The week that Moth found a submarine, started of like any other... Moth is cleaning up her room with her mother. They live in a renovated warehouse in an unnamed city that is placed just outside our reality and time. Although almost everything is recognisable to readers, there is no internet, there are no mobile phones, the currency is the Bolwerd and everything is a little bit more industrial and rusty. Moth’s name is actually Butterfly. But only her mother still calls her that. She wanted a tidy, dainty child wearing frolic dresses. But Moth is not like that. Moth likes black clothes and the old messy city she grows up in. She doesn’t care for her mother’s obsession with good looks at all. As a sign of rebellion, she buys a magnet from her savings to fish in the old canal. Because her mother would hate all the rusty treasures she would bring home. And then Moth finds a small submarine. This submarine is the start of a big adventure, in which Moth meets the artistic acrobats from the Wharf, an enchanting place at the edge of the city where people actually live in submarines on land. In order to save this enormous former indoor shipyard full of art and acrobats, Moth needs to take on the powerful millionaire that owns half of the city. During the process Moth and her mother get to  understand each other a little bit better.
The gorgeous, rusty illustrations are by Sophie Pluim. 
Moth has been shortlisted for the Belgian Boon Literary Price 2023 and for the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs in the Netherlands. It has won the Leesjury in Belgium and the Children's Bookshop-price in the Netherlands. 

What if you could help other people anonymously? What if you could be part of an international society dedicated to helping others? A society which has been in existence for hundreds of years… My book, The Ministry of Solutions, came out in 2016 and has been reprinted 32 times since then. It sold over 75.000 copies, children seem to like it, as do parents, book sellers, teachers and reviewers. I never expected this book to become this popular, I worked on it for nine years, convinced a book about helping other people would be rather niche. It still makes me happy to see it in small piles in bookstores. The beautiful covers (and the lovely illustrations at the start of every chapter), made by the famous illustrator Mark Janssen, of course help to bring the books to the attention. 

Below is a summary of the first book, followed by a quick summary of the others.

The Ministry of Solutions
Nina is an eleven-year-old girl, adventurous and spontaneous. Her father, a postman, comes home one day with a strange letter he can’t deliver because the address is unknown. “The Ministry of Solutions,” it says. Nina needs to know what this mysterious letter is about, and ‘borrows’ it from her dad’s postbag. When she is alone in her room, she opens the letter. It was written by a nine-year-old boy called Ruben who asks for help because he is bullied by his classmate, Sophia. His neighbour always tells him about the Ministry of Solutions because she used to work there, but no one seems to know where it is or if it still exists. So Nina decides to help. She and her best friend Alfa, find Ruben who turns out to be a clever and lovely boy, and together they stand up to his bullies. Afterwards, the children meet Ruben’s neighbour Mrs. Vis, who is blind and 89 years old. She still lives amongst the archives of the Ministry of Solutions, and she tells them about her old job.
 
 Several civil servants used to work on cases in their secret offices in The Hague. Like every Ministry of Solutions in the world, they were a member of the International Society of Solutions based in Geneva, Switzerland. Ministries must obey strict rules: they must help everyone (not just people they like); they cannot benefit from a case, and they must work in secrecy. However, the employees of the Dutch Ministry did not keep quiet about their achievements, and consequently the International Society shut them down in 1953. Only Mrs. Vis was allowed to reopen the Dutch branch. If Nina, Alfa, Ruben, and Mrs. Vis solve three problems - anonymously - they can re-establish the Ministry of Solutions. And so, they go to work.
 
The Ministry of Solutions and the missing Van Gogh
The children and Mrs. Vis are now allowed to re-establish the Dutch Ministry of Solutions. But when they plug in the computer that the International Society had send them, they get a message that they cannot start their work until they have solved an open case. They find out that there is indeed a case from 1953, which the Ministry has never been able to solve: the case of the murdered landlord and the missing Van Gogh. 
 
A man called Hendrik Amer was wrongfully convicted for the murder of his landlord. His daughter, his grandchildren and even their children, still suffer from the injustice. So, the Ministry of Solutions has to solve the murder and bring back the Van Gogh that was stolen at the same time as the murder took place. 

The Ministry of Solutions and the house full of treasures

 Nina, always looking for adventure, suspects she has stumbled upon a case for the Ministry when she hears Isaac, a new teacher at her school, mutter I don’t know where to start to himself. Nina and her best friend Alfa follow him to a cottage in the woods that belongs to Isaac's father, who is a hoarder. There are boxes up to the ceiling, furniture everywhere. It’s dark and damp. Somewhere, amid all the rubbish, there are treasures: Isaac's father used to collect fossils, gemstones, and antique books. Moreover, buried between the boxes are the notes on an important invention that could make cars more environmentally friendly. The children need to find this invention before the Silvermen do. 

 

The Ministry of Solutions and the Silverboy
 Nina is up in arms. Her best friend Alfa and the other members of the Ministry want to help this 14-year-old boy, Ralf. He seems to be stuck between his father and mother who are not on speaking terms during a messy divorce. But Nina knows Ralf, and she knows he is an aggressive bully. And yet, one of the rules of the Ministry of Solutions is that everyone deserves help, not just people you like. Therefore, Nina tries. They all do. They try to reconnect Ralf with his friends, they try to get school to understand his situation, they try to get his parents to talk to each other. But it’s hard. Only when his lovely aunt (with a purple mohawk) gets involved, something seems to change.

 The Ministry of Solutions and the Ghost of Hawks Castle
 The children and madam Vis are attending the world conference for all ministry's of solutions. They meet in Geneva, as international organizations do, and in secret, as ministry's of solution do. The grown ups discuss helping others in times of war and they get increasingly annoyed with each other. The children of the Dutch ministry meanwhile go to a deserted villa, Hawks castle. Everyone seems to think it is haunted, but they don't believe in ghosts. So why is the place só scary and cold? And who is following them around?

The Ministry of Solutions and the diary of Benjamin Silver
 The Silvermen have been the enemy of the Ministry for over a century. They believe people should not receive aid. If you have a problem, you have made a mistake and you should help yourself. So they are always jeopardizing the work of the Ministry of Solutions. The children get their hands on the diary of the man who started the Silvermen, Bejamin Silver. Starting in London, 1868, you see him changing from a happy member of the Ministry of Solutions to an embittered man. He writes about his time in a debtors prison, about his journey to America and about the oil he found.

The Ministry of Solutions and the disappearance of madam Vis 
In this latest and possibly last book on the Ministry of Solutions, the reader chooses its own adventure. Chapters end with choices and you can collect or lose points. Madam Vis has been taken from her home. She is old and frail and should be found, but where to start? This is a real ministry-story about helping people and about how grown ups can get into trouble. But it is also playful and children seem to love it.