Meindert DeJong was born on March 4, 1906, in a fishing village in Friesland, the Netherlands. Although he and his family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when DeJong was eight, many of his books are set in the Holland of his childhood with its dikes and canals.

DeJong had a difficult time in school in Michigan because he spoke no English at first. He and his brothers were placed in grade levels behind their ages, and they were ridiculed because of their Dutch accents. Although DeJong's older brother David had to drop out of school to work, he insisted that Meindert continue his education through college.

Poverty led DeJong to turn to writing, and a librarian in the small Iowa town where he was living on a farm led him to writing children's books. DeJong admits that he was not very good at farming, but the...