The liberal Swedish model may be shocking; well, perhaps they should invent an “18 minus” sign for Swedish children’s books – only for minors. Or perhaps it would be better to label these texts with a “must read for adults too” sticker - they must learn to respect the child’s right 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 an unsurpassed standard of children's literature of modern times, 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 the Scandinavian love of freedom, every replica is a declaration of independence, on the other hand, perhaps this Marianna could use the attention of the children's ombudsman, especially in those moments when she begins to propose for peers to try, for example, fly agarics. With her Brünnhilde powers, Pippi looks either like a superheroine from comic books (very Swedish, not Marvel or disish; although she obviously wouldn’t get lost in those), or like a bomb - and far from a slow-acting one. The idea of raising an obedient child with this shocking book, in a good way, is best left alone. But - almost guaranteed - it can be used to raise a person who takes the idea of equal 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 Nordqvist Series about Petson and Findus
Illustrator and writer Sven Nordkvist is the creator of, quite possibly, the best cat in world literature: smart, touching, naughty, like a pet child, to whom any hooliganism is forgiven. And although the main supplier of plots is Findus, what is more important here is the atmosphere, for which the cat’s patron and supervisor, the eccentric farmer Petson, is responsible. Petson is a jack of all trades, he tries not to buy anything new, but uses, reimagines and reinvents old things. Books about this couple are expeditions into a world that is unique in modern times, where handmade production is undoubtedly more attractive than factory, mass production, and where primitive old long-lasting things turn out to be more valuable than high-tech disposable ones. The books convey a sense of environmental friendliness: village technologies make the world renewable - and deserving of love, and not just consumption. Witty commentators of the Nurdquist cycle even called Petson a term from the anthropologist Lévi-Strauss: “bricoleur” is an independently thinking, technically competent person who is not dependent on other people’s raw materials. Moreover, he is the bearer of many other qualities that are usually attributed to the Swedes: self-sufficiency, independence, independent thinking and the ability to create comfort. But the reward for all these merits is royal: the best cat-child in the world.
3. Mats Strandberg, Sarah Elfgren “Circle”
A large-scale mystical novel about a group 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 sphere of their personal lives. Inhabitants of a depressed 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 a school story, a youth detective story and a mystical thriller (on the one hand, chemistry tests, bullying of classmates and obsession with sex, on the other - fortune telling, training, prophecies, magical exercises) looks bright and refreshing. By the way, “The Circle” (Circle of Power, which includes the Chosen Ones) is only the first novel from the whole “Engelsfors” series, created by a duo of Swedish writers (Strandberg is a famous 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 “Lauranga, Mazarin and Dartagnan”
Winner of the award named after his namesake, Barbro Lindgren has a remarkable imagination, and the best evidence of this is the story with the metallophonic 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, boundaries between people and animals, animate and inanimate objects are blurred. Here there are herds of tigers and post-eating giraffes, at the Russia-Canada hockey match they play with mops and tomatoes, and the characters exchange remarks like “I’m not a plumber, I’m an Indian Deerfoot” or “I have such a high temperature that the thermometer burst in half " The world of Lorangi is a space where most physical laws do not work, formal logic is abolished, and contradiction ceases to be a problem. People and objects bump into each other - precisely on purpose: since there is a contradiction, there is life and movement, dynamics and energy, cheerful madness. All this constructive detachment, it turns out, translates perfectly into Russian, at least thanks to the translation, which contains, for example, “chocolate spundig with fluffy boobs” and the disease “lairingitis” (when you bark like a dog all the time). "Loranga" is reminiscent of the Swedish version of Chukovsky's "Confusion"; and also, perhaps, color cinema, as the very first viewers saw it; as the philologist Shklovsky put it about him, “an enraged landrin.”
5. Henning Mankell “Running to the Stars”
The patriarch of the detective genre, creator of the Kurt Wallander series and one of the main moral authorities in Sweden, Henning Mankell was also a wonderful children's writer. A monument to such Mankell is a cycle about a boy-dreamer Euel Gustafson (“Running to the Stars,” “Shadows Grow at Twilight,” “A 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 thanks to his ability to not pay attention to the difference between reality and fantasy, he has already become accustomed to the lack of heat - both in terms of climate and in terms of family communication. Yuel has no mother, but he has a father and friends - real and imaginary, and also his own secret society, a logbook and a bunch of amazing neighbors - like Noseless or Bricklayer Urweder, who rides in a truck at night, crosses out unsuccessful fragments from books, rewrites them and looks at the world through “thinking glasses.” The melancholic prose about a not-so-happy teenager who experiences a phantom nostalgia for the romance of the sea and amuses himself with excursions to a rocky chasm - where one can imagine oneself in a deep tunnel at the center of the Earth - is a good antidote for those who think that Swedish children's literature is forever reigning a cheerful mess, like in “Carlson”. There are exceptions - and very impressive ones.
6. Selma Lagerlöf “Nils’s Wonderful Journey with the Wild Geese”
“Nils” was written at the request of the National Association of Teachers - as an entertaining, fairy tale-style guide to the geography of Sweden.
There is plenty of 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's case seemed typical to readers from many countries at the beginning of the twentieth century: the story of a simpleton who at first knew nothing but his own court, and then discovered the territories belonging to the nation-family, in the broad sense, a large national state, - and transformed, grew - both mentally and physically. It is interesting that Lagerlöf's Sweden is not just a space of living and inanimate nature outlined by boundaries, but also essentially a realized utopia: a democratic country with 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 a common language and cooperate with each other.
7. Annika Thor “Truth or Consequences”
A teenage drama about the lives of girls born in disadvantaged areas, in single-parent and unhappy families. They suffer from the hysterics of roaming parents and bullying from cruel classmates, from jealousy and loneliness. The title of the novel is taken from a seductive, dangerous and unscrupulous game of teenagers, the participants of which either agree to answer an awkward question truthfully - or, if they refuse, are obliged to complete any task invented for them, making them blush even more. This voluntary game of executioners and victims by children turns out to be not so much funny as heartbreaking. The game is a good metaphor for life: already at the age of 12, the heroines have to learn - from their own mistakes - to make obviously bad choices in circumstances where there is no good solution. Some excess of naturalistically described physiological details of growing up may cause allergies in readers; Well, the truth is often unpleasant, and sometimes society needs more than just fun and entertainment. So it was with the famous “Scarecrow” by Zheleznikov, and with Annika Thor’s book. 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”
Terribly fascinating for children - and causing well-deserved applause from adults - a fable about a 4-year-old girl who turns out to be radically wiser than is typical for creatures her age. Like Hermannmelville’s scribe Bartleby, who answered “I would prefer to refuse” to all proposals, Gittan at first avoids any contact with anything in the slightest degree strange in the world, but at a critical moment he gets together - and does everything as it should, better than anyone; and even dire wolves seem funny next to her. If not a prototype, then a relative of this wise girl-philosopher is Mashenka 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 resolved, and unhurried, reasonable and self-confident people can achieve more than loudmouths 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, Tsatsiki and his mother in the books of Monya Nilsson-Bränström. In 2000, Gittan received the Swedish National Literary Prize. “Instant classic” – kind of like “The Gruffalo” in England.
9. Astrid Lindgren “Baby and Carlson”
The image of a flying barrel brings together the ideas of readers of all ages about how an ideal imaginary friend should look and behave: an eccentric, has paranormal abilities, capricious, capable of putting anyone in their place - and restoring hope in the most desperate circumstances. They got used to Carlson - but he is still, perhaps, the most unusual fantasy of Astrid Lindgren; and this man-in-his-prime is far from being as simple as he seems. He fights domestic violence, effectively mediates between fathers and children, wittily ridicules society's obsession with new technologies (a scene of stealing buns from a table using a vacuum cleaner) and excessive bourgeoisism. His self-construction on the roof is the last frontier, where domestic, artisanal culture, isolated from the world, holds the defense against the advancing mass culture - globalized, multi-apartment and multi-antenna. As for Russia and the countries of the former USSR, where “Carlson” penetrated into folklore and was widely quoted as “Woe from Wit,” it is possible that in Soviet times this book was also perceived as a veiled satire on the state’s obsession with the Big Space Project. Carlson may not have overcome gravity, but somehow outwitted it - and flies not for vague scientific purposes, but for 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-Bränström Tzatziki Series
Tzatziki is the Swedish analogue of “Little 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 are not they know how to help him with this - and when they intervene, they look even funnier than the child himself. 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 her son runs after her with a toy gun - for a woman who plays bass in a rock band and names her son, born to a Greek dad, named Cuttlecatcher, after Greek sauce , – the eccentricity is quite plausible. “Tzatziki” is also of purely ethnographic interest - it allows you to find out how the heads of Swedish children work, how they react to extravagant adults and what they do in sensitive moments - for example, when they stole an umbrella from an imaginary foreign spy and now 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 off the charts: parents and children together, almost blindly, groping for where the line between freedom and irresponsibility lies and how to treat those 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"
Modern classics of the “zero plus” category. The main characters are sheep (or rams?), but they live in a normal human house that looks like an Ikea room. Be and Me decide to do some spring cleaning, but in the process they realize that, due to their innate naivety, they are not competent enough in handling household appliances. Their vacuum cleaner, which has entered into an alliance with the draft, sucks up important things - but also blows out all the dust, so that readers are treated to a happy ending and an idyllic scene of drinking milk. (In the latter, by the way, a typically Swedish feeling of comfort is conveyed: even the sound of a fall is conveyed here in a very special way, not like we do - “FLUPS” is a word). A lot of words could be spent on the plot about the epic collision of the animal and man-made world, nature and civilization - but, as in any good example of modern children's literature, there is more showing than telling. Olof and Lena Landström, artists, know a lot about this.
12. Pernilla Stalfelt “The Book of Love” and “The Book of Death”
Pernilla Stalfelt has become famous for her amazing illustrated encyclopedias, where she teaches children and teenagers about the issues that their own parents tend to sweep under the rug: death, love, sex and all that. Instead of beating around the bush, the writer calls a spade a spade, maintaining an appropriate balance of decisiveness and delicacy. Why remain silent about death in a rag - why not remember that this is also an opportunity to become a scary skeleton and scare people? You can also turn into a vampire - like one of the characters whose afterlife career was overshadowed by the fact that when he tried to bite a certain lady, thousands of mosquitoes flew at him and sucked the blood out of him. Some recommendations regarding behavior in difficult cases look useful even for adults. Love and death do not fit into any schemes - but it’s all the more fun, Stalfelt reasoned, to try to make them up. Hence the funny pictures illustrating the consequences of love (for example, jealousy) - or, for example, variations of phrases that can be used for messages about death (“God took Matilda away” - or “threw away her skates”). A good example, in a word, of Swedish relaxedness and informal attitude towards taboo sectors of life - without familiarity, familiarity and blasphemy.
13. Astrid Lindgren Series about Kalle Blumkvist
Calle is an observant 13-year-old boy, a true academician in the field of criminology, always ready to demonstrate his mastery of the skills gleaned from books in practice. In addition to conversations in bandit language, the war of the Scarlet and White Rose groups, spying on adults, the hunt for important clues (“traces of arsenic stuck to particles of chocolate” and all that) and other standards of a teenage adventure novel, there are also real murders, so , in essence, this is a classic detective procedural. However, the reader should take into account that the main characters: Kalle and his best friends Anders and Eva-Lotta - who talk very maturely and are well versed in psychology - are constantly faced with the need to go to bed on time, eat cutlets with compote and observe all other age requirements regulations and conventions. Hence the main source of the charm of this series: the ambiguity of where the game ends and where life begins.
14. Martin Widmark “The Case of Diamonds.” The Case of the Mummy"
"Kalle Blumkvist" for a new generation: a more modern-looking detective series about juvenile detectives in the small, hermetic town of Valleby. There are two children, they are younger than the patriarch of the genre - Calle, but they have their own detective agency "Lasse-Maia" - not in honor of the famous robber of the 19th century, but after the names of the owners. Lasse and Maya time after time turn out to be, if not more intelligent, then certainly more observant than adults - a well-known paradox often exploited by children's authors. Only children can get a job in the store where the crime occurred in order to learn the ins and outs of the business. Only children can pay attention to the fact that a real Egyptian mummy is unlikely to demand a ransom of 5 million crowns. Only children know how to effectively restore temporarily disrupted rational order and cope with chaos. Precisely chaos; real Evil, which the authors of “adult” Swedish detective stories love so much, is completely absent here. Short books - for one evening of reading; and have a good evening! It is also important that “Affairs” look like the comic book stories for teenagers that have been fashionable in recent years - equipped with plans, funny diagrams, algorithms and other useful drawings.
15. Ulf Stark "The Dictator"
“Dystopia for the little ones” in the annotation implies that this is a witty parody of something that is extremely rarely parodied: society’s fear of the word “totalitarianism” and concern for 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, but rather a finely orchestrated comic performance. The dictator here is a small child who feels like the center of the world in a loving family - and the supreme ruler: after all, he has to decide (for everyone!), who should do what, how those around him should please him, and when to have a pillow war, and when to make phone calls. 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 develop not only hatred, but also love for authoritarian rulers. The piquant political ambiguity of this simple story tickles the nostrils - and turns it into real literature.
Fabulous Sweden... The country of Vikings, trolls and... Carlson! It is with this fairy-tale hero that Sweden is most often associated. And it is Swedish writers who do it so well. Astrid Lindgren, Selma Lagerlöf, Maria Grippe - all these famous storytellers were born here. Sweden holds the record for the number of holders of the Hans Christian Andersen Prize and Nobel laureates in the field of literature. Therefore, visiting this country should be both educational and magical.
Swedish literature for children
First woman Nobel laureate in literature."Nils's Journey with the Wild Geese" is her most famous work. But there are many other, no less interesting tales: "Invisible Ties", "The Queens of Cungahella", "The Tale of the Old Manor", "Legends of Christ", "The Tale of the Tale and Other Tales", "The House of Liljekruna", "Trolls and Men", "Morbakka", "The Ring" Löwenskioldov", "Memoirs of a Child".
Maria Gripe
Another one winner of the G.H. Medal Andersen. Her books for children and teenagers have been translated into 29 languages, many of them have been filmed. Unfortunately, not many works were published in Russian. And they are definitely worth reading: "Elvis Carlsson", "Elvis! Elvis! Just Elvis", "The Dung Beetle Flies at Dusk...", "Cecilia Agnes - a Strange Story", "Shadow on the Stone Bench", "...And White Shadows in the Forest", "Cache of Shadows", "Children of the Shadows", "Children of the Glassblower "
Sven Nordqvist
Sven Nordqvist is known to Russian readers for his tales about Pettson and his kitten Findus. The adventures of these funny characters are very popular with both children and parents. They are incredibly cozy and so nice. Be sure to read: “Birthday Pie”, “Fox Hunt”, “Petson is Sad”, “Christmas in Petson’s House”, “Trouble in the Garden”, “Petson Goes Hiking”, “Findus Moves”, etc.
Swedish literature for adults
Per Lagerqvist
He had a significant influence on all Swedish literature as a whole. ancient Scandinavian epic. Prose and poetry Nobel laureate Per Lagerkvsit also often resembles myth and allegory: “Tosca”, “The Conquered Life”, “Barabbas”, “The Smile of Eternity”, “Dwarf”. Lagerkvits’s anti-fascist prose deserves special attention, namely the story "Executioner".
Harry Martinson
Harry Martinson is an example of the fact that it is not the quantity of works that brings popularity, but their quality. His only great work is cycle of epic poems "Aniara"– brought to the author Nobel Prize in 1974.“Aniara” describes the journey of a space ark on which several thousand inhabitants of Planet Earth were saved from a nuclear disaster.
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Among modern literature, the Swedish detective story is especially popular all over the world today. Scandinavian noir literally swept Europe. Let's get acquainted with its main representatives.
Henning Mankell
Henning Mankell is considered the patriarch of the Swedish detective story. He gained international fame thanks to a series of police novels about Kurt Wallander. Almost all of Mankell's works have been filmed. And it's worth reading: “Faceless Killers”, “White Lioness”, “The Man Who Smiled”, “Blank Wall”, “One Step Behind”, “Journey to the End of the World”.
Stieg Larsson
Famous detective trilogy Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson "Millennium" was translated into 40 languages and published after the author's death. The excitement around Larsson's life and death and his works has not subsided for more than 10 years. His prose touches on acute political topics and has an anti-fascist orientation. We think this is definitely worth reading.
Lisa Marklund
Lisa Marklund's detective stories have been translated into 30 languages and are sold in millions of copies around the world. At home, she is considered a worthy successor to the work of Stieg Larsson. The main character of Lisa's books is in a state of chronic paranoia, while managing to uncover the horrific crimes of Swedish politicians, while simultaneously picking up the children from kindergarten and preparing dinner and lunch. Well, yes, a very funny woman...- 1. Authors: Bubenshchikov family Bubenshchikova Anfisa Student of MKOU secondary school No. 23 10 “B” class of the City of Sysert
- 2. Scandinavian writers in children's literature Biographies, creativity
- 3. ASTRID LINDGREN Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (1907-2002), née Eriksson, is a world-famous children's writer. Born in Sweden, into a farming family. Lindgren's work and her worldview were influenced by her parents and the atmosphere of love that reigned in the family. Astrid Lindgren's literary talent manifested itself already at school; she began a career as a journalist and wrote for magazines, honing her stylistic skills. The birth of his own child stimulated the development of the gift of writing. The famous book "Pippi Longstocking" appeared thanks to her daughter Karin, to whom she told stories about the red-haired girl.
- 4. And the 40s-50s became the heyday of the storyteller’s creative activity. She wrote down stories about Pippi - and the Pippi Longstocking trilogy was born. Children, according to Lindgren, should be happy. They should have their own Far Country, the Country of Twilight or the island of Siltkrona. Children should play, laugh, enjoy life and should never get sick or go hungry. For Lindgren, the fabulous and magical is born from the imagination of the child himself. So the Kid from the books about “The Kid and Carlson” comes up with a cheerful friend who lives on the roof and loves jam, Pippi Longstocking considers herself a black princess and imagines herself to be a rich, strong and beloved girl.
- 5. All the heroes she created are lively, active and mischievous children with their own talents and whims, inclinations and weaknesses. This is exactly what they are - Mio, Pippi, Kalle, Yeran, little Cherven. The writer talks truthfully and seriously with children. Yes, the world is not simple, there are diseases, poverty, hunger, grief and suffering in the world. In her fairy tale “In the Land Between Light and Darkness,” the boy Yeran has not gotten out of bed for a year because of a sore leg, but every evening he finds himself in the magical Land of Twilight - the Land Between Light and Darkness. Unusual people live in this country. Anything can be in it - caramels grow on trees, and trams run on water. And most importantly, neither illness nor suffering “have the slightest meaning” in it. Almost all of her books are dedicated to children. “I have not written books for adults and I think that I will never do so,” the writer once said decisively.
- 6. In 1954, Astrid Lindgren wrote the fairy tale “Mio, my Mio,” where she touched on the topic of lonely and abandoned children. One day, while walking through the square, the writer noticed a little sad boy sitting alone and sadly on a bench. This turned out to be enough. He sat and was sad, and Lindgren had already transported him to the fabulous Far Land, which he himself had invented. She surrounded him with blooming roses, found him a loving father and cheerful, devoted friends, and involved him in many adventures. And Busse’s adopted son becomes in his dreams Prince Mio, the beloved son of the king of the Far Country. This is how another child became happy.
- 7. But my favorite book was created in 1955 - the trilogy “Carlson, who lives on the roof” about the adventures of an unusual little man with a motor on his back. What delight I felt listening to my mother read! We had this book in an excellent edition: three simply huge volumes, I could fit in them completely (I was three years old), the text was on color pages with illustrations. After re-reading it on my own, I fell in love with it even more. A sea of funny situations, elegant style and rich imagination of the author delighted and captivated forever. My mother and I still sometimes re-read it together and laugh merrily. This is simply a cure for all diseases!
- 8. Another amazing fairy tale is “Ronnie the Robber’s Daughter.” An ancient castle, robbers, and all this - in a magical forest where gnomes, droods and other mythological characters live. The story tells about the children of two warring gangs of robbers - the girl Roni and the boy Birka, about their adventures, friendship and love. It instills a love of nature, talks about true friendship, and the relationship between children and parents. The narration is told in third person, the language is rich, light, colorful. I would really like to see this fairy tale on screen, with special effects, because many of Astrid Lindgren’s works were filmed a long time ago, when cinema could not convey the riot of imagination of the author on the screen. Nowadays there is such an opportunity, I really love fairy tale films, and I hope that I will see Roni on the screen.
- 9. In addition to creativity, Astrid Lindgren was also involved in social activities, exposing the ineffective government of the Social Democrats and advocating for animal rights. Lindgren's works have been translated into 70 languages and published in 100 countries. In the Soviet Union, her works became known thanks to the translations of Liliana Lungina. In 1958, Lindgren was awarded the International Gold Medal by H. C. Andersen for the humanistic nature of her creativity. In 1967, Rabén & Sjögren, the publisher of the writer's first book, established The Astrid Lindgren Prize (ALP) in honor of Astrid Lindgren's 60th birthday. The prize is awarded annually for outstanding achievements in Swedish children's and youth literature. The name of the laureate is announced on November 14 - the birthday of the great Swedish storyteller. Astrid Lindgren died on January 28, 2002.
- 10. TOVE JANSSON The brightest representative of Scandinavian children's literature, Tove Marika Jansson, was born on August 9, 1914 into a bohemian family: her mother is a prominent artist Signe Hammarsten, a book illustrator who came to Finland from Sweden; father - recognized sculptor Viktor Jansson. Tove was the first child in the family. Her younger brother Per-Olof later became a photographer, and her other brother Lars became an artist. As a child, Tove spent every summer in Sweden with her grandmother, in the town of Blido, not far from Stockholm. “The most beautiful thing was that the sea was very close. And although he was not visible from the lawn near the house where my friends and I played, if suddenly during the games we suddenly became quiet, the sound of the surf reached us,” Tove recalled.
- 11. Having completed his studies abroad, Tove returns home and begins illustrating books and drawing cartoons commissioned by various publications. Tove herself considered herself more an artist than a writer; she drew comics, illustrated books by Lewis Carroll and John R.R. Tolkien, but her saga about the Moomins: charming creatures living in the idyllic Moomin Valley brought her worldwide fame. These books, for which Jansson did the illustrations herself, broke all records for popularity in the 1950s and 60s. They sold millions of copies and were published all over the world. For example, The Wizard's Hat alone has been translated into 34 languages, including Japanese, Thai and Farsi.
- 12. In total, Jansson wrote 8 stories about the Moomins (“Little Trolls and the Great Flood”, “Moomintroll and the Comet”, “The Wizard’s Hat”, “Dangerous Summer”, “Memoirs of Moominpappa”, “Magic Winter”, “Daddy and the Sea”, “At the End of November”), one collection of stories “The Invisible Child”, 4 picture books (“Dangerous Journey”, “What Then”, “Who Will Comfort the Baby”, “The Fraudster in the Mumming House” trolls"). Almost all of them are somehow connected with the sea. But the sea is a symbol of romance and adventure, i.e. something that all children love. And these are stories about relatives and friends. The books are permeated with the atmosphere of a warm home, a good, proper family. They are very cozy. Moominpappa is like a human dad, Moominmama is the same busy housewife, she is like my mother: she takes care of everyone, does many things at the same time and does not get lost with her bag. And I also met Hemulen, Snusmumrik, Uncle Muskrat, Tofsla and Vifsla in reality.
- 13. When little Tove Marika Jansson drew a strange hippopotamus on the wall to tease her younger brother, she did not yet know that she would become a famous writer, and her drawing would become the most famous character. She remembered him during the war in 1939. The young artist, noticing how “the colors were dying,” wanted, in the midst of this gloom, to recreate what reminded her of her happy and safe childhood. This is how “Little Trolls and the Great Flood” appeared. The big-nosed Moomintroll is more of a comic image, since, according to Jansson, it is impossible to tell a beautiful or romantic fairy tale in the middle of a war.
- 14. In general, this story seems to me to be something of an introduction to more interesting and fascinating fairy tales. There are a lot of adventures in it though. Searches for Moominpappa, floods and encounters with strange animals. In general, you definitely won’t get bored reading this story. And what wonderful illustrations! I just want to dive into a fairy tale to chat with these delightful Moomins! So illustrations complement fairy tales very well, and without them these stories are simply impossible to imagine. In "The Great Flood" it all started when Moomintroll and his mother went looking for a house. Then it turns out that Moomintroll's dad left to discover uncharted shores with the Hatifnatts, because he could not sit still. As a result, they found both dad and the house, which itself sailed into the valley, later called Moominvalley. The characters begin to acquire their own qualities: Sniff already loves shiny things, Moomintroll is a loyal and sympathetic friend, and Moominmama is already the kindest in the world.
- 15. Moomin Valley is a place where anything can happen. But when the Wizard's hat appeared there, all the people were confused. Nobody knew what to expect from her. Neither Sniff, nor Moomintroll, nor Snufkin could figure out what to do with this hat. She turned Moomintroll into a big-eared monster on thin legs, egg shells turned into soft elastic clouds, and what Muskrat’s false teeth turned into is just scary to watch. And only when the terrible Morra came to the Moomin Valley for her suitcase, the Wizard’s hat immediately found a real job. As you can easily guess from the title, all events begin with an unusual find - the Wizard's Hat, which he accidentally lost in his fruitless search for the Royal Ruby. This ordinary-looking Hat had one most unpleasant property - it could transform everything that came into it.
- 16. Moomintroll’s mother had a difficult morning. This is how "Dangerous Summer" begins. First, she needed to make a birch bark boat for her son, and this was not a joke at all. Then little My got into the box with threads and needles, and we had to be careful that the fidget wouldn’t prick herself. And to top it all off, flakes of soot from the Fire-Breathing Mountain began to swirl in the air again. And then the grumpy and always dissatisfied Hemulus locked Miss Snork, Moomintroll and his friend Fillyjonk in prison. But the troubles didn't end there. Moominpappa decided to write a play, and the inhabitants of the valley face another test - a dress rehearsal on a floating theater and the premiere of the play. You can learn a lot more interesting things from this book. For example, how to dive to get breakfast, and why it is dangerous to spend the night in a tree. In general, the book is so eventful that it would be enough for a large series. This is probably my favorite Moomin book.
- 17. Another favorite fairy tale of mine. Everyone knows that in winter the Moomins are supposed to sleep. For a long, long time, filling our bellies with pine needles, until spring arrives. But what to do if you suddenly wake up, and everyone around you is snoring sweetly and does not want to wake up either after the alarm clock rings or after the persistent requests of Moomintroll?! The only friend who is awake in winter - Snusmumrik - makes another journey in search of adventure, and the Moomin House is also covered with snow. Lonely and sad... All that remains is to go out into the winter cold and try to find something interesting. But you just have to want it, and new acquaintances, even if a little mysterious and strange, will find you themselves! And the mischievous Little My, awakened by the stupid little squirrel, will not let anyone get bored! And even severe cold, a blizzard, an invasion of hungry creatures can open the door to a miracle - winter is magical, you just need to learn to see its charm! And spring is just around the corner, awakening and new, but pleasant chores!
- 18. One day in August, Moominpappa realized that most of all he wanted to live not in the Valley, but on an island with a lighthouse, among the raging sea. When the boat with the Moomin family sailed to the island, it turned out that no one was waiting for them there, the lighthouse was closed, the only neighbors were the gloomy Fisherman, and in general a more boring place could not be found. But it soon became clear that the island kept so many secrets, mysteries and surprises that there would actually be enough adventure for a whole year. In this fairy tale there is almost none of the comfort, warmth, and well-being that filled the pages of previous books. It is probably written more for adults than for children. She talks about how important it is to appreciate each other, not to forget about each other. She says that some people become evil only because no one pays attention to them, that external beauty is completely insufficient for love, that even cold people will dance if they feel that they care about someone. And yet, despite the apparent gloom
- I love this book. And here miracles happen. Perhaps, without miracles, stories about Moomins would no longer be stories about Moomins. These are the sea horses that Moomintroll admires so much and with which he dreams of playing. This is Morra, who is getting closer and closer to Moomintroll, who is holding a lantern in his hands, although this behavior is not usually characteristic of Morra. This book is, in a sense, a reminder that not everything will always be fine. Even in the Moomin family there are quarrels, and despite the fact that everyone is together, everyone is lonely in their own way. But “The Pope and the Sea” also does not let us forget that with joint efforts all this can be overcome. After all, didn’t some of us in childhood dream of going on an adventure, living in a lighthouse, studying something, finding our secret places and wonderful creatures that no one knows about... And even if Moominpappa and Moominmama are depressed, Moomintroll doesn’t know what to do with himself; he’s probably starting to grow up. But this was written by Tove Jansson, which means the non-working beacon will light up again.
- 20. Although many perceive Tove Jansson exclusively as a children's author, I learned that Jansson created several brilliant “adult” works, which were included in the collections “The Sculptor’s Daughter”, “The Boat and I”. The book "The Sculptor's Daughter" consists of Jansson's most famous stories, such as "The Summer Book", "An Honest Deception", "Stone Field", as well as the autobiographical story "The Sculptor's Daughter". I will definitely read these books.
- 21. In the summer of 1966, Finnish writer and artist Tove Marika Jansson received the International Hans Christian Andersen Gold Medal for her books about the Moomins. This highest honor is given to writers and artists who write and draw for children. Tove Jansson will later have many awards and prizes, but this medal will become the most valuable for her. The last book in the Moomin series, At the End of November, appeared in 1970. Throughout her life, Tove Jansson painted professionally, mainly adhering to the principles of figurative art, and also held her own solo exhibitions, despite the fact that Moomin drawings took up a lot of her time. In 2014, the 100th anniversary of Jansson's birth was celebrated. Tove Marika Jansson died on June 27, 2001.
- 22. SELMA LAGERLÖF Selma Ottilie Luvisa Lagerlöf was born on November 20, 1858 in the family estate of Morbakka (Värmland County). Father - Eric Gustav Lagerlöf (1819-1885), retired military man, mother - Elisabeth Lovisa Wallroth (1827-1915), teacher. The greatest influence on the development of Lagerlöf's poetic talent was the environment of her childhood, spent in one of the most picturesque regions of central Sweden - Värmland. The Morbakka estate itself is one of the vivid memories of the writer’s childhood; she never tired of describing it in her works, especially in the autobiographical books “Morbakka” (1922), “Memoirs of a Child” (1930), “Diary” (1932).
- 23. attempts at children's creativity. But, having gotten back on her feet, Selma had to think about how to make a living. The family by that time was completely poor. In 1881, Lagerlöf entered the Lyceum in Stockholm, in 1882 she entered the Higher Teachers' Seminary, from which she graduated in 1884. That same year she became a teacher at a girls' school in Landskrona in southern Sweden. In 1885, his father died, and in 1888, his beloved Morbakka was sold for debts, and strangers settled in the estate. . In the autobiographical short story “The Tale of a Tale” (1908), Lagerlöf described her At the age of 3, the future writer became seriously ill. She was paralyzed and bedridden. The girl became very attached to her grandmother and aunt Nana, who entertained her with many folk tales, local legends and family chronicles. After the death of my grandmother, it seemed that the door to the fairy-tale world had slammed shut. And when the ability to move was restored to her in a special clinic in Stockholm, she was already cherishing the idea of her own literary work. She was 9 years old.
- 24. The central work of Selma Lagerlöf - the fairy-tale book “The Wonderful Journey of Nils Holgersson through Sweden” (1906-1907) was initially conceived as an educational book. She had to tell children about Sweden, its geography and history, legends and cultural traditions in a fun way. The book is based on folk tales and legends. Together with a flock of geese, led by the wise old Akka Knebekaise, Martina Nils travels all over Sweden on the back of a goose. But this is not just a journey, it is also personal development. Thanks to meetings and events during the trip, kindness awakens in Nils Holgersson, he begins to worry about other people's misfortunes, rejoice at the successes of others, and experience someone else's fate as his own. The boy gains the ability to empathize, without which a person is not a person. While protecting and saving his fairy-tale companions, Nils fell in love with people, understood the grief of his parents, the suffering of the orphans Oosa and Mats, and the difficult life of the poor. Nils returns from his journey as a real man.
- 25. The Nobel Prize allowed Lagerlöf to buy out her native Morbakka, where she moved and lived until the end of her life. So the boy Nils helped the girl Selma realize her dream and return home. Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, received this award primarily as the author of Nils's Amazing Journey with the Wild Geese. By the way, she donated her gold medal to the Swedish National Fund for Relief of Finland for the war with the USSR.
- 26. The writer’s portrait has been featured on the 20 Swedish krona banknote since 1991. Selma Lagerlöf died on March 16, 1940. Monuments to her and her heroes stand in the cities of Scandinavia: Karlstad, Landskrona, Oslo, etc.
- 27. The famous Norwegian writer and playwright Thorbjorn Egner was born on December 12, 1912 THORBJORN EGNER. in Christiania in the family of the merchant Magnus Egner and was the youngest of his three children. Magnus Egner owned a grocery store, and his family was considered quite wealthy. However, in addition to trade, the father of the future writer had other hobbies related to music and theater. He and his eldest son played the violin, and Thorbjörn's mother Anna and his sister played the piano.
- 28. The writer himself later recalled that from the moment he could remember, his greatest desire was to write poetry, play music, stage plays and draw. As befits the son of a merchant, he worked as a messenger from childhood, and spent his summer holidays on his father’s farm in Romerik. It was childhood memories that formed the basis of his subsequent work. From a young age, theater became an important hobby for Egner. While still a student, Thorbjörn wrote and staged short skits. Subsequently, Egner staged many of his works for children on the theater stage. At first he only illustrated the works of famous writers. But gradually this work fades into the background, giving way to children's literature, which becomes his main, although far from the only, occupation.
- 29. Egner created a new, synthetic genre of stories for children, when text, illustrations and songs become one. This again demonstrates the versatility of his talent. After all, based on his most famous book, the writer wrote a play that has been running non-stop (!!!) since 1965 (!!!) at the National Theater in Oslo. This is the longest-running performance in the history of Norwegian theatre. We are talking, of course, about the most famous and beloved work by readers from different countries: the lyrical fantasy “People and Robbers from Cardamom.” The tale is still regularly republished. Cardamom is a tiny town, and it is so far away that only grandparents, and maybe even mom and dad, know about it. Probably, as a child, they also dreamed of living in a city where they bake fragrant gingerbreads, all the residents are polite, polite, sing songs and ride on an old double-decker tram, where the tram driver gives out these same gingerbreads for free..
- 30. The whole life of this city with its holidays, established by the most humane guardian of order Bastian, is like a fairy tale, although nothing fantastic or fabulous happens. But not in every town you can find a tame lion or a talking camel, and the kindest police chief probably lives only in Cardamom. True, sometimes robbers visit Cardamom, but this only makes life there more interesting! The robbers Kasper, Esper and Yukotan are only happy to go to prison in Cardamom, where they will create a real orchestra. The jailer's wife works all day to better feed the prisoners, and the jailer worries whether the robbers are living well in his prison. Robbers, having lived in such a prison, do not leave it. And they themselves are more like naughty children.
- 31. The Norwegians loved cardamom so much that they built it life-size - with a tower, tram and post office. It enjoys the same success as Moominvalley in Finland and Hobbiton in New Zealand, where the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filmed. This “Cardamom Park” is a monument to a good storyteller. But, of course, the real monument is his works. In our country, four fairy tales by Thorbjörn Egner were published at different times: “Adventures in the Elki-na-Gorka forest”, “How Ole Jakop visited the city”, “People and robbers from the city of Cardamom” and “Carius and Bacterius” (in different editions – “The Troll’s Gift”).
- 32. In each of his books, Egner creates a new fairy-tale world: a forest, a city, a farm. These “worlds” are inhabited by quite recognizable characters, which, it would seem, have been written about more than once: mice, foxes, and bears live in the forest; in the city we meet the conductor, the policeman and other ordinary citizens; on the farm we see ducks, horses, dogs... But Egner easily and imperceptibly breaks reader stereotypes. There are no good or bad heroes in his books. Each character is described with unfailing love. But the kind and hardworking sometimes experience anger, fear and helplessness. The mischievous and capricious turn out to be dexterous and brave, and in case of danger they are the first to come to the rescue. Thieves and robbers turn into talented musicians, and the predatory Fox... into a vegetarian! And you gradually get used to the fact that there are no “black” and “white” heroes, that you can correct your mistakes and accept the shortcomings of others.
- 33. In the forest of Elki-na-Gorka there live many animals: the polite and hardworking Mouse Morten, the slacker and singer Climbing Mouse (very similar to the author of the song “What a Wonderful Day!”), the Baker Bunny, the wise old Raven Per, the cunning Fox Mikkel . A variety of stories happen to them, funny and sad, animals quarrel and make peace, learn to respect and not interfere with each other, and come up with forest laws. But suddenly a real disaster happens: Grumpy Bear falls into the hands of people who want to sell him to the circus. And then all the forest people rush to the rescue: having drawn up a rescue plan and overcoming many dangers, they free Grumpy. The fairy tale “Adventures in the Elki-on-Gorka Forest” has become very famous in our country.
- 34. 2012 in Norway was declared the year of Egner. Events dedicated to his 100th anniversary, life and work have been and are still taking place throughout the country. A new major monograph by Anders Heger has been published, revealing in a new way the personality and talent of the hero of the day. Egner's work has truly become a golden page in the history of Norwegian children's literature, and his cheerful pathos and optimism are much needed in our era. He was and remains in the hearts of children and adults a kind wizard, ready to take them into a fairy-tale world, encourage, console and amuse, and moreover, teach an important lesson. The storyteller Egner lived a long and happy life, his four children were also happy, living in a fairy tale that their father, a writer, poet, composer, playwright and artist, created every day. Thorbjörn Egner died on December 24, 1990
- 35. JAN EKHOLM Swedish writer Jan Olof Ekholm was born on October 20, 1931 in Avesta. Ekholm is best known as an author of detective novels. His books have been translated into many languages. Unfortunately, he enriched children's literature with a small number of works. He was made famous by the fairy tale “Tutta Carlson the First and Only, Ludwig the Fourteenth, etc.”), which formed the basis of the Soviet film “Red, Honest, in Love”, as well as the cartoons “How Foxes and Chickens Became Friends” and “Little Ginger”.
- This book is amazing! There is good and evil, cunning, and a cautionary tale. She teaches you to be fair, choose your friends, tell you what gossip is and why gossip is bad. And it will also reveal the whole topic of friendship with people who are not like us. From the book you can learn how important it is to have your own opinion, especially when choosing friends. How important it is to listen not to others, but to your heart. “Do you know the Larssons? No, not those Larssons who sometimes come to visit the Perssons. I'm talking about the cunning Larssons. And if I also add that these cunning Larssons live in a hole, then you will immediately guess that I want to tell you about the largest and most cunning family in the entire forest.” Thus begins a wonderful fairy tale about a little fox who did not want to be cunning, but wanted to be friends with those with whom he was not supposed to be friends at all!
- 37. I just want to crawl into this hole, so comfortable and cozy, and sit at the table with the Larssons. It’s even interesting how Jan Ekholm knows how the fox hole works, no less, he visited there and met the whole family. And it is not small: mom, dad, started Laban, Leopold, Lage, Lasse Sr., Lasse Jr., Louise, Lilia, Lotta, etc. etc., and finally, Ludwig the Fourteenth. The main character meets the chicken Tutta Karlsson, and they become fast friends. Together with the chickens, they save a family of foxes in a chicken coop, repaying them with good for evil. The chain of evil has been broken - long live goodness! You shouldn’t ask yourself whether to read this fairy tale or not. Every parent should, simply must, read a story about foxes and chickens to their child. And maybe the world will become a better place.
- 38. Despite the enormous success of the fairy tale about the friendship of foxes and chickens, which went through several reprints in Sweden and other countries, Ekholm for a long time worked only in the detective genre. In recent years, the writer has again turned to children's literature. In 2005-2008, he published a series of stories for schoolchildren about the adventures of the boy Lasse, who helps his policeman father investigate crimes. In 1979, the writer received the award for the best non-fiction book from the Swedish Academy of Detective Writers for the book “Mälarmördaren”. In 2000, he received the Ture Swanton Prize in the field of detective literature for children and teenagers for the book “Tomten till salu”.
Who among us did not read fairy tales as a child? Personally, I loved reading them. Well, when I dug down on the library shelf to the richest layer of literary fairy tales, what happened happened. Time stopped, and the world around me froze, I read and read!
I believe that best children's books are literary fairy tales by Scandinavian writers Astrid Lindgren, Thorbjörn Enger and Tove Jansson.
I felt my first delight when I read the trilogy. "Kid and Carlson" Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. A sea of funny situations, elegant style and rich imagination of the author delighted and captivated. Then it's fairy tale time "Pippi Longstocking". But the fairy tale captivated my heart forever. I was sad and cried with little Busse, dreamed of a horse as beautiful as Mio’s and to perform feats in the name of good with him. Astrid Lindgren has become my favorite writer. Almost all of her books are dedicated to children. “I have not written books for adults and I think that I will never do so,” the writer once said decisively. All the heroes she created are lively, active and mischievous children with their own talents and whims, inclinations and weaknesses. This is exactly what they are - Mio, Pippi, Kalle, Yeran, little Cherven.
The writer talks truthfully and seriously with children. Yes, the world is not simple, there are diseases, poverty, hunger, grief and suffering in the world. In her fairy tale “In the Land Between Light and Darkness,” the boy Yeran has not gotten out of bed for a year because of a sore leg, but every evening he finds himself in the magical Land of Twilight, or as it is also called, the Land Between Light and Darkness. Unusual people live in this country. Anything can be in it - caramels grow on trees, and trams run on water. And most importantly, neither illness nor suffering “have the slightest meaning” in it.
Children, according to Lindgren, should be happy. They should have their own Far Country, the Country of Twilight or the island of Siltkrona. Children should play, laugh, enjoy life and should never get sick or go hungry. For Lindgren, the fabulous and magical is born from the imagination of the child himself. So the Kid from the books about “The Kid and Carlson” comes up with a cheerful friend who lives on the roof and loves jam, Pippi Longstocking from the fairy tale of the same name, considers himself a black princess and imagines himself a rich, strong and beloved girl.
Fairy tale “Mio, my Mio!” born in 1954. One day, while walking through the square, the writer noticed a little sad boy sitting alone and sadly on a bench. This turned out to be enough. He sat and was sad, and Lindgren had already transported him to the fabulous Far Land, which he himself had invented. She surrounded him with blooming roses, found him a loving father and cheerful, devoted friends, and involved him in many adventures. And Busse’s adopted son becomes in his dreams Prince Mio, the beloved son of the king of the Far Country. This is how my favorite fairy tale turned out, full of poetry and charm.
A special phenomenon in Norwegian literature is Thorbjørn Egner. He not only wrote interesting books for children, but also translated the famous English fairy tale by A.A. for Norwegian children. Milne about the teddy bear Nalla Poo (known to Russian children as Winnie the Pooh). Egner not only introduced his little compatriots to the English teddy bear, but also wrote a fairy tale for them about the living Grumpy Bear, Morten the Mouse, the Climbing Mouse, the House Mouse, Mikkel the Fox, squirrels and other inhabitants of the Elki-on-Gorka forest. In the fairy tale, animals talk and behave like people. There are good and kind animals - the bear Bamse, his family and many small animals, there are cunning and evil ones - Mikkel the Fox and Peter the Hedgehog. Angry at the Fox and the Hedgehog, who were attacking small animals, the inhabitants of the forest gathered together and made a promise to live in friendship and harmony. The fox does not want to eat grass and berries, but he is forced to do so and raise his hind paw as a sign of consent. The fox gradually improves and even saves the little bear Grumpy. The book “Adventures in the Forest of Elki-on-Gorka” is a very funny and life-affirming fairy tale. And its meaning is in the song of animals who decided to live in peace and friendship:
Let's divide everything in half -
Joys and troubles
And delicious
Delicious,
Delicious lunches.
The fairy tale contains many animal songs that Enger composed. And he not only writes interesting fairy tales and composes songs, but also illustrates his books.
In the summer of 1966, the Finnish writer and artist Tove Marika Jansson received the International Hans Christian Andersen Gold Medal for her books about extraordinary fairy-tale creatures - Moomins, hemuls, fillyjonks, homs, snorks, morrahs, etc. This highest award is awarded to writers and artists who write and draw for children. Tove Jansson will later have many awards and prizes, but this medal will become the most valuable for her. In 1938, Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated the book "Little Trolls and the Big Flood". Then 11 more books about the Moomins: "A Comet Arrives"(1946); "The Wizard's Hat" (1949); (1950); “What happened then?”(1952); "Dangerous Summer" (1954); "Magic Winter" (1957); “Who will console the little one?” (1960); "The Invisible Child"(1962); "Daddy and the Sea" (1965); "In the end of November" (1970); "The Rascal in the Moomin House"(1980). All these books have been translated into 25 languages, including Russian. Each of Jansson’s works is the embodiment of one or another child’s aspirations: passion for the mysterious and magical (“A Comet Arrives,” “The Wizard’s Hat”), for construction and invention (“Memoirs of Moomintroll Dad”), kindness and love for the weak (“ Magical Winter”, “The Invisible Child”), curiosity and a penchant for play and transformation (“Dangerous Summer”).
Astrit Lindgren, Thorbjörn Egner and Tove Jansson brought into the literary fairy tale the whole country of childhood with all its psychological shades, desires, aspirations and fantasies. And they did it so talentedly that they forced everyone to admit: there are children's books that belong to real literature. And many will agree with my opinion that best children's books belong to these magnificent Scandinavian writers.
Happy reading!
So, the first eight children's writers who come to mind when we say “Scandinavia”. I don’t think Hans Christian Andersen :)
Of course, number one will be Astrid Lindgren. I think no one needs to introduce her :)
By the way, Carlson, who is so popular in our country, is not so loved in other countries. Even in his homeland he is considered an eccentric, selfish liar, so the author’s words that there is “something Russian” in this hero cannot but cause alarm.
Shall we go further through Sweden?
Selma Ottilie Luvisa Lagerlöf, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and the third woman ever to receive it, is best known to us as the author of Nils's Amazing Journey with the Wild Geese. By the way, she donated her gold medal to the Swedish National Fund for Relief of Finland for the war with the USSR.
The writer's portrait has been featured on the 20 Swedish krona banknote since 1991:
Jan Olaf Ekholm, known to us for the fairy tale “Tutta Karlsson the First and Only, Ludwig the Fourteenth and Others.” , which became the basis for the Soviet film “Red Honest Lover,” he mainly wrote detective stories. In 1975 he was elected chairman of the Swedish Detective Academy, and two years later he became one of the founders of the Stockholm Crime Writers Association.
Another Swede, Sven Nordkvist, a writer and artist, is famous for his series about the old farmer Petson and his smart kitten Findus. At the very beginning of his career, Sven decided to take part in an illustrator competition, but he did not want to draw pictures for other people’s works and wrote a book himself.
Annika Thor, whose tetralogy about Jewish sisters who fled from Nazi Vienna to the Gothenburg skerries, was only recently (and not completely - there is no last book yet) translated into Russian, rightfully takes a place among Swedish writers, authors of the best books for children and youth . Her works tell about life in wartime Europe without excessive sentimentality, but at the same time touching and objective.
Let's turn our gaze a little further north, to Norway.
Its native Anne-Katrina Westley not only wrote books (56 works that were translated into 16 languages), but also acted in films. By the way, she played a grandmother in the film adaptation of her own series “Mom, Dad, Eight Children and a Truck,” after which she received the affectionate nickname “grandmother of all Norwegians.”
Sweden's other neighbor, Finland, was once part of the Russian Empire. Therefore, the next author is a little, but ours :)
It would be too long to list the awards received by the creator of the Moomins, Tove Jansson, but one cannot help but say that she always emphasized that she was an artist and took writing rather frivolously. However, the place of the graduate of the Swedish Academy of Arts in history was aptly defined at her funeral (due to which national mourning was declared) by the president of the country: “The work of Tove Jansson is Finland’s greatest contribution to the world treasury of culture after Kalevala and Sibelius.”
They say that income from the sale of products exploiting the image of the Moomins makes up the same part of the Finnish state budget as the tax deductions from the Nokia corporation.
Jansson's compatriot Marcus Majaluoma, a UNICEF award winner, is less known among us. He is also not only a writer, but also an illustrator.
Of his works for children, the best known is a series of books about his father, Pentti Rozoholmainen, and his three children, Ossi, Veino and Anna-Marie. Two of them (“Papa, when will Santa Claus come?” and “Papa, let’s go pick mushrooms!”) were translated into Russian.
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