.”