Ernest Claes writes about a blond boy named Whitey, or in the original Dutch, De Witte, the white one. It's set in late 1800s to early 1900s in Sichem, a Belgian village on the Dutch-Belgian border where the authour himself lived. Whitey is a mischievous magnet for trouble and he has become the favorite scapegoat of his school, his village and his family. The story depicts Whitey's troubles and rural village life of that time and place.
Whitey is thought to have been based on a real life boy with the same nickname but from another village on the Dutch side of the border in the district of Hulst where the author's wife had lived.