A recommendation from our Guest Editor, Lauren Child MBE
September 2012 Book of the Month. Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren's nine-year-old heroine, burst onto the bookshelf in 1945 and has remained a firm favourite with children the world over. Here her story is illustrated with flair and humour by Lauren Child, known to children everywhere as the creator of Charlie and Lola, and winner of the Kate Greenaway and Nestle Gold Awards. This is a beautiful small format gift edition.
Pippi Longstocking is one of the most popular children's characters of all time and is still much loved by millions of children today. This anniversary edition of Pippi Longstocking will introduce Pippi and her adventurous spirit to a whole new generation of readers. Nine year old Pippi is an unusual and unpredictable character, she lives alone with a monkey, a horse, and no rules whatsoever! Every day is a crazy adventure with Pippi, but what else would you expect from the daughter of a swashbuckling pirate captain?!
Why not hold your own Pippi Longstocking party? There's a fantastic party kit to download here with ideas for making party bunting, fancy dress and games to play!
And Pippi fans will love this activity pack with colouring in, a Pippi quiz and puzzles - and guidance on how to help children get the most out of the Pippi books.
'Generations of children have grown up loving these wonderful stories about the invincible girl with the unforgettable name.' - Manchester Evening News
'Funny, charismatic Pippi is the person every small child wants to be ... Magical Stuff.' - Frances Perkins, Dorset Society
'Pippi is in the great tradition of children's protagonists who subvert the adult world, whether by questioning it, like Alice, or simply throwing it into chaos, like Dr Seuss's Cat in the Hat.' - Sean French, The Guardian
Author
About Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Lindgren was born Astrid Ericsson on November 14, 1907 on a farm called Nas outside the small town of Vimmerby in Sweden. As a child, Astrid loved to read, particularly books which had girls as the heroine. She loved Anne of Green Gables and the Pollyanna books. One of her strongest recollections as a child was meeting two pilots, Captains Sonders and Madicken. One of them tried to land on the roof of her house, or that is the way it looked at the time.
After attending public school, she moved to Stockholm and married Sture Lindgren. The Lindgrens had two children. Astrid wrote her first story, Britt-Mari Opens Her Heart, in 1944. Her second book, Pippi Longstocking, which she wrote as a present for her daughter's tenth birthday, was published in 1945. She received the Raben & Sjogren's Best Children's Book prize for Pippi and became a book editor for that publisher for many years. She also received numerous other honours and awards including the International Book Award.
Astrid published more than one hundred books in her lifetime and is still the most popular children's author in Sweden. Her books have been translated into more than sixty languages. She died in 2002, aged 94.