It's not clear what I lovemore- read books or give advice? Having not dealt with this issue, I decided to combine them - to write a post with advice on which books to read.
Only a few days a year happen with us without reading books. We read in the car, on the plane, before going to bed, in a tent, and other fun places. The books in our two bookcases, to put it mildly, do not fit into any bookcases, and my lists of postponed books in the baskets of sites are so long - just like my husband's nerves and peace of mind when paying for orders.
Historically, I live far from bookstores and publishers in my native language. There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. Do you know how much shipping to Europe costs, even for small and thin books? Almost as much as the product itself, in general, the price of the book doubles. Therefore, I choose each copy so that for sure. If this is Thumbelina, so that the mole and frogs are the most disgusting there, the main character is with all the notes of drama on her face. So that the illustrations in the book are like art, and not a miscarriage of an unsuccessful photoshop. If this is the "Tin Soldier", then the Soldier at the end does not burn out in the fireplace, turning into an incomprehensible zagagulin, which spoils the whole morality of the tale in general, but melted a little
with the ballerinaeither from fire, or from ardent love) - united into one figurine of eternal love. In general, you understand, I'm still that book shopaholic .
And so, in my first book review, I took on the Scandinavians and their fairy-tale worlds.
Somehow in my life there are more and more "meetings" with these northern countries of Europe.
Either they sell coffee more than anyone else in the world, then they began to play football quite well, then so much has been written about their schools - that only the laziest did not read. In general, all the threads lead there - to the North.
About "Scandinavian"
The very concept of "Scandinavian countries" today is rather confusing - it definitely includes: Sweden, Norway and Denmark, united by a common historical past and ethnic affinity. Often Finland is also attributed to them. Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and the Åland Islands are also connected to Scandinavia. Hand on heart, there is no particular desire to figure out who is right and who does not bother with the composition of the countries on this list.
Therefore, you will definitely meet the Finns in the post!
The Scandinavian countries are quite small. 9 million people live in Sweden, 5 million each in Denmark, Norway and Finland, and 300 thousand in Iceland. E There are, in fact, no technical problems there, all states are extremely homogeneous, they have the most perfect social protection of the population and per capita incomes continue to grow. Of course, this does not mean that there are no problems, they are everywhere and always, but against the backdrop of general difficulties and conflicts, Scandinavia looks like a kind of oasis of prosperity.
It is easy and pleasant to admire northerners - about 4/5 of the finances from the education budget in most Scandinavian countries go to pay teachers (that is, they finance in people), and the rest goes to the improvement of school buildings and educational equipment.Finland and Iceland have the largest number of books published per capita in the world. These are people living in rather harsh natural conditions, where in summer the average temperature is +17, the winter daylight hours are only 7-8 hours, and 180 days a year are with precipitation.
Therefore, the world of the Scandinavian is the world of his farm, his village, his country and home. And he sincerely loves this world. And a Scandinavian writer can squeeze everything possible out of him, take advantage of all historical experience, all legends and rumors. The place of power in such conditions can only be the house, its fire and warmth. And, of course, magic - trolls, elves, Vikings, magic of water and forests.
Well, pronouncing the Scandinavian names of writers and naming the heroes of their books - you will develop your speech apparatus like never before: Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Marcus Mayaluoma,Tumas Transtromer.... In general, not one evening of laughter with a child ...
Let's start with the classics
It's nice to realize that there are so many northern books in your library that they couldn't fit in one post. I had to divide into two posts: the classics of Scandinavian writers familiar to us - and contemporaries.
Another working moment - I order books from different sites, buy at different book exhibitions and forums. But I compile my wish-list, which I must-read using the Labyrinth website. It is very conveniently organized, in terms of searching and analyzing books (the most great amount reviews and ratings, the book can be "browsed", the most extensive catalog, etc.). Therefore, I will give links to this site, and choose where, how and how much you already have.
Lagerlöf Selma
"The Wonderful Journey of Niels with wild geese» (in the Labyrinth)
I decided to start feministically with a woman. By the way, the FIRST woman in the world to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (and the third woman in the world generally honored with it). By the way, she donated her gold medal to the Swedish National Fund to help Finland in the war with the USSR.Since 1991, the portrait of the writer has been depicted on the banknote of 20 Swedish kronor.
The idea of the book was actually to create a textbook on the history and geography of Sweden. the best way to captivate the young reader, Lagerlöf believed, would be the creation of a traveling character. They became Nilson. Great idea, right?
Contemporaries, of course, realized that the value of a book for children is not in geographical names, but in adventures, danger, harmfulness, courage of Niels and his friends. Therefore, look for translations in free retelling (for example, we had A. Lyubarskaya, Z. Zadunayskaya), was satisfied. I highly recommend the translation.Braude L. Yu because of its complexity and the similarity of the book to a real textbook, although its translation is considered to be a classic.
I love this book for the descriptions! Here, for example, about the stork:
"The stork is a very clumsy bird. Its neck and body are slightly larger than those of an ordinary domestic goose, and for some reason the wings are huge, like those of an eagle. And what kind of legs a stork has! Like two thin poles painted red. And what a beak! Long, long, thick, but attached to a very small head. The beak pulls its head down. Therefore, the stork always walks with his nose hung, as if he is always preoccupied and dissatisfied with something. "
Or the entry of capercaillie:
Capercaillie sat on a tree - in brilliant black plumage, with bright red eyebrows, important, inflated. The capercaillie sitting on the topmost branch started its song first. He raised his tail, revealing a white lining under the black feathers, stretched out his neck, rolled his eyes and spoke, whistled, stammered:
- Zees! Zis! Well well! So!
<....>
<....>
While the animals were massacring the Fox, the capercaillie and black grouse continued their song. Such is the nature of these forest birds - when they start a song, they do not see, do not hear, do not understand.
Well, just like it is written about some people!
There are a huge number of animals in the book and each has its own role in the life of Niels. We have a whole collection of naturalistic animals at home (Schleich, Papo, Bullyland, Collecta...) in the form of figures, but in the right proportions and in the right color. And with the appearance of each new character in the book, we took out his figurine from the box on the table, compared it with the description and continued to read already in the company. So we collected: geese, ducklings, bears, stork, domestic cat, seagull, squirrel. It turned out to be an excellent company of listeners and memory, associative thinking develops remarkably for the child.
Reader Age: Probably 6+. This book contains a lot of illustrations, including in the form of a centerfold decoration. But also many pages with only text. Therefore, if your child does not hatch long but fascinating texts without illustrations, then better book postpone for now. It is categorically impossible to read about Niels quickly, pauses and awareness of all the shown beauty of nature are important there.
There is also a cartoon based on the book. A great way to reinforce a book (as well as compare what you see with what you hear) immediately after reading it.
Hans Christian Andersen
The monument to Andersen was erected during his lifetime, he himself approved the project, where he was supposed to sit in an armchair, surrounded by children, and this angered Andersen. “I couldn’t say a word in such an atmosphere,” he said. Now there is a monument on the square in Copenhagen: a storyteller in an armchair with a book in his hand - and alone.
Every year on April 2, the writer's birthday, the world celebrates International Children's Book Day. And also - the Hans Christian Andersen Gold Medal is awarded - the highest international award in modern literature.
I really like to choose Andersen for translations. There are just so many variations of them that even change the outcome of stories that for me it becomes a priority when choosing a book.
In Soviet Russia, Andersen's fairy tales were published in retelling, and instead of thick collections of his works, thin collections were printed. The works were published by Soviet translators, who were forced to either soften or remove any mention of God, quotations from the Bible, reflections on religious topics. For example, in the Soviet translation of his fairy tale there is a phrase: “Everything was in this house: both prosperity and swaggering gentlemen, but there was no owner in the house.” Although the original says: "but it was not in the house of the Lord." And take " snow queen» - hDo you know that Gerda, when she is afraid, prays and reads psalms, which, of course, the Soviet reader did not even suspect.
I will also give an example of the "Tin Soldier". I read at least 3 versions: in one, the Soldier burns almost to the ground in the fireplace (his maid will throw it into the urn along with the ashes), in the second, the fire turns the figurine into a heart, and in the third, the flame (like love) connects them with the ballerina and now they stand united together and nothing will separate them. The curtain. Everyone is crying. Which ending is the most vital for children? I chose the last interpretation.
The second thing I pay attention to is the illustrations. I love pictures in books! My favorite drawings are from Robert Ingpen, Boris Diodorov and, of course, Anton Lomaev.
The Danish writer worked fruitfully and left our children a magical legacy: "The Little Mermaid", "
Ugly duck", "Thumbelina", "The Snow Queen", "Wild Swans", "Red Shoes", "Flint" and a huge number of other works.
Andersen's world is inhabited not only by wizards and fantastic creatures. Here, any animal, toy or household utensils can be in the center incredible adventures and experience rebirth. This is very close to children, for whom so far the whole world is a collection of unprecedented stories and miracles.
I also advise you to introduce children to the "backstage life" of writing - the story book "The Tale of My Life" (in the Labyrinth), written by Anderson about himself and drawn by the artist Nika Goltz.
Astrid Lindgren
Another hardworking Swede, Astrid, who She wrote more than 80 books of her life.I adore her. Probably the #1 writer for me. All her stories
alive, they, in the truest sense of the word, begin to move, fool around and play pranks. Just like kids...
Over her books, I cried and laughed .. too, by the way, to tears ... She knows how
speak truthfully and seriously with children. Yes, the world is not simple, there are diseases, poverty, hunger, grief and suffering in the world. And right there on the pages of "healing medicine" - humor, spontaneity, home and love.
Astrid's books can be safely given to a newborn, because this is almost the basis of a children's home library.
Here is our Lindgren list, which is constantly updated:
1. "Pippi Longstocking" - 3 books, 3 parts. I chose a non-standard size, with glossy pages and oil illustrations by Bugoslavskaya with no borders or contours. It seemed to me that in this approach to the images in the book - the whole essence of Pippi. Publishing house - "Astrel". Reading kids can safely start at the age of 5+.
More: http://www.labirint.ru/books/384154/
More: http://www.labirint.ru/books/293700/
"Pippi philosophy" is a separate pleasure, learn by heart:
Just think how stubborn cows can be, well, just like bulls, ”Pippi said, jumping over the fence. - And what will it lead to? In addition, it is clear that the bulls will become cowish. Indeed! It's scary to even think about it.
I know a lot of letters. And if I don’t have enough letters, then there are also numbers.
A real well-mannered lady picks her nose when no one sees her!
Can you eat with your hands? As you wish. I personally prefer to eat by mouth.
Keep in mind that being silent for a long time is simply dangerous. If the tongue does not move, it quickly withers.
It takes a lot of practice to play the piano without a piano.
If you don't eat such delicious porridge, you won't grow big and strong. And if you don't grow up big and strong, you won't be able to make your children, when you have them, eat such delicious porridge.
Pippi took the scissors and, without thinking twice, cut off her dress above the knees. “Well, now everything is in order,” she said with a pleased look, “now I am even more elegant: I change the toilet twice a day.
When I grow up, I will sea robber... And you?
2. Another masterpiece from Astrid Lindgren -
Adventures of Emil from Lönneberga (on the Labyrinth). About a family living in a farm. The book is written in the form of a diary kept by Emil's mother: he put his head in a tureen, hung his sister on a flagpole, eats green branches of a Christmas tree (if only not stewed beans), saves an unconscious lady with jelly in the face and other tricks. And then we learn that the bully Emil will become the mayor of his city.
I like that the author has a dialogue with the little reader - explains the meaning of some words or actions, asks questions. When I read such passages, I always add the name of Ulyana and my daughter is incredibly happy with the thought that her name is printed in the book =)
You need to be warned that
there are spreads without illustrations, but there are still many full-page drawings. Be prepared to receive a hefty 200-page oversized book. We started reading Emil at the age of 5.
There is this passage in the book, my favorite:
"But Emil got his way: he did what he wanted - and that was the most important thing for him."
3. Well, who does not know Carlson? And again, Astrid hints to her parents that being cheerful, naughty is normal - even for a smart, handsome, moderately well-fed and elderly man. So you need to read not so much to children, but TOGETHER with children. By the way, Carlson, so popular with us, is not at all so loved in other countries, so the author’s words that there is something in this heroabout Russian" cannot but alert.In the United States, for the bad temper of this character, the work was expelled from the school curriculum.
" From the roof, of course, the stars are seen better than from the windows, and therefore one can only be surprised that so few people live on the roofs.
Each has its own little story. Children live in the village, go to school, rescue sheep and dogs, socialize and fool around. There are only three houses on Bullerby Farm, which are so close that you can climb through the window of a nearby tree growing along the branches. People living on a farm manage to live without squabbles and strife, as if they were a single family, and even the grandfather of one of the families is, as it were, a grandfather for all children.
5. "Ronnie - the robber's daughter" (on the Labyrinth) - inspired by nostalgia. I read this book in my childhood, I remember how I ate the letters with my eyes. Therefore, for our library, this is obligatory history. There is a forest, dwarves, robbers, castles, seasons and the most important thing for little man- this is the independent life of Ronnie and her friend (at least attempts of independent living). A book with real adventures and teenage love. The multi-layered story is amazing: first you see magic in the book, then you find the topics of finding yourself in this world, moments of growing up and the relationship of children with their parents. Reader age 6+.
Do you notice how much nature and expanse is in Astrid Lingren's books? How much freedom do children have? Actualities - through the roof, do not even go to a fortune teller.
Elsa Beskov
Sometimes you take a book in your hands and you don’t know what awaits you in it. So it was with Elsa Beskov - I bought her works "without looking", on a good recommendation.
And I'll tell you honestly, it's a great pleasure to read without expectations and knowledge of the plot. It just so happened that the writer and artist (!!!) Elsa Beskov can be called - gone with the wind, oh, sorry, time. In fact, her books are hundreds of years old. How interesting is it for modern children to read such "ancient" literature? After all, you see, only Anderson and the Brothers Grimm have retained their popularity (and even then in modern interpretations and retellings).
In general, my doubt about the relevance of the time is absolutely not confirmed! Beskov's tales were "swallowed" literally in 2 pm and the children are asking for continuation. But the strange thing is that her books in Russian began to be printed only in 2012 at the Ripol-classic publishing house. Until that time - only briefly, and only in the collections of Scandinavian writers, but even without the author's signature. In 2012, only 2 books by Elsa Beskov were published, but in 2016, a whole collection of books from the Azbuka publishing house saw the world.
So I got a couple of books from the latest edition (and he, by the way, is kind of modest - 5,000 per book). The series is simply amazing - from the performance to the text and the smile on the children's faces.
So far, 2 copies have got into our library:
What did you like?
1. Execution. Hard cover with glossy images on it, fabric spine. Inside - very dense snow-white pages, offset printing. Non-standard elongated size - 26 * 21 cm. As you unfold the book, one part of the spread will fall on your knees, and the second - to the child. All in all, a good quality book.
2. Illustrations. Elsa Beskov not only wrote wonderfully, but, as it turned out, she also drew (moreover, she illustrated not only her books). Almost every spread contains 2 different types: silhouette drawings in black and white and retro illustrations made in watercolor technique. The last look very light, insanely touching, and there are so many details in them that the children do not have time to look enough while I read the text from this spread, you have to linger on the pages longer (can you imagine what torment!?).
By the way, it was Elsa who created the original layout of the picture book: landscape format; on one side there is a full-page color illustration, on the other side there is text in a thin black frame with several graphic drawings.
3. Content. I will not retell the text of the books. I can only say that you will not find an action-packed action movie with an intricate multi-layered line of heroes there. Fairy tales are enough simple stories.
But! There is something that unites these books - the author's style of Beskov, so to speak.Above all, the books are full of fantasy, play and magic. They are not aggressive at all, there are practically no openly evil and negative characters in them, which in itself is a rarity in modern popular culture. Her fairy tales teach us to notice the wonderful and unusual in everyday life, to live in harmony with nature and ourselves, to be kinder to each other.
And here are some photos from the spreads of retro books.
It is said that the income from the sale of products that exploit the image of the Moomins is the same part of the state budget in Finland as the tax deductions of the Nokia Corporation.
Well, for me, Tove Jansson's fairy tales are a children's caricature of the adult world. We have a fairly simple and old book about the Moomin trolls, which was lent to me by a friend three years ago (Anna, hello!) 1989 of the press. Of course, now only a lazy publisher does not print fairy tales known to the whole world. Therefore, choose your version - thin or collection, b/w or color version, in hard or soft cover. Just when choosing a book - remember, the illustrations in it must be the hands of Tove Jansson!
Moomin rules of life:
1.
It is equally important to know two things: how to be alone and how to be with others.
2. Even the most weird people might come in handy someday.
3. Moomintroll must know how to properly compliment Miss Snork.
4.
In fact, many more wonderful writers with unpronounceable names were born there, at the end of the world, inhabited by trolls, Vikings and IKEA workers. It would just be stupid to "shove" them all into one post.
Therefore, wait - in a week the birth of the second part - about contemporaries who write the history of Scandinavian literature in a new style. In the meantime, you have time to write questions, share experiences and like this post.
A lyrical digression that has nothing to do with the fabulous heritage of the northern countries.
More: http://www.labirint.ru/books/399240/
Why do I choose books so painstakingly and why is it important for me to have a really worthwhile copy in my library?
Well, firstly, I do this not only for my little children, but also for Little Christina, who continues to live inside and "eat" the magic from fairy tales.
Secondly, it's cool to collect a whole collection of books not only for your inner child, not only for your children, but also for your grandchildren. I will be glad they will be remembered not only for their eccentric senile trips with tents and false teeth, but also for the creation of a good home library with children's Chekhov and illustrations by Robert Ingpen, the best copy of the "Snow Maiden" of all the Snow Maidens in our country and wonderful books modern Europeans on which cartoons will be made in the future ....
And I don’t know what country my children will live in and what language my grandchildren will communicate in, but I’m firmly convinced that the books of our family library will be read in my native language.
P.S.: Many thanks to my friends for helping me show the books in photos.
If you think you don't know what Scandinavian literature is, you're wrong. But what about Hans Christian Andersen - a Danish writer and poet, author of the world-famous "Ugly Duckling", what about the well-known Astrid Lindgren? This article will introduce you to a piece of the cultural life of the countries of the blue hills and shady trees surrounding the lakes, the countries of the Vikings - the countries of Scandinavia.
Scandinavian literature is works in the national Scandinavian languages - Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, which are part of the North Germanic language group. This is part of Scandinavian philology. In literary terms, there are many similarities between the countries of Scandinavia, since they have the same cultural and linguistic origins. Widely known representatives of this literature, as well as at the same time Nobel laureates, are Knut Hamsun, Bjornstjerne Bjornson and Karl Gjellerup.
It is also worth noting a separate type of Scandinavian prose - the Icelandic sagas, which are an integral part of the world's cultural heritage.
The writers of the Scandinavian countries have achieved success all over the world. Their works have been translated into many languages and are sold by an international publishing house in thousands of copies every year. Scandinavian writers attached particular importance to folklore and literary traditions - songs, myths, skalds, and the art of romanticism.
Scandinavian children's literature requires special attention. It so happened that a fantastic fairy tale is especially popular here, the images in which have a close connection with tradition, and real life shown through the eyes of children through their games and fantasies. Such fantastic tales are written by the "fantastic" writer, known throughout the world, Astrid Lindgren. Everyone knows "Kid and Carlson", "Pippi Longstocking".
The Finnish writer Tove Jansson is also popular: “Moomin-Troll Chasing a Comet” and “The Wizard's Hat”. Her works are characterized by fantastic events, as well as a children's caricature of the adult world.
If we consider modern Scandinavian literature, then it should be noted here that novelists who write screenplays are popular. Among them are the Norwegians Lars Saabye Christensen, Nikolai Frobenius and Erlend Loe. Norwegian detective writers Kim Smoge, Unni Lindel and Karren Fossum also gained wide popularity abroad.
A special place in modern Scandinavian literature is occupied by the Danish writer Peter Hoeg - his books have been published in more than thirty countries of the world. Peter Høeg's most famous novel is Smilla and Her Sense of Snow, a book that mixes rage, coldness, love and indifference. No less popular is Tove Jannson, a Finnish writer and artist. Her most famous works: "The Sculptor's Daughter", "Summer Book", "Stone Field", "Honest Deception".
Yet perhaps the most famous contemporary Scandinavian writer is Lars Soby Christensen. In Europe, this person is called the "Scandinavian Nobel", because his works have been translated into more than thirty languages. His first novel, The Beatles, won several international awards. The main direction of his creative activity is the family saga genre.
Considering the Scandinavian literature of the 21st century, one cannot ignore the work of two writers whose works have become world-class bestsellers. First of all, this is Stieg Larsson. His "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" has earned popularity and recognition from readers around the world. The author presents and develops a simple, at first glance, plot of a detective story in such a way that it is impossible to tear oneself away from the book, and it is read really "drunkenly". The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been filmed twice. These films quite clearly reflect the originality of the work of Scandinavian writers and the attitude towards them. If the second attempt to screen the work, filmed in Hollywood, is designed primarily for the mass public, then the first, filmed by Swedish filmmakers, is duly appreciated by fans of intellectual cinema.
No less popular than Stieg Larsson is Christine Valla. Her story "Tourists" is the story of the relationship of three friends. Sometimes difficult, sometimes reflecting the banal aspects of our life, situations captivate with their romanticism and spiritual closeness to the reader. Heroes do not seem fictional, but taken from the ordinary environment of today's youth. And therefore they are close and understandable, and the book itself is worthy of taking a place in the home library.
Well, as we see, Scandinavian literature can be proud of its heroes. Although modern Scandinavian works are not as popular as American or European ones, it is only a matter of time. I think talented writers will be able to make modern Scandinavian literature world-famous.
The liberal Swedish model may be shocking; Well, perhaps Swedish children's books should have had an 18 minus sign - only for minors. And perhaps it would be better to provide these texts with a sticker “must read for adults too” - after all, they should learn to respect the right of the child to be different from everyone else.
1. Astrid Lindgren "Pippi Longstocking"
Sparkling stories about a girl with carrot-colored hair were written in the late 1940s - and still remain the unsurpassed standard of children's literature of the new time, and Pippi herself - for foreigners, at least - has completely turned into a symbol of Sweden, something like Marianne for France. The figure in multi-colored stockings looks, to put it mildly, contradictory: on the one hand, the embodiment of Scandinavian love of freedom, whatever replica is a declaration of independence, on the other, perhaps this marianna would not be hindered by the attention of the children's ombudsman, especially at those moments when she begins to offer peers to try, for example, fly agaric. With her powers of Brünnhilde, Pippi looks either like a superheroine from comics (very Swedish, not Marvel and not disish; although she obviously wouldn’t get lost in those), or like a bomb - and far from slow action. The idea of raising an obedient child on this shocking book in a good way is best left alone. But - almost guaranteed - it can bring up a person who takes the idea of \u200b\u200bequal rights for men and women very seriously; for that matter, it is after reading Pippi that even adult men turn into convinced feminists.
2. Sven Nurdqvist Series about Petson and Findus
Illustrator and writer Sven Nurdqvist is the creator of, quite possibly, the best cat in world literature: smart, touching, naughty, like a pet child, who is forgiven for any hooliganism. And although Findus is the main supplier of plots, the atmosphere is more important here, for which the patron and supervisor of the cat, the eccentric farmer Petson, is responsible. Petson is a jack of all trades, he tries not to buy anything new, but uses, reinvents and reinvents old things. Books about this couple are expeditions to a world that is unique in modern times, where manual production is undeniably more attractive than factory, mass production, and where primitive old long-playing things turn out to be more valuable than high-tech disposable ones. The books convey a sense of sustainability: village technologies make the world renewable - and deserving of love, not just consumption. Witty commentators of the Nurdquist cycle even called Petson by the term of the anthropologist Levi-Strauss: "bricoleur" is an independently thinking, technically competent person and not dependent on foreign raw materials. Moreover, he is the bearer of many other qualities that are usually attributed just to the Swedes: self-sufficiency, independence, independence of thought and the ability to create comfort. But the reward for all these virtues is royal: the best cat-child in the world.
3. Mats Strandberg, Sarah Elfgren “Circle”
A large-scale mystical novel about a company of high school girls whose psychic abilities and competence in esoteric practices can, in terms of diversity, be compared only with their problems in the field personal life. Inhabitants of a depressive town, where the amount of alcohol consumed per capita is much higher than average, they live in constant stress - and are forced to either disenchant ancient symbols or investigate the suspicious suicide of their peer. There are many moments in the book when the infernal atmosphere thickens to such an extent that it seems to be cut into pieces like butter. The puzzling combination of school story, youth detective and mystical thriller (on the one hand, tests in chemistry, bullying classmates and obsession with sex, on the other - divination, training, prophecy, magical exercises) looks bright and refreshing. By the way, The Circle (The Circle of Power, which includes the Chosen Ones) is only the first novel in the whole Engelsfors cycle, created by a duet of Swedish writers (Strandberg is a well-known journalist, Elfgren is a screenwriter). These schoolgirl witches will have to save the world from destruction more than once, and the battle between good and evil is far from the last.
4. Barbro Lindgren “Loranga, Mazarin and Dartagnan”
The winner of the award named after her namesake, Barbro Lindgren has a remarkable imagination, and the best evidence of this is the story with the metal-voiced title "Loranga ...". This is not so much a complete story as a randomly selected fragment from the life of one cheerful family: Mazarin is a boy, Loranga is his father, and Dartagnan is Loranga's grandfather. Loranga is a world where age differences are blurred, the boundaries between people and animals, animate and inanimate objects. There are herds of tigers and post-eating giraffes, mops and tomatoes are played at the Russia-Canada hockey game, and characters exchange remarks like “I’m not a plumber, I’m an Indian Deer Leg” or “I have such a high temperature that the thermometer burst in half ". Loranga's world is a space where most physical laws do not work, formal logic is canceled, and contradiction ceases to be a problem. People and objects stumble upon each other - just on purpose: since there is a contradiction - there is life and movement, dynamics and energy, cheerful madness. All this constructive dismissal, it turns out, is perfectly translated into Russian, at least thanks to the translation, which contains, for example, “chocolate spundig with uplifted cows” and the disease “layringitis” (when you bark like a dog all the time). Loranga is reminiscent of Chukovsky's Swedish version of Confusion; and also, perhaps, color cinema, as the very first viewers saw it; as the philologist Shklovsky put it about him - "a furious landrin."
5. Henning Mankell "Running for the Stars"
The patriarch of the detective genre, the creator of the Kurt Wallander series and one of Sweden's main moral authorities, Henning Mankell, was also a children's writer - wonderful. A monument to such Mankell is a cycle about a boy-dreamer by Yuel Gustafson (“Running to the Stars”, “Shadows Grow at Dusk”, “Boy Sleeping on a Snowy Bed”, “Journey to the End of the World”). Similar to the “Krapivino boys”, Yuel lives in a cold northern town, but due to his ability to ignore the difference between reality and fantasy, he is already accustomed to a shortage of heat - both in terms of climate and in terms of family communication. Yuel does not have a mother, but has a father and friends - real and imaginary, as well as his own secret society, a logbook and a bunch of amazing neighbors - like Noseless or Bricklayer Urvader, who rides a truck at night, crosses out unsuccessful fragments from books, rewrites them and looks at the world through "thinking glasses". A melancholy prose about a not-too-happy teenager who experiences a phantom nostalgia for maritime romance and entertains himself with excursions into a rocky chasm - where you can imagine yourself in a deep tunnel in the center of the Earth - a good antidote for those who think that Swedish children's literature is forever reigning cheerful mess, as in Carlson. There are exceptions - and very impressive ones.
6. Selma Lagerlof "Niels' wonderful journey with wild geese"
"Niels" was written by order of the National Association of Pedagogues - as an entertaining, in the form of a fairy tale, guide to the geography of Sweden.
There is enough magic in this story: and it is much more difficult to explain not how a boy could shrink to the size of a cucumber and fly around Sweden on a goose, but how such a purely local project managed to turn into an international bestseller, and Nils - to become a classic character in world children's literature.
Perhaps Niels' incident seemed typical to readers from many countries at the beginning of the 20th century: a story about a simpleton who at first knew nothing but his own court, and then discovered for himself the territories belonging to a nation-family, in a broad sense, a large nation-state, - and changed, grew - both mentally and physically. It is interesting that Lagerlöf's Sweden is not just a space of animate and inanimate nature delineated by borders, but also essentially a realized utopia: a democratic country with a rich natural diversity, in which creatures of different biological species and degrees of reality: from geese to a king, from a gnome to a monument, are able to find mutual language and cooperate with each other.
7. Annika Thor "Truth or Consequences"
A teenage drama about the life of girls born in disadvantaged areas, in incomplete and unhappy families. They suffer from the tantrums of walking parents and the persecution of cruel classmates, from jealousy and loneliness. The title of the novel is taken from the seductive, dangerous and unscrupulous game of teenagers, the participants of which either agree to truthfully answer an uncomfortable question - or, if they refuse, they are obliged to complete any task invented for them that makes them blush even more. This voluntary play of children as executioners and victims turns out to be not so much funny as heartbreaking. The game is a good metaphor for a lifetime: at the age of 12, the heroines have to learn - from their own mistakes - to make deliberately bad choices in circumstances where there is no good solution. Some excess of naturalistically described physiological details of growing up can cause allergies in readers; Well, the truth is often unpleasant, and sometimes society needs more than fun and entertainment. So it was with the famous "Scarecrow" by Zheleznikov, and with the book of Annika Thor. A cruel and sentimental book at the same time: an illustration of a reality in which people - even children - are not too ready to listen to each other. August Strindberg Prize for 1997.
8. Pia Lindenbaum "Gittan and the Gray Wolves"
Terrifyingly entertaining for children - and well-deserved applause from adults - is a fable about a 4-year-old girl who turns out to be radically wiser than being typical of creatures of her age. Like the Hermanmelville scribe Bartleby, who answered “I would prefer to refuse” to all proposals, Gittan initially avoids any contact with anything a little bit strange in the world, but at a critical moment he gathers - and does everything as it should, better than anyone; and even dire wolves next to her seem ridiculous. If not a prototype, then a relative of this wise philosopher girl is Masha from The Three Bears. At the same time, very “Swedish” conclusions can be drawn from the tale of Gittan: even the most objectively inevitable conflicts are subject to settlement, and unhurried, reasonable and self-confident people can achieve more than screamers and braggarts. "Gittan" is richly illustrated, and by the narrator herself - who, by the way, came up with what not only her heroine looks like, but also, for example, Tzatziki and his mother in the books of Moni Nilsson-Branstrom. In 2000, Gittan won the Swedish National Literary Prize. "Instant Classic" - like "The Gruffalo" in England.
9. Astrid Lindgren "Baby and Carlson"
In the image of a flying barrel, the ideas of readers of all ages converged on how an ideal imaginary friend should look and behave: an eccentric, possesses paranormal abilities, is capricious, able to put anyone in their place - and restore hope in the most desperate circumstances. They got used to Carlson - and yet he is still, perhaps, the most unusual fantasy of Astrid Lindgren; and this man-in-the-prime-life is not nearly as simple as it seems. He fights domestic violence, effectively mediates between fathers and children, wittily ridicules society's obsession with new technologies (the scene of stealing buns from the table with a vacuum cleaner) and excessive bourgeoisness. His self-construction on the roof is the last frontier where domestic, handicraft, isolated from the world culture keeps the defense against the advancing mass - globalized, multi-apartment and multi-antenna. As for Russia and the countries former USSR, where "Carlson" penetrated folklore and went into quotations like "Woe from Wit", then it is possible that in Soviet time this book was also seen as a thinly veiled satire on the state's obsession with the Big Space Project. Although Carlson did not overcome gravity, he somehow outwitted it - and he flies not with vague scientific goals, but on purely personal and undeniably important matters; just a private initiative, yes - but also, in its own way, "the time of the first."
10. Moni Nilsson-Branström Tzatziki Series
Tzatziki is the Swedish analogue of “Baby Nicolas” and Greg from “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”: a funny book for both children and parents about how an 8-9-year-old child is looking for a way to interact with the world, and adults would be happy, but often they themselves know how to help him with this - and when they intervene, they look even funnier than, in fact, a child. The cycle is replete with episodes, one more eccentric than the other. Mom runs around in a tutu, pretending to be a dying swan, and son rushes after her with a toy gun - for a woman who plays bass guitar in a rock band and names her son, born from a Greek dad named Cuttlefish Catcher, after Greek sauce , - the eccentricity is quite plausible. "Tzatziki" is also of purely ethnographic interest - it allows you to find out how the head of Swedish children is arranged, how they react to extravagant adults and what they do in delicate moments - for example, when an umbrella was stolen from an imaginary foreign spy and now they do not know how to return the thing back so as not to feel like thieves. Plus, the frankness of some scenes here is purely Swedish - sometimes going wild: parents and children together, almost blindly, grope for where the line lies between freedom and irresponsibility and how to treat those whom you don’t understand - after all, tolerance in words and in deeds are completely different things. .
11. Olof and Lena Landström “Be and Me. Cleaning"
A modern classic of the "zero plus" category. The main characters are sheep (or rams?), but they live in a normal human house that looks like a room from Ikea. Be and Me decide to arrange a general cleaning, but in the process they realize that, due to their innate naivety, they are not competent enough in handling household appliances. Their alliance with the draft sucks in important things - but also blows out all the dust, so that readers will have a happy ending and an idyllic scene with drinking milk. (In the latter, by the way, a typically Swedish feeling of comfort is transmitted: even the sound of falling is transmitted here in a very special way, not-like-with-ours - “FLUPS” - what a word). One could spend a lot of words on the story about the epic clash of the animal and technogenic world, nature and civilization - but, as in any good example of current children's literature, here they show more than they tell. Olof and Lena Landström, artists, know a lot about this.
12. Pernilla Stahlfelt "The Book of Love" and "The Book of Death"
Pernilla Stalfelt is famous for her amazing illustrated encyclopedias, where she teaches children and teenagers about issues that their own parents tend to sweep under the carpet: death, love, sex and all that. Instead of beating around the bush, the writer calls a spade a spade with an appropriate balance of decisiveness and delicacy. Why keep silent about death in a rag - why not remember that this is also an opportunity to become a terrible skeleton and scare people? And you can also turn into a vampire - as one of the characters whose afterlife career was overshadowed by the fact that when trying to bite a certain lady, thousands of mosquitoes flew at him and sucked the blood out of himself. Some recommendations regarding behavior in difficult cases seem to be useful even for adults. Love and death do not fit into any schemes - but it's all the more fun, reasoned Stalfelt, to try to make them. Hence funny pictures illustrating the consequences of love (for example, jealousy) - or, for example, variants of phrases that can be used to report death (“God cleaned up Matilda” - or “thrown skates”). In a word, a good example of Swedish looseness and informal attitude to taboo sectors of life - without familiarity, familiarity and blasphemy.
13. Astrid Lindgren Kalle Blomkvist Series
Kalle is an observant 13-year-old boy, a real academic in forensic science, always ready to demonstrate his mastery of skills gleaned from books in practice. Aside from rogue language, the Scarlet and White Rose gang war, adult spying, important clue hunting ("arsenic traces stuck to chocolate particles" and all that) and other standards of teen adventure romance, there are real murders, too, so , in essence, this is a classic procedural detective story. However, the reader should take into account that the main characters: Kalle and his best friends Anders and Eva-Lotta, who talk in a very adult way and are well versed in psychology, are constantly faced with the need to go to bed on time, eat cutlets with compote and comply with all other age regulations and conventions. Hence the main source of this cycle's charm: the vagueness of where the game ends and where life begins.
14. Martin Widmark “The case of diamonds. The Mummy Case"
"Kalle Blomkvist" for a new generation: a more modern-looking detective series about juvenile detectives in the small, airtight town of Walleby. There are two children, they are younger than the patriarch of the genre - Calle, but they have their own detective agency "Lasse Maya" - not in honor of the famous robber of the XIX century, but by the names of the owners. Lasse and Maya over and over again turn out to be, if not more intelligent, then certainly more observant than adults - a well-known and often exploited paradox by children's authors. Only children can get a job in the store where the crime happened in order to find out the whole ins and outs of the business. Only children can pay attention to the fact that a real Egyptian mummy is unlikely to demand 5 million crowns for ransom. Only children know how to effectively restore temporarily disturbed rational order and deal with chaos. Precisely chaos; the real Evil, which is so loved by the authors of "adult" Swedish detective stories, is completely absent here. The books are short - for one evening of reading; and have a good evening! It is important that "Deeds" look like fashionable in last years stories with comics for teenagers - equipped with plans, funny schemes, algorithms and other useful drawings.
15. Ulf Stark "The Dictator"
“Dystopia for the smallest” in the abstract implies that we are facing a witty parody of something that is extremely rarely parodied: public fear of the word “totalitarianism” and preoccupation with the slightest signs of political dictatorship. The tragedy of the twentieth century is repeated in this small rhythmic text ("Then the dictator sits down on the ground leaning against a pine tree. It's hard to decide everything for everyone"), the text is not so much even a farce as a finely orchestrated comic performance. The dictator here is a small child who feels himself the center of the world in a loving family - and the supreme ruler: after all, he needs to decide (for everyone!), Who should do what, how others should please him and when to arrange a pillow war, and when - telephone practical jokes. Children are indeed tyrants; and if so, why not fantasize about the problem of protecting the civil rights of parents - only partly as a joke; after all, as in the case of “real” dictators, people have not only hatred for authoritarian rulers, but also love. The piquant political ambiguity of this simple story just tickles the nostrils - and turns it into real literature.
Henrik Ibsen died on this day 110 years ago. And we remember the brightest Scandinavian writers and their books.
Henrik Ibsen, Peer GyntIbsen was a Norwegian playwright and founder of the new European drama. One of his most famous plays is Peer Gynt. The protagonist wants to restore the reputation and position in society lost by his drunken father. However, he commits stupidity, as a result of which he is forced to leave his native place. He spent a lot of time wandering, was a slave trader in the United States, turned dark deals in Moroccan ports, wandered the desert, was the leader of the Bedouins and even tried to seduce the daughter of the former leader. And he ended his journey in a lunatic asylum in Cairo, becoming the emperor. And when he finally comes to his senses, he goes home, where his things are sold at auction, and he himself tries, with the help of rather strange subjects, to understand when in a past life he was himself? And was there at all? And now, when Peer Gynt is already completely desperate, in his old house he sees Solveig - the girl who loved him before his flight from his native places, who reports that she has been waiting for him here since then, and that he has remained for her all these years yourself. Lars Soubi Christensen, Half Brother
This gritty Norse saga of three women's lives begins with a granddaughter being raped in an attic. And there will be little good in the future plot. As a result of violence, Fred was born - sullen and distant, who constantly disappeared and searched for something. His brother Barnum was a short, complex man who hated his childhood. The great-grandmother lived in the past and hopes that were not destined to come true, the grandmother was more than strange, and the imprint of suffering and sorrow forever remained on the mother's face. It seems to be one family under a common roof, but everyone lives as a hermit in their own complex world, where no one will ever get through until the very last day. Singrid Unset, Kristin, daughter of Lavrans
A family saga that brought its author the Nobel Prize in 1928. This is a trilogy covering events from 1310 to 1349. Its main character is the fictional character Christine, the daughter of Lavrans, a respected and wealthy owner of the Jorundgård estate in the Gudbrandsdal valley. The first part will tell about the girl's childhood, youth and marriage, which happened after a series of tragic events. In the second, she becomes the mistress of a huge estate, raises children and loses all property after her husband took part in a conspiracy against the king. And in the third, her family is haunted by continuous troubles, her husband dies, one after another, his sons leave after him. And Christine herself, saving the child who they wanted to sacrifice, becomes infected with the plague and dies, surrounded by all her children and loved ones, who appeared to her in her deathbed delirium. Peter Heg, Smila and her sense of snow
If you have not yet been familiar with the concepts of sludge, ice fat or pack ice, Miss Smilla will enlighten you. Because this girl has an extraordinary sense of snow and everything connected with it. On a simple piece of frozen water, she is able to discern such secrets that should have forever remained hidden from human eyes. And then together you will go on a risky expedition to nuclear icebreaker, during which, under the monotonous rumble of engines, you will survive more than one storm and will be painfully cold while Smilla investigates the monstrous murder of a little boy. And, of course, this Scandinavian snow will also seem almost real. Knut Hamsun, Hunger
It was the first novel created by Hamsun and brought him European fame. Although he received the Nobel Prize in 1920 for the book The juices of the earth. The hero of the book is a nameless young man. He writes articles for newspapers and wants to work, but the topics he has chosen are so specific that no one reads them. And the money earned is only enough for a few days. He sells all his meager possessions and wanders around the city all day, shocking passers-by with inadequate behavior from hunger. He is constantly haunted by an erotic fantasy about the beautiful woman who lives in Ilayali Castle, with whom he identifies all women. And when he completely despairs, he accidentally gets on the pier and goes to long journey on a Russian ship. Stieg Larsson, Millennium Series
This is exactly the trilogy, the first part of which was, sensational not so long ago The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The next two are called The girl who played with fire And The girl who blew up castles in the air. One day, unraveling the complex case of mysterious disappearance 40 years ago, detective and journalist Mikael Blomkvist will meet hacker Lisbeth Salander - another young lady with a difficult fate. Their investigation will lead to the trail of a serial killer. And for a long time they themselves will try to understand if there is anything else between them besides sex. Yu Nesbø, Snowman
One of the books in the series dedicated to detective Hari Holla, which, in fact, brought the author popularity. He works in the Oslo police, suffers from alcoholism, the struggle with which wanders with him from book to book, and at the same time investigates the most complicated cases of serial killers. IN Snowman we are talking just about such a maniac. He kills women, leaving a snowman at every crime scene. Having studied all the materials of recent cases, Harry comes to the conclusion that all the victims disappear with the first snow that fell. And this chain of monstrous crimes originates a quarter of a century ago. Johan Borgen, Little Lord
This trilogy tells about the life of Wilfred Sagen, who was born at the beginning of the 20th century into a wealthy bourgeois family. In the first book, he acts as a little angel, whom everyone around idolizes, not even knowing about his hypocrisy and duplicity. He is very smart, so he has no friends, he is not interested in school, and he runs away from home. However, outside the parental home, he gets into all kinds of trouble and almost dies. Second and third parts dark waters And Now he can't leave will tell about further events in the life of the protagonist, and at the same time Norway against the backdrop of the First and then the Second World War. Johan Teorin, Night Storm
Scandinavian literature is famous for its gloomy atmosphere, but there is something in it that makes you return to it again and again. So, on a distant northern island, washed by storms, a farm is built from logs washed ashore after shipwrecks, on which a young family moves to live. Soon, under mysterious circumstances, the icy sea takes Katherine away. Her husband knows that the house is full of ghosts and fears they will come around Christmas, even if Kat is with them. However, he should not be afraid of the dead at all. Selma Lagerlöf, Levenskiöld Ring
And again a trilogy from the 1909 Nobel Prize winner. By the way, Selma was the first woman to receive it. In the first book, we are talking about the cursed ring of the Levenskiolds and the misfortunes that the ring brought to its owners. It passed from hand to hand, and gradually ended up in the Levenskiöld estate, in which the ghost of the former owner, the old baron, tortured all the tenants, trying to return him to his tomb. Which soon happened thanks to the ingenuity of one of the workers. In the second part, the family curse continues to haunt the heirs, as a result of which only the wife of one of them, not related by blood ties, will live happily ever after. And from the third we learn about the difficult female fate of Anna Sverd, who got married full of hope. But in the end she turned out to be the mistress of a modest house, where she was destined for the role of a lifelong servant.
Who among us has not grown up in an embrace with the famous collection "Tales of Scandinavian Writers" or with the cartoon about Carlson? Sweden gave us some of the most famous children's writers in the world - Selma Lagerlöf, Elsa Beskov, Maria Gripe and, of course, Astrid Lindgren. Modern Swedish writers are also not inferior to their predecessors: the works of Ulf Stark, Annika Tor and Moni Nilsson are popular all over the world. The youngest readers are crazy about "Petson and Findus" by Sven Nurdqvist.
Together with Visit Sweden, we offer to walk the routes of famous characters in children's books.
By places Astrid Lindgren
During her life, Lindgren managed to create about 80 works, many of which are well known and loved in Russia.
Astrid passed away in 2002, having lived a long life, but only a year ago, on November 15, 2015, her apartment in the center of Stockholm became available for visits. The apartment overlooking Vasa Park is located on the second floor of the house at 46 Dalagatan Street. The spacious apartment is replete with awards, figurines, memorable souvenirs and illustrations, there are even bookshelves in the dining room. It was here that Peppidlongstocking, Carlson and other heroes of Lindgren, who thundered all over the world, were born.
But despite the fact that Astrid Lindgren was a children's writer, you can only visit her apartment from the age of 15. The fact is that the heirs want to preserve the atmosphere as it was during the life of the writer, and most of the children's museums in Stockholm are interactive and allow you to touch everything that the child can reach. In addition, getting there is not so easy: the tours are led by members of the Astrid Lindgren Society on a volunteer basis, and there are not many visits, so it is worth signing up in advance.
Astrid Lindgren's apartment
Official website: Astrid Lindgren Societies
Address: Dalagatan 46
Price: 150 SEK (approximately 15 euros)
Duration of the tour: about 30 minutes
Walks with Carlson
Where is this street that we have heard about since childhood? Here is what Lindgren writes:
“Carlson lives very close to my house, on the other side of the park, which is under my windows. This is 12 Vulkanusgatan Street. family life. And when I began to write about him, I thought only about the roof of the house where my husband and I lived as newlyweds. Above us, on the floor above, there was a balcony - that's where I first saw it. He still flies to me at any time when he wants, and we chat about this and that.
Frame from the cartoon "The Kid and Carlson (1968)"
Alas, Carlson's house on Vulkanusgatan Street does not exist - verified by Russian tourists. But you can still walk on the roofs of Stockholm somewhere in the neighborhood of a moderately well-fed person in the prime of life: not so long ago, enterprising organizers of excursions conduct - the island of knights, which is about half an hour walk from the place indicated in the book. The view from there will be much more interesting.
At a height of 43 meters above the old parliament building in the historical part of the city, you can admire the views of Stockholm for almost 1.5 hours. You will be provided with special equipment and given safety instructions.
Rooftop trip to Riddarholmen
Rooftop trip to Riddarholmen
Official website: takvandring.com
Address: Norra Riddarholmen 5, Stockholm
Price: 595 SEK
Duration of the tour: about 80 minutes
Conducted in several languages, including English and Russian
The Book Heart of Sweden - Junibacken Museum
One of the most important children's book museums in the world has been open for 20 years now. Of course, it is primarily dedicated to the legacy of Astrid Lindgren, but at her own insistence, he included literary heroes and other Scandinavian writers. It is also located in the historical part of the city on the island of Djurgården, next to the Vasa ship museum and the world's largest open-air ethnographic museum in Skansen Park. If museums are not enough for you and your child, then you can also find the Nordic Museum nearby.
Unibakken is the name invented by the writer for her heroine Madiken from the book of the same name. Inside a seemingly small building, a huge children's World: first you will take the train past the stunning paintings from Astrid Lindgren's books, illustrated by Bjorn Berg (remember how Emil lifts baby Ida on the flagpole?) and (she often designed Lindgren's books, but in Russia she is known only from a small collection of poems "All you love - you!").
Junibacken Museum
Junibacken Museum
The journey will be accompanied by a story about their characters from Astrid Lindgren herself - the audio is recorded in 12 languages, including Russian (Astrid herself reads Swedish, but you can only ride the train with an entrance ticket once: again - for an additional 20 crowns). The text "Fairy Tale Trip" was the last thing Astrid Lindgren wrote in her life. By the way, the director of the museum rides this train almost every day.
The train will take you to the Square of Fairy Tales, where the signature blue and red house of the Finnish Moomin neighbors, the workshop of the old man Petson and his cat Findus, the motorcycle of Mulle Mek - a skilled person, the inquisitive cow Mama Mu, the giant orange of Elsa Beskov, and much more .
A separate hall is reserved for performances - here you will find a two-story villa "Chicken", which adults also climb with pleasure, the famous faithful horse Pippi - a horse in apples, and a beautiful view of the Nybroviken canal in the windows from floor to ceiling.
Not all expositions here are permanent - perhaps on your next visit you will meet new heroes of children's books.
Cafe Unibakken
Junibacken Museum
After exploring the museum, you can refuel at Junibacken's atmospheric Café, which offers traditional Swedish meatballs and cinnamon rolls, as well as gluten-free, casein-free and vegetarian options.
Book cover for "We're All From Bullerby"
It is absolutely impossible for a real book lover to ignore Sweden's largest children's bookstore, which is still there: the best books in different languages (including Russian), characters' clothes, calendars, toys, posters. It will be difficult to leave empty-handed.
To say goodbye to a wonderful place, you can take a picture with the monument to the famous writer, which also stands next to Junibakken.
Official website: junibacken.se
Address: Junibacken / Junibacken Galärvarvsvägen 8, Stockholm
Price: children up to 2 years old - free of charge, children 2-15 years old - 139 SEK, adults - 159 SEK
Opening hours: daily, 10:00-18:00 (from July to August 16), 10:00-17:00 (from August 17 to December and April - June); The museum is closed from January to March
We are all from Vimmerby
For a complete immersion in the world of Astrid Lindgren, head to Vimmerby, about 300 kilometers from Stockholm. You can get there by train in 3.5 hours. Why go there? Despite the fact that almost all of their adulthood Lindgren has lived in Stockholm, and many of her books are based on warm memories of her childhood, which the writer spent on a farm in Vimmerby in the province of Småland.
Monument to Astrid Lindgren
By the way, the founder of the IKEA concern, Ingvar Kamprad, and the lead singer of the ABBA group, Agnetha Fältskog, were born in Småland (and the consonant “Büllerby” in Swedish means “noisy village”).
Lindgren childhood home
Here, in Vimmerby, where the writer spent her childhood, her house has been preserved, open to the public since 2007. Next door to it is now Astrid Lindgren's heritage headquarters on Naes Manor. There you can not only look into Astrid's childhood home, but also enjoy the beautiful garden, as well as dine in the restaurant.
Lindgren's childhood home. Illustration by Elon Wickland
House of Childhood Astrid Lindgren
Official website: astridlindgrensnas.se
Address: Prästgårdsgatan 24 S-598 36 Vimmerby
Entrance: adults - 170 SEK, seniors - 150 SEK, students - 140 SEK, children 0-15 years old - free admission
The World of Astrid Lindgren
For children in Vimmerby, a real expanse is a whole amusement park of heroes Astrid Lindgren's World, which has existed since 1981.
Here you will find a tiny town with streets and lanterns, as it was 100 years ago, a mini-zoo (there are many animals in Lindgren's works) and several attractions (here you can also climb the roofs of Carlson), of course, the Chicken Villa and a large theater an open-air venue where performances based on the works of Lindgren are constantly shown.
The children's park is open during the warm season from mid-May to the end of August, and from September to November it is open on weekends. And those who travel from afar can stay in cozy guest houses.
Astrid Lindgren Heritage Headquarters
The World of Astrid Lindgren
The World of Astrid Lindgren
The World of Astrid Lindgren
The World of Astrid Lindgren
The World of Astrid Lindgren
Official site: alv.se
Address: Vimmerby, Småland, Sweden
Price: children under 2 years old - free of charge, children 3-12 years old - 185 SEK, adults - 260 SEK, pensioners 65+ - 155 SEK; autumn: children - 95 SEK, adults from 15 years old - 155 SEK
How to get there: for example, by train: Stockholm - Vimmerby, with one change in Linköping, travel time - 3.5 hours, approximate cost - 85 euros
Detective places in Sweden
But it is not only in Stockholm and Wimmerby that Lindgren's heroes meet. For example, the famous detective Kalle Blomkvist and his true friends lived in the city of Lilkoping, which is located 290 kilometers southwest of Stockholm and 110 kilometers northeast of Gothenburg. It would be possible to make a map of the hero's routes, as the modern publishers of the children's detective stories of the Petrini twins did based on the books of Morten Sanden - alas, not translated into Russian. In the wake of their adventures in 20 volumes there are three routes: through Stockholm, Lund, where the author himself grew up, and in Osterlen.
By the way, Jan Olof Ekholm, who is mainly known for "Tutta Carlson" and "Ludvik the Fourteenth", for a long time worked only in the detective genre and in 1975 was elected chairman of the Swedish Academy of Detective.
And fans of the gloomy detective trilogy "Millennium" by Stieg Larsson, as well as its sensational Hollywood film adaptation by David Fincher with Daniel Craig in leading role, can go on a literary excursion to the island of Södermalm, look at the house of Mikael Blomkvist, visit the cafes mentioned in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and, of course, look at the informal hacker Lisbeth Salander, on the door of whose apartment, by the way, there is a sign V. Kulla, i.e. "Villa Chicken".
Home of the protagonist Mikael Blomkvist
For those who want to take a walk through Larsson's places on their own, the Stockholm Museum has published a detailed illustrated Millennium Map. You can buy it for 40 crowns in almost every city kiosk. At the airport and the museum there are even maps in Russian.
You can book a two-hour tour at the museum: stadsmuseum.stockholm.se
Preliminary cost: 150 euros
To the village to grandfather Petson
We and our parents grew up on Lindgren, but the main modern children's book heroes in Sweden can be called the farmer Petson and his restless kitten Findus in the famous green pants. A series of books about them is written by Sven Nurdqvist, who also draws detailed illustrations that can be viewed for hours. The whole world knows more than a dozen stories that Russian readers have fallen in love with over the past 10 years. According to the book, cartoons are shot, performances are staged, they cook and make.
Sven Nurdqvist recently celebrated his 70th birthday, receives prestigious book awards every year and actively participates in the creation of an interactive space for Pettson and Findus, similar to Lindgren's.
In addition to Pettson's own house in Junibakken, the heroes also have a small mansion at the farm in Julita, which is part of the heritage complex of the Nordic Museum. Nurdqvist helped equip his character's house - he made furniture for the living room and a workshop for the needlework of Petson.
True, you won’t be able to celebrate Christmas in Petson’s house - you can catch the heroes mainly in the warm summer period from June 13 to August 14, but at this time you can probably taste branded pancakes accompanied by Viennese waltzes, feed chickens and look for mysterious myukles.
Pettson House in Junibacken
Pettson House in Junibacken
Pettson House in Junibacken
Official website: nordiskamuseet.se
Price: adults SEK 100, children/teenagers 0-18 years old SEK 20
How to get there: Julita is located on Lake Oljaren, about 25 km northwest of Katrineholm Södermaland
Island in the sea and skerries of Gothenburg
Another of the leading writers of contemporary Sweden is Annika Thor, whose tetralogy about refugee girls Steffi and Nelli, sheltered and saved from Jewish pogroms by neutral Sweden during World War II, was included in the school curriculum in Sweden.
Annika Thor was born and raised in Gothenburg, and despite the fact that she now lives in Stockholm, the heroines of her books ended up in the seaside fishing village closer to Gothenburg. Here is how it is described in the book:
The steamer stopped at a wooden pier. Rows of white-painted fishing boats with low masts and swollen sides lined the shore. Along the pier were red and gray boat sheds facing the sea. Behind them were low houses painted in light colors. It seemed that the houses were built right on the rocks. Before them stretched the boundless leaden-gray sea. The dark clouds were like a ceiling above the floor of the sea. Brown rocks in the skerries protruded above the surface of the water. Waves crashed against them, scattering shreds of white foam. In the distance appeared a dark red sail, directed from the water to the sky. Behind him was a bright stripe of the horizon..
Skerries are archipelagos consisting of many stone islands. Some of them look out of the water only with their tops, others are so large that small fishing villages are located on them. Ships leave directly from the city center from the port of Lilla Boomen for a walk through the skerries. Typically, this trip lasts about three hours. Gothenburg is located at the mouth of the Geta River, but it is not difficult to get to the sea beaches: by public transport you can reach any of them in just 20 minutes. Take tram number 11 and get off at the final Saltholmen (Saltholmen), where you will find a picturesque typically Scandinavian beach in the skerries. Boats to the islands also depart from Saltholmen.
Free admission
Website: sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slottsskogen Address: DOVHJORTSSTIGEN 10 413 11 Gothenburg, Sweden
To the Swedish south with wild geese
If you are planning a big trip through all of Sweden, you can visit the places of Selma Lagerlöf and Niels with wild geese, because the book was originally conceived as an exciting guide to the geography of Sweden for elementary school students. That's just in Russian "Niels" without abbreviations is quite rare, often omitting the abundance of geographical details of the Swedish suburbs. Nevertheless, this does not prevent you from visiting the city where the journey of the famous lazy and loser Niels begins - this is Karlskrona in the very south of Sweden.
There you can easily meet characters from the chapter "Bronze and Wood", which have real prototypes. "Bronze" - a monument to King Charles XI:
“... Niels looked around. At this late hour, there was not a single person in the square, except for a bronze statue that stood on a high stone pedestal. “Who could it be?” thought Niels, walking around the pedestal. The appearance of Bronze was very important - a long camisole, shoes with buckles, a cocked hat on his head. He put one foot forward, as if he was about to step off the pedestal, and in his hand he held a thick stick. If it weren't made of bronze, he probably would have used this stick a long time ago. It was written on his face that he would not give anyone a descent: his nose was hooked, his eyebrows were frowned, his lips were pursed ... "
"Wooden" - sculpture by Mate Hindiksson Rosenbom:
“... This man was made of wood from head to toe. And his beard was wooden, and his nose was wooden, and his eyes were wooden. On the head of the wooden man was a wooden hat, on his shoulders - a wooden jacket, tied with a wooden belt, on his feet - wooden stockings and wooden shoes. One cheek of the wooden man was red and the other gray. This is because on one cheek the paint has peeled off, and on the other it still held on. On his wooden chest hung a wooden plank. In beautiful letters, decorated with various curlicues, it was written: “Passer-by! In your path I humbly stand. Put a coin in a mug - and you will be in paradise! “In his left hand, Wooden held a large mug - also wooden ... "
Monument to King Charles XI
Sculpture of Mate Hindiksson Rosenbom
The sculpture is made of wood, there is also a piggy bank - it is under the hat.
Not so long ago, a tiny monument to Nils was also erected - on a pedestal, he seems to be running out of Lagerlöf's book, and the growth of the figure is only about 10 centimeters.
Lagerlöf herself grew up on Morbach's estate in Värmland. She lost the estate because she went bankrupt, but she managed to buy the ancestral home thanks to the fee from the Nobel Prize (for the first time awarded to a woman) and live there until the end of her days. Now her villa is open to visitors (among the exhibits there you can find a map of Niels' journey with wild geese).
In the cafe, you can treat yourself to homemade cakes and juice from the Lagerlöf farm, as well as purchase Lagerlöf's works in the Morbach bookstore. However, you can visit the estate only as part of a group.
Address: Morbaka 42
Price: adults - 125 kroons, children (5-15 years old) - 50 kroons, students - 105 kroons, family (2 adults + 2 children) - 300 kroons, groups (per person) - 90 kroons.
Sama Lagerlöf's estate in Värmland
The nature of Sweden can be studied for a long time using the brilliant atlases about trees, berries, mushrooms and flowers, which were written by another outstanding Swedish writer - Stefan Kasta. Ant Sophie acts as a guide to the world of flora. And the book "All the Year Round" by Lena Anderson and Ulf Svedberg will help answer a thousand children's questions about animals and plants in Sweden, in which the girl Maya in funny round glasses will act as a guide - you will definitely find her doll in Junibacken.
In the material, we did not cover the Nangiyala mentioned in the works of Lindgren, where the Lionheart brothers go, the distant country where Bosse-Mio fled, and the forest lands of Rony the robber, but you can only get there in dreams. In addition, these countries are very remotely reminiscent of Sweden.
