Youth magazines 1883 until 1950 > Kie-ke-boe (1930-1942)
The modern design of the front pages with one or two supporting colors made Kie-ke-boe an attractive magazine for young children (5-8 years). Edited by D.A. Cramer-Schaap, it included good-quality texts and drawings. Kie-ke-boe did not have a moralizing tone and it was not connected with any religious denomination.
Kie-ke-boe primarily contained short stories and verses (with hyphens between the syllables for those who were just learning to read) about events in imaginary worlds full of gnomes, dolls and animals, or simply in and around the house. In addition to stories and poems, the magazine included short stage plays and songs with the corresponding musical notation. The general editor wrote most of the texts herself, and the serial about little Kiekeboe was also her creation. Other than Mrs. Cramer-Schaap, many renowned authors contributed to the magazine: among others this included Maren Koster and C. Wilkeshuis for the poems, Nienke van Hichtum and S. Franke for the stories.
The magazine included many, often funny drawings made by a group of alternating illustrators. There were, for instance, contributions by Rie Cramer, Daan Hoeksema, Leonard Roggeveen and Freddie Langeler and her husband Eelco ten Harmsen van Beek.
In the back of the magazine, Kie-ke-boe had all kinds of ideas for crafting things with the materials that were much in use at the time: (plywood, raffia, kite paper). This was also the place for riddles and games and for announcing contests.
In 1934, Kie-ke-boe became a supplement of Zonneschijn, another youth magazine
Digitized: vol. 1 (1930) ; vol. 2, no 26 t/m 52 (1931) – vol. 4 (1933)
View copies of Kie-ke-boe >>
Back to the youth magazines overview >>