Joke came to Dhaka on invitation by the Dutch School at Gulshan. As a part of her mission the Dutch embassy also arranged her lectures on illustration arts for the students of fine arts, a seminar at BRAC on the development of school textbooks, and a visit to two schools for slum dwellers in the city.

'Though the interest of the students of fine arts in illustration arts is impressive, there are very few illustrator artists in this country,' said Joke.

Joke did her education in the Academy of Arts at Antwerp. After she became an illustrator artist she began practising writing stories and poems.

'Illustration arts needs captions for full expression. Other form of arts can be expressed on their own but this illustration art needs text to support the art,' said the artist.

The nature of illustration art led Joke to concentrate on children's books. Eventually her natural talent made her among the Netherlands' most acclaimed writer of children's books. Her drawings are integral parts of her stories and poems and she addresses children as readers, the same as grown-ups.

Words and pictures carry her characters and the reader, along eventful, associative journeys full of surprising and absurd situations, often created by grown-ups, who cannot or will not listen to what children have to say.

'I concentrate on thinking like children when I write or draw. It is easier to write for the children as we were all children at one time,'said the writer.

Language is a major theme in Joke van Leeuwen's work. She exposes its inadequacies and plays pranks with its sounds and its ambiguities. In many of her drawings she shows what happens if certain expressions are taken literally.

She said, 'Image can make the words stronger and vice versa. Words and images influence each other sometimes in both positive and negative ways.'

'Illustration is connected one way or another with words. It can strengthen atmosphere of the story. It can help children to learn to read. It will bring the child into the book,' said Joke.

Joke writes and draws for children from children's perspective. She looks at the child's worldview and her writings encourage the imaginative power of the children. Joke admires the power within every child, the eagerness to learn.

'Often we find children learning languages like Bangla or Dutch very easily which is more difficult for the adults,' said the writer.

Joke believes every child should be taught in his or her own language and according to the culture. The fairy tales of the European countries will not suit the imagination of the children of this country. There are many tropical countries where the children are taught fairy tales of snowfall.

'I don't write anything which does not suit the imagination of the children; imagination is better but unrealistic imagination could create problems for a child when he or she grows up,' says Joke.

'Countries like Bangladesh should shed their colonial teachings and start to revive their own tales to spark children's imagination. The illustration artists of the country should publish children's books so that it leads children to learn story telling and story writing,' said Joke.