Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Goes on Board (1946)
Trans. Florence Laborn
Illus. Louis S. Glanzman
Viking Press, 1957
Here’s how our heroine introduces herself: “My name’s Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim’s Daughter Longstocking, daughter of Captain Edraim Longstocking, formerly the Terror of the Sea, now a cannibal King. But everybody calls me Pippi.” (10)
And, once you’ve made her acquaintance (likely at the garden gate, you’ll know nearly everything you need to know.
Unless you are more akin to Annika and Tommy, who live next door, and who, unfortunately, have a mother and a father who insist that Annika and Tommy go to bed at seven o’clock (when everybody knows that all the interesting things happen after seven o’clock).
Nonetheless, at least when it comes to Pippi, you will know that “nowhere in the world, in that town or any other, was there anyone half so strong as she was”.
In Pippi’s world, it really does seem unfortunate to have parents. She really knows how to have a good time. Tommy says, “I think more funny things will happen where Pippi is.”
One remarkable episode in this, the second in the Pippi series, is that in which she showcases her amazing strength to defend a horse being whipped mercilessly by its owner. The schoolteacher in Pippi’s village has already tried to intervene in the animal’s defense, but to no avail. “Don’t interfere with what doesn’t concern you,” said he. “Otherwise it might just happen that I’ll give you a taste of the whip too, the whole lot of you.”
To explain how Pippi intervenes would spoil the story, but here is a snippet drawn from the middle of the scene: “‘Help! Help!’ he cried, terrified. At last he landed with a thump on the road. He had lost the whip.”
But Pippi is not always a selfless rescuer. She also goes shopping, writes a letter, attends a picnic, picks wild strawberries, and visits the fair.
I didn’t read the later Pippi books as a girl (and, ironically, the first Pippi Longstocking wasn’t a book that I regularly reread then either) but returning to them as an adult, I’d still happily share Villa Villekulla, Mr. Nilsson the monkey, and the horse who lives on the porch, and Pippi, too, of course.
What books did you NOT read as a young reader that you now wish you had discovered sooner?
Pippi was a favourite with my sister!
Even though I thoroughly enjoyed reading them with my eldest daughter when she was in grade three, wish I had read the ‘Narnia’ series when I was young too!
I was very fond of the Narnia books when I was a girl, and I’m glad that I discovered them then. Whereas other books are, I think, equally enjoyable no matter when we get around to them!
Oh, I loved Pippi Goes on Board! I remember they had a game where they swung on a vine, or something, and dropped into the sea? That was my favorite part. I always wanted to be able to do that, and it never came to fruition.
It’s so unfair when bookish events like this, which have such an impact on us as young readers, can’t be enacted in RL. ::growls::
There are too many children’s books out there that I have not read as a child. I am only finding out about them now for the simple reason that they are popular children’s classics in the English speaking world, but often quite unknown in other countries. I do feel this separate sphere of books is much more influential for children than adults. Even now, when I go into a bookshop, the shelves will feature many books that are written by Dutch authors, and little ‘international’ titles.
Pippi, however, will always be featured. As do many many other books by Astrid Lindgren. I never read Pippi as a child, I am not sure why (or not that I remember, I feel my parents must have read it to me sometime or other), but I did read many of the other books by Lindgren. If you have not read Ronja the Robber’s Daughter or The Brothers Lionheart, I tell you: it is a must!
Both of these are on my reading list, Iris: thanks for nudging me in their direction. They aren’t readily available in Canada, but the library does have a couple of copies. And I’m on the lookout in second-hand shops too. I’m quite interested in the author, too, but it’s harder to find information about her here.