Emil in the Soup Tureen

I think Astrid Lindgren is just wonderful.  Her rambunctious Pippi Longstocking books are pure fun! Now here's another character full of mischief and trouble and the very definition of a lovable rascal.  Emile lives on a farm with his mother and father, his little sister, Ida, the workman, Alfred, and the maid Lina.  His antics start with him getting a soup tureen stuck on his head and the lengths that his silly parents go to help him.  Lindgren ends each chapter with a teasing of the next story.

Emil in the Soup Tureen

Astrid Lindgren

Christmas in Noisy Village

Christmas in Noisy Village

Astrid Lindgren

illustrated by Ilon Wikland 1981

Good ol' Astrid Lindgren has done it again. Another charming, Scandinavian story of children living with their families in "Noisy Village". It's Christmas time and we're told about all the traditions and fun the kids have.

The pictures are great and I swear I've seen those red candle holders at IKEA.

Other Books by Astrid Lindgren:

Ronia the Robber's Daughter

The Tomten

The Tomten

The Tomten

Astrid Lindgren

From the folklore of Scandinavia comes this winter tale about the Tomten, a little troll like creature who walks the snowy north.  Astrid Lindgren wrote this story about a sleepy farm and the Tomten who visits the animals in the quiet cold of the night.  No one has ever seen the Tomten, thought they sometimes find his little footprints in the snow.  He talks to the animals on the farm in "tomten language, a silent little language they can understand."

We've been having our own quiet cold evenings and this is just the sort of book to read in bed.

The farm is deep in the middle of the forest.  Once upon a time someone came here, cut down trees, built a homestead and farmed the land.  No one knows who.  The stars are shining in the sky tonight, the snow lies white all around, the frost is cruel.  On such a night people creep into their small houses, wrap themselves up and bank the fire on the hearth.

The tomten is awake.  He lives in a corner of the hayloft and comes out at night when human beings are asleep.  He is an old, old tomten who has seen the snow of many hundreds of winters.  No one knows when he came to the farm.  No one has ever seen him, but they know he is there.   Sometimes when they wake up they see the prints of his feet in the snow.  But on one has seen the Tomten.

"Winters come and winters go,

Summers come and summers go,

Soon you will be in your clover field."

The house where the people live is silent.  They are sleeping through the winter night without knowing that the Tomten is there.

But the snow still lies in deep drifts around the old farm in the forest.  The stars shine in the sky, it is biting cold.  On such a night people creep into their small houses and bank the fire on the hearth.
Here is a lonely old farm, where everyone is fast asleep.  All but one...

Ronia The Robber's Daughter

Ronia, the Robber's Daughter

Astrid Lindgren 1985

Written by Astrid Lindgren (who created Pippi Longstocking) our copy even has a front cover illustration by my favorite Trina Schart Hyman.  Ronia, the daughter of a ruthless robber, is fearless and filled with spirit and adventure.  She loves nothing more than to be out running and exploring through the nornthern forests full of wild horses, harpies and dwarves.

Now it was night, and the moon was high in the sky.  Ronia stopped at the lake to rest, sat down on a stone, and felt how still everything was in her forest.  She listened but could hear nothing but silence.  The woods in the spring night felt full of secrets, full of magic and other strange and ancient things.  There were dangers there, too, but Ronia was not afraid. 

 Lindgren writes so lovingly of nature. 

Evening came, the sun sank, dusk fell, the dusk of a spring evening that was no more than a strange dimness between the trees and never turned into darkness and night.  The woods fell silent.  There was no more sound of blackbird and cuckoo.  All the fox cubs crept into their lairs, all the baby squirrels and hares to their nests, the adder under her stone.  All that could be heard was the owl's far-off melancholy hooting, and in a little while that too died away.

Ronia develops an intense friendship with the rival robber's son, Birk.    It's a bit like Romeo and Juliet but more innocent and magical.  It's a children's book that has quite a bit of fun, but Lindgren also writes about forgiveness, and making hard decisions.  

Ronia could not hear him, but she could see from his lips what he was saying.  And although neither of them could hear a word, they spoke to each other.  They said what must be said before it was too late.  How good it was to love someone so much that there was no need to fear even the most difficult thing.  They spoke of it although neither of them could hear a single word.