What is Ot en Sien?
[[File:My first school reading book.jpg|thumb|Title page of ''Het boek van Ot en Sien'']] [[File:Ot en Sien beeldje.JPG|thumb|Statue of Ot en Sien, after the illustration in one of their stories in which they tip over a water butt and then creep inside to shelter from the [[rain]]]] '''Ot en Sien''' ('''Ot and Sien''') are two little children who appear in a series of stories which were written in the [[Dutch language]] more than a hundred years ago. '''Ot''' (short for “Otto”) is a little [[boy]] and '''Sien''' (pronounced like the English word “seen”), whose name may be short for “Francine”, is the little [[girl]] who lives [[neighbour|next door]]. Although they are now very old-fashioned, the books are still popular in [[Holland]]. They were written in [[rhyme]] and were [[illustration|illustrated]] with colourful pictures. The [[author]] of the stories was called Hendricus Scheepstra. The ideas for the stories were given to him by Jan Ligthart. Cornelis Jetses made the illustrations. The stories are set in [[Drenthe]], which is in the north-eastern part of the [[Netherlands]]. Drenthe was a very poor part of the country, but Ot and Sien live in a nice house and are quite well-off. They are often seen playing in the [[garden]] with their [[toy]]s which include a [[wood]]en [[horse]] on [[wheel]]s and a [[doll]] in a dolly’s [[pushchair]]. The [[cat]] is often in the picture. They are also seen at [[school]]. The authors wrote the stories to show a happy family life. Everyone is very friendly in the book, and strangers help them when they get lost in the street. The family have a [[servant]] who helps in the house. The stories were widely read by children in schools in the Netherlands until after the [[Second World War]]. By then they had become very old-fashioned. The daily life of Ot and Sien seemed to belong to a time long ago in history. Hardly any Dutch children now live in a family with a servant. No Dutch child nowadays goes for a walk dressed in sailor’s [[costume]] with a father w