author
Jacob van der Klei
1879–1951
A Dutch schoolmaster who turned everyday classroom life into stories for children, he wrote readers, fairy tales, and novels that were widely used in the Netherlands in the early 20th century.
1 Audiobook
Dubbele Twee: Leesboek voor het vierde leerjaar
by Jacob van der Klei
About the author
Born in Boyl, Friesland, on February 14, 1879, Jacob van der Klei wrote under the names Jac. van der Klei and Jaap van Boyl. Reliable Dutch literary reference sources describe him as a writer of schoolbooks and children's books, and note that he trained as a teacher before working at several primary schools.
After earning his head teacher's certificate in 1900, he led schools in Friesland and later became head of the Lindenschool in Amsterdam in 1918. His background in education strongly shaped his writing: alongside stories and fairy tales, he produced classroom readers such as Dubbele Twee and children's books including Onder het linnen dak.
Van der Klei died in Apeldoorn in February 1951. Today he is mainly remembered through Dutch literary archives and digitized editions of his work, which preserve the warm, instructive style that linked his teaching life to his fiction.