Let's Bust a Recap : Pippi Longstocking

The last time I read Pippi Longstocking, I was probably only 10 or 11 years old. (Which means it's been well over 20 years since I read it, but let's not get into that right now.) I decided to read it out loud this summer to the little boy I nanny because everyone needs a little Pippi in their lives. Especially during 2020.

Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking is the daughter of an angel mother she can't remember and a cannibal king father she's very proud of. In Pippi Longstocking, she moves into Villa Villekulla with her pet monkey Mr. Nilsson, her horse (which she's strong enough to lift over her head, by the way) and her suitcase full of gold coins. She befriends the two neighbor kids, Tommy and Annika, and throughout this outrageously funny novel we read about all her wacky adventures with them.

I love this book. It's so funny and Pippi is somehow so lovable despite some of her more questionable behavior. Astrid Lindgren made up these stories for her daughter Karin in 1941 during a time when Karin was home sick from school, and Pippi quickly became a beloved family character. A few years later while Lindgren was bedridden with an injury, she wrote out the stories in an attempt to have them published. They were chosen by Rabén & Sjögren for publication in Sweden in 1945 and since that time, Pippi Longstocking has been translated into 76 languages and Astrid Lindgren is the fourth most translated children's writer trailing only Enid Blyton, Hans Christian Andersen, and the Brothers Grimm. Actually she's the world's eighteenth most translated author ever. 

Pippi Longstocking (the first of three full-length novels about the title character) was translated into English by Florence Lamborn in 1950 when it was published in the U.S. for the first time. The American illustrations were done by Louis S. Glanzman, and I'm curious if they are at all similar to the original illustrations done by Ingrid Vang Nyman because they certainly enhance the reading experience. 

Although Astrid Lindgren wrote more than 30 books for children and all of them have been widely translated, Pippi Longstocking is probably her most well known and beloved literary character and the novel Pippi Longstocking was listed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute as one of the Top 100 Works of World Literature in 2002. 

I never realized how globally celebrated Pippi Longstocking is or how famous Astrid Lindgren was, I just remember loving this book as a kid, and in rereading it this summer, it still holds up. My little guy laughed out loud at Pippi's shenanigans, and I couldn't help giggling along. My favorite story was about Pippi entertaining the two burglars who come to try and rob her of her gold coins. She ends up making them dance for hours, feeds them, and sends them on their way with a gold coin apiece for visiting her. I mean, really now. What a riot.

You should definitely read Pippi Longstocking, and if you have any little people in your life, this one's a fun read-aloud. I've never read the two follow-up novels (Pippi Goes on Board and Pippi in the South Seas), but this first one is entertaining as all get out and I enthusiastically recommend it.

Have you read any stories about Pippi? What was one of your favorite childhood books?