In order to celebrate the launch of The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature in March, we invited OUP staff to dress up as their favourite characters from children’s books. The result was one surreal day during which our Oxford offices were overrun with children’s literature characters, ranging from the Cat in the Hat to Aslan, from Pippi Longstocking to the Tiger Who Came to Tea, and from Little Red Riding Hood to the Very Hungry Caterpillar. It was a brilliant and brave effort by all those who attended. Particularly those who commuted to and from work in their costumes!
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I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my three-year-old daughter's newly expressed interest in being read chapter books, in addition to her regular diet of picture books and early readers. I asked people on the post and on Facebook to share titles that they had read with their children while were still pre-readers. I collected a number of titles, and was especially pleased to be reminded of a post that Melissa Wiley wrote a couple of years on this very topic (Chapter book suggestions for a four-year-old). Out of these suggestions, and my own opinions, I've come up with a list of the top five series I most look forward to reading with my daughter. They are (in approximate age order):
1. The Clementine Books by Sara Pennypacker (ill. Marla Frazee). I absolutely adore Clementine. I think she is a wonderful character, and that the books are spot on in terms of both realism and humor. Frazee's illustrations perfectly capture Clementine for me, too. And there are enough illustrations that I think Baby Bookworm will be ready for the first book soon. In fact I just ordered a new copy, because I apparently gave mine away (back in the days before I knew that I'd have a daughter to read it to, I suspect). And as a bonus, the books are set in Boston, where my family's pro sports loyalties will forever lie.
2. The Pippi Longstocking Books by Astrid Lindgren. My daughter has a 3-year-old's love of the ridiculous. I think that she'll be as charmed by the irrepressible Pippi as I was. And perhaps she'll be inspired by the way that Pippi solves her own problems. Pippi gives new meaning to the term "strong girl." My second grade class did Pippi as a class play, with my friend Holly as Pippi (her real braids manipulated out to the sides with a coat hanger or something). I was Annika, and I'll never forget it.
I also splurged on the DVD boxed set of the four Pippi movies from the 1970s. This was more for me than for Baby Bookworm, in truth (though she adores movies), because I have fond memories of my dad taking my siblings and I (or probably just my next-youngest brother and I) to see them in the theater. Pippi in the South Seas was my favorite of the movies, and I look forward to seeing it again (after we read the book).
3. The Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (ill. Garth Williams). This was the first series that I remember reading on my own, devouring book after book. Little House in the Big Woods will forever be the first middle grade title that Baby Bookworm expressed a serious interest in reading (admittedly inspired by Little House in the Big Woods paper dolls). So it is naturally on our Top 5 list. But as we've progressed in attempting to read the first book, it's become clear that she's more interested in hearing the stories associated with some of the pictures than in actually listening to the whole book right now. No worries. The books will wait.
4. The Penderwicks Books by Jeanne Birdsall. I adore The Penderwicks. To me these books are modern classics, with the characterization and emotional resonance of the Elizabeth Enright books (childhood favorites of mine), but with a more up-to-date feel. Clearly 4-year-old Batty will be Baby Bookworm's favorite character, if we read the books any time within the next few years, but I imagine that one day she will identify with Jane or Skye or eventually Rosalind. These are books I'd like to read with her while she's in elementary school, when she's old enough to discuss Rosalind's crush, and Jeffrey's loneliness. But young enough to feel the endless potential of summer in the first book.
5. The Harry Potter Books by J.K. Rowling (ill. Mary GrandPre). OK, this one is a bit of a cliche. But really, who doesn't look forward to reading the Harry Potter books with their child? I did, in fact, read Baby Bookworm the first book when she was an infant, but I look forward to her being old enough to appreciate the story. I don't want to start too soon, because the later books are pretty dark, and I know that once we start we're likely to want to keep going. But I do look forward to spending time with my daughter in Harry Potter's world. In fact, I think this one will be a family affair, because I can't imagine my husband not wanting to participate, too.
There are lots of other books that I hope to read with my Baby Bookworm when the time is right. I hope that she will be as captivated by the work of Elizabeth Enright and Zilpha Keatley Snyder as I was, and am. I imagine that she'll love The Borrowers. I hope that she doesn't find A Little Princess or The Secret Garden dated. I hope that we are able to read book after book after book together. I think that there are some books that she'll enjoy more if she discovers them on her own (though I can't say which ones off the top of my head). But the above five are the series that I am most looking forward to sharing with her. Perhaps in a future post I'll look at some standalone titles (Matilda, perhaps?).
What books do you look forward to reading aloud with your children? What books did you enjoy when they were younger? If you've already been through it, don't you kind of envy me, having all of these books still ahead of us? An unintentional upside to having a child late in life. Thanks for reading!
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#91 Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (1950)
21 points
This book has such childlike exuberance. Pippi is someone we’d talk about as if we knew her. (“And she sleeps with her feet on the pillow!”) This is a child-sized tall tale. - Sondra Eklund
Pippi, I am pleased to report, is the first book on this list to move up instead of down. Originally located at #95 it has happily jumped up a square or two to #91. Why the increased Pippi love? Well, as much as I’d love to credit the fact that she served as the inspiration for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (true story) it may just be that Sweden’s best known children’s book import contained what I like to call the original child superhero. She can pick up horses and thieves and live on her own with a monkey. Though I don’t know how you’d be able to fit a name like Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking into a comic book balloon. Likewise its Swedish equivalent Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump.
The description of the book from the publisher reads, “The beloved story of a spunky young girl and her hilarious escapades. Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on her porch, and a pet monkey named Mr. Nilsson. Whether Pippi’s scrubbing her floors, doing arithmetic, or stirring things up at a fancy tea party, her flair for the outrageous always seems to lead to another adventure.”
The world of children’s literature owes a debt of gratitude to sick children everywhere. Without them we might not have half the books that grace our shelves today. Certainly we wouldn’t have Pippi Longstocking, had it not been for the fact that Astrid Lindgren’s daughter got sick in 1941 and insisted on stories about Pippi.
As The Christian Science Monitor puts it, “Pippi was a hit in the Lindgren household, but although Mrs. Lindgren told the stories regularly at bedtime, she didn’t even bother writing them down. It wasn’t until a few years later that she finally put them on paper. She had wanted the manuscript to be a gift for Karin’s 10th birthday, but she also sent it to a large publishing company. It was rejected.” When it was accepted by a smaller press Ms. Lindgren wrote books for them and then went to work for them as an editor. Wouldn’t it be interesting if that happened today? Step One: Get book contract. Step Two: Sign book contract. Step Three: Work for your own publisher and edit other folks and translate books like Curious George into Swedish.
Ms. Lindgren was actually inspired by a different heroine, however. A Ms. Anne of Green Gables. Perhaps you’ve heard of her?
According to 100 Best Books for Children by Anita Silvey, the most famous attack on Pippi said of it, “Pippi is something unpleasant that scratches the soul.” She was the Junie B. Jones of her day, and folks didn’t appreciate her casual disregard for society’s conventions.
At least two books on this Top 100 list have helped inspire their own theme parks. I doubt you would have guessed off the top of your head that one of them was
6 Comments on Top 100 Children’s Novels #91: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, last added: 5/15/2012
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OK, that song is just PAINFUL. I couldn’t listen to more than the first 30 seconds (although my three year old just piped up “that was a nice song” behind me, which means clearly we need to work on her music appreciation skills).
I’ve always loved Pippi. Her spunk, the way she brightened up Tommy and Annika’s mundane life, the fact that she just assumed everyone was a friend (even if they most decidedly were NOT), her independence but the fact that she still loved her papa dearly … aw, she was just grand.
Not sure how I feel about updated language, to be honest. I think half of Pippi’s charm was that she was this completely outrageous girl in a very prim-and-proper place and time, and the old-fashioned language reinforces that. Change that, and I think you lose something from the story itself.
I haven’t read the new translation–we have it, but I just haven’t read it. Cannibal King vs. King of the Natives? OK, I don’t have a problem with that. But morning promenade vs. morning walk? I rather like the sound of a morning promenade. Oh, well.
That is not the Pippi Longstocking song I remember from the movies! Wonder if it was an earlier one, or elsewhere in this film? I just remember her singing “I am Pip-pi Longgggstocking, how I love my funny na-ame-o!”
I like morning promenade too. But otherwise, fresher language in the translation might be good.
“Cannibal King” resonated with my third grade brain in all sorts of creative ways that “King of the Natives” never would have.
The whole book is about a girl who shocks adults and charms children. It almost seems as if the new edition takes the side of the adults.
I wonder what words Astrid Lindgren really used.
Pippi had everything I wanted as a kid: super strength, her own house, a chest full of gold and best of all a monkey.
Owwww, that movie is AWFUL!! You have to watch the original movies with Inger Nilsson. Even though the dubbing is a little off, they’re so much better! Google “har kommer pippi langstrump” and you’ll get the REAL theme song!