The Brothers Lionheart (Hardcover)

by Astrid Lindgren (Author), Jill Morgan (Author), Ilon Wikland (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"I adored Astrid Lindgren as a child" --Francesca Simon, author of the 'Horrid Henry' books.

"The greatest gift of an author is that their work should stay with the reader forever. This story will." --Amazon --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
Scotty's big brother Jonathan tells him about Nangiyala, a land on the other side of the stars, where you go after you die. Because Scotty is little and afraid and he's sick and soon he'll die.

"In Nangiyala you have adventures from morning to evening and at night, too. Because it's in Nangiyala that all sagas happen," Jonathan tells Scotty.

It sounds so good that Scotty doesn't want to be without Jonathan in Nangiyala, where together they will become the Brothers Lionheart...

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: Purple House Press; 1St Edition edition (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930900244
• ISBN-13: 978-1930900240
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #169,928 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belongs to the canon of best books, January 18, 2005

By	Tsila Sofer Elguez "Tsila Sofer Elguez" (Haifa, Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first two chapters of this wonderful book were so overwhelmingly sad I almost choked while reading them aloud to my son. A mother's greatest fears come alive in these chapters and at some points I could not believe I was reading a children's book. While the rest of the story is a little less sad (at least on its apparent side) it works on our deepest fears, mainly loosing a loved one, being alone. These however are my observations as an adult. I am sure my son's perceptions are not similar at all and that as an adult I feel this book in a different level.
I enjoyed reading the other reviewers that describe their memory of reading this book as children. My experience was different, having read this book for the first time slowly, for several weeks, aloud to my son. My feelings are thus those of a grownup and maybe this makes this book even sadder to me (I do not want to plunge into the discussion of should children know how sad the world is - I have no good answer). In any case this is a marvelous adventure book for all ages whose power stems from many aspects. For me it was mainly the candid descriptions of the narrator, Scotty, who regards himself as a coward and who is moved to great acts of courage by his love to Jonathan, his beautiful, brave and kind brother. The love for Jonathan is really Scotty's driving force.
The book really belongs to the canon of best children books ever. On the first level this is an adventure book. The good: a beautiful hero, who always seems to know the right words, a fight for freedom, acts of bravery and self-sacrifice. The evil: a cruel leader, always finding new horrible ways of torture, demonic creatures, treachery and deceit. On the second level this fight for freedom is taking place in a mystical world-beyond who has another world-beyond, a notion that is both scary and comforting (there is always where to go but it seems the problems never end). On yet another level I felt the story works on our deepest fears: death, oppression, darkness, monsters, loneliness and separation from your loved ones which are really the most important aspect of life or of living. I am thinking to myself that maybe the message is that death is better if you stay with your loved ones? is this too horrible to think?
The reading therefore can be pleasing, emotional and thought provoking for different ages and is remembered a long while after the reading.
.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The mysterious beyond, June 21, 2008

By	Thomas Wikman "Texas Swede" (Texas) - See all my reviews

What happens when I die? Will I be all alone? Where will mom and dad be when I die? Will they be sad? What will happen to me after I die? These are questions children wonder about. When my daughter was about 5-6 years old she kept talking about "the mysterious beyond" where you go after you die. We have no idea where she got this idea from.

In this book, Astrid Lindgren, the Swedish author who also wrote the Pippi Longstocking books, the Emil books and the "Children of Noisy Village" books, address these difficult questions. She does this without giving any definite answers and still she succeeds to give comfort to children via this exciting and beautiful "after death adventure". Astrid Lindgren's writing is very much in tuned with the feelings of children and the story is spell binding and well paced.

Briefly, Scotty (Skorpan in the Swedish version) is a ten year old boy who is very sick. Everyone knows that he is dying except himself. Then one day he finds out in a cruel but accidental turn of events that he is going to die. To comfort him his older brother Jonathan tells him a story about Nangiyala, the land of adventures that lies beyond the stars, where you go after you die. As it turns out Scotty will not be going to Nangiyala alone. In fact the tragic and short life of Scotty and Jonathan and the love they developed for each other during their earthly lives enabled them to be the heroes that Nangiyala needs upon their arrival. The adventures in Nangiyala are much like many other good fantasy stories like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings, but they also have a deeper meaning to them.

My teacher read this book to the entire class when I was about 9 years old (the Swedish version). All the kids in the class loved the book and we listened intently while our teacher struggled to read it. The death of your child is a parent's worst fear and having to deal with it head on like you do when reading this book is, I think, emotionally harder on the parent then on the child. I and my wife started reading this book to our daughter (8-years old) but she ended up reading the whole book to herself and she loved it.

It should be noted that the story is not tied to a specific set of religious beliefs about life after death, so if you have strong beliefs in what exactly will happen after death (religious beliefs or atheistic beliefs) you may have a problem with this fantasy version. In my opinion this book is Astrid Lindgren's greatest book. However, it is also her most potentially problematic book, so I advise that you read the first third of the book yourself before you read it to your child. This would help you to prepare answers to difficult questions and to verify that you really want to read it to your child. The writing is very sensitive, peaceful, and thoughtful but it deals with difficult questions. Some people have a problem with the ending so check out the ending too (I did not have a problem with the ending). I loved it as a child and so did my daughter but it may not be true for you, so find out.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite childhood memories!, November 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Brothers Lionheart (Paperback)

It is completely ridiculous that all the Lindgren books (apart from the small children's ones) are out of print! When will somebody finally listen to all these comments made here on the web and reprint them? It is high time!