"Ciske groeit op is the second part. Ciske starts a fire at home as he accidentally knocks over a lantern. He meets his father who wants to get divorced. At school he makes friends with a sick boy called Dorus. One night, Ciske surprises his mother with another man, who beats him. As his mother tears out pages from a book which was a gift from Dorus, who later dies, Ciske gets angry and kills his mother with a knife. He is then arrested and put into jail. His teacher helps him out, and after Ciske saves a drowning boy's life, he is declared a hero and lives together with his father and aunt Jans."
"Cis de man is the third part. Ciske is now an adult soldier and fights against the German soldiers in World War II."
"Oor 'n onderwyser en 'n seuntjie uit die agterstrate en 'n reeks skokkende voorvalle. Die dieperliggende wortel van die kwaad is die gebrek aan liefde en versorging."
"De jeugd van een Amsterdamse straatjongen."
"De jeugd en de ontwikkeling van een Amsterdamse volksjongen."
"Ciske de Rat is the story of a lonely eleven-year old street child named Ciske Vrijmoeth who has no friends and is only called "the rat". The setting is in Amsterdam in the 1930s. Ciske has to change schools because he poured ink over his teacher's head. After school, he helps out in a pub, where his mother Marie also works. His beloved father Cor is a fisherman and therefore not at home."