Last Chance for Scandi-Giveaway

Yesterday I spent a quiet afternoon out on my patio doing some bloggie "investigative research" -- perusing D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths in between reading chapters of The Brothers Lionheart.

Reading Norse Mythology is giving me some good insight into the strong influence Scandinavian folklore culture has had on the imaginations of creative writers like Hans Christian Andersen, Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson (to say nothing of J.R.R. Tolkien - who isn't even Scandinavian!)

Gnomes, dragons, trolls, feasts, gods and godesses, darkness and light.

Take for example, Astrid Lindgren's picture book The Tomten: The setting is a quiet farmstead, deep in the forest...

Here is a lonely old farm, where everyone is sleeping. All but one... 

a little gnome-like creature from Swedish folklore, a "Tomten" who guards the farm. No one has ever seen him, but sometimes his little footprints are visible in the snow. He checks on all the barnyard animals and talks to them in Tomten language (a silent little language only they can understand). He tiptoes to the house and peeks in on the sleeping children before going back to his cozy corner of the hayloft, where he dreams of the coming of summer.  

Or how about Lindgren's haunting story The Brothers Lionheart -- and her mythical land of Nangiyala, a place from "the days of camp fires and sagas"...

In Nangiyala you have adventures from morning till evening. 

That's what courageous Jonathan Lionheart tells his sick younger brother, Karl.  When both boys tragically die and are united in this "land beyond the stars", their adventures do begin. Together with a resistance group they go on a quest to lead the struggle against the evil Tengil, a black knight who rules the land with the aid of a fearsome fire-breathing dragon, Katla. (This is an engrossing, but sad book. Disclosure:  the brothers die again at the end.  For a full summary of the book, check out Read Aloud Dad's excellent review, here. I would recommend this book for kids no younger than 8 years old - but as always, use your discretion.)

I have to think Hans Christian Andersen was influenced by Norse Mythology when he penned The Snow Queen (and when C.S. Lewis thought up his White Witch) -- read the description of a beautiful maiden with an ice cold heart from the Book of Norse Myths by Edgar and Ingri D'Aulaire...

As she lifted her snow-white arms to push open the door to the hall, a strange radiance spread from them and lit up the gloom of Jotunheim...

He knew that the maiden he loved was Gymir's daughter Gerd and that he had no hope of ever winning her, for her heart was as cold as a seed in frozen ground.

(Luckily, in the Norse Mythology version her frozen heart melts.)

If you missed my post about Tove Jansson's Moomins, go here.  Unlike trolls and other monsters of dark Norse Mythology tales, Moomins are happy and kind of cute.  But similar to Norse Mythology, there are lots of magical adventures.  I have to say, I thought of the Snork Maiden losing her fringe of hair when I read the D'Aulaires' retelling of "Sif's Golden Hair".  Sif was Thor's wife.  After her beautiful hair is chopped off in the middle of the night by Loki, he promises to have the gnomes forge new hair for her - out of real gold!
  

Here's what happened with the Snork Maiden, who wasn't so lucky...

Moomintroll bent down to wake the Snork Maiden up, and then he noticed a terrible thing. Her beautiful fluffy fringe was burnt right off. It must have happened when the Hattifatteners brushed against her. 

What could he say? How could he comfort her? It was a catastrophe! 

The Snork Maiden opened her eyes and smiled. 

"Do you know," said Moomintroll hastily, "it's most extraordinary, but as time goes on I'm beginning to prefer girls without hair?" 

"Really?" she said with a look of surprise. "Why is that?" 

"Hair looks so untidy!" replied Moomintroll.

I hope you enjoyed my little comparisons.  I had fun doing the "research" reading yesterday!

Today is the last day you can leave a comment for a chance to win my Swedish Book Bundle Giveaway!  One lucky winner will receive all three of these great picture books: Per and the Dala Horse; Lucia Morning in Sweden; and D is for Dala Horse.

• Leave a comment with your first name and last initial on my previous Giveaway Post - go here.
• If you already left a comment there, you may comment again here (remember to include your first name and last initial) on this post for an additional entry. 
• Giveaway ends at midnight tonight.  
• Winner announced here on my blog on Saturday, August 27, 2016.  

A New Book (For Me), in Which I am Introduced to a Moomintroll

What do you get from an author who 1) was born into the Swedish speaking minority of Finland; 2) spent her summers in a family cottage on an island; 3) had a father who was a sculptor, and a mother who was a graphic designer; and 4) as a young woman became so sad during WWII that she wanted to write something innocent and hopeful?  Tove Jansson's  Moomins!

If you've been following my blog the past few weeks, you are aware that I recently returned from a tour of Scandinavia. Our tour guide's sweet wife (herself a lover of children's literature and especially Astrid Lindren - more about that later), made sure I got to make a quick stop at the largest children's bookstore in Sweden. 

The bookstore was in a museum called Junibacken, which is devoted to children's literature.

Junibacken Museum happened to have a Mumin (Swedish for "Moomin") Exhibit while we were there!  The exhibit consisted of a little themed playland with lots of fun settings from Tove Jansson's books...

Moominmamma's Kitchen

Well, truth be told, I had never read the Moomin books, but I had seen them listed on several "Best Children's Books" lists.  So I excitedly purchased my first one!

Moomintrolls.
Are they trolls, or what?
I'm not really sure...
As you can see, they are way cuter than the ugly Troll I came across at the Voss train station in Norway!

But Moomintrolls certainly seem to have stepped out of the world of Scandinavian folk-lore!

Finn Family Moomintroll is the third in the series, and the first one  ever translated into English.  I figured the English speaking world's introduction to the Moomin family was a good place for me to start!

Tove Jonsson's adorable illustrations really add to the stories.  They bring the reader along, and help us see the land and characters she has created.

(By the way, I adore the vintage book covers like the one above - see more here.  In my opinion, the new Puffin editions like mine, pictured at the top of this post, completely leave out the whimsical fairytale nature of the books.)

In Finn Family Moomintroll, the first bit of real magic happens after the Moomins have woken up from their long winter sleep and are enjoying a spring day mountain-top experience.  That's when they find a black top hat.

A Hobgoblin's Hat!  (Which they bring home.)

In the corner between the table and the kitchen door stood the Hobgoblin's Hat with the eggshell in the bottom.  And then something really strange happened.  The eggshell began to change its shape.
(This is what happens, you see.  If something lies long enough in the Hobgoblin's Hat it begins to change into something quite different - what that will be you never know beforehand.  It was lucky that the hat hadn't fitted Moomominpappa because the-Protector-of-all-Small-Beasts knows what would have become of him if he had worn it a bit longer.  As it was he only got a slight headache - and that was over after dinner.)
Meanwhile the eggshell had become soft and woolly, although it still stayed white, and after a time it filled the hat completely.  Then five small clouds broke away...

Moomintroll (Moomminpappa and Moominmamma's child) and the Snork Maiden (his friend) figure out how to fly the little clouds.  So they hop on, and away they go!  

They come across Hemulen (another Moomin), who collects stamps.

When they greet him, Hemulen says:
"That's extraordinary.  But I'm so used to your doing extraordinary things that nothing surprises me.  Besides I'm feeling melancholy just now...my stamp collection is complete"....

"I think I'm beginning to understand," said Moomintroll slowly.  "You aren't a collector anymore, you're only and owner, and that isn't nearly so much fun."

There are all sorts of whimsical (and some slightly scary) characters in Moominvalley, and they go through all sorts of non-sensical adventures.  

Think Edith Nesbit's "Psammead", from The Five Children and It, mixed with L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz, a little bit of of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood thrown in, and you've got an idea of how fun these books are.

Have you read about the Moomins?  If you haven't, I think you and your child will really like these silly little creatures!

And please come back for more posts - I still have a Scandinavian Book Giveaway coming up!