Moominsummer Madness [Paperback]

Tove Jansson (Author, Illustrator), Thomas Warburton (Translator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

A huge wave has crashed through the valley, flooding the Moomins out of their home! With their usual resilience, the Moomins and their friends move into the first house that comes bobbing along. It's strange-looking, like a big cave with curtains hanging on either side. And when the house bumps into dry land and Moomintroll and the Snork Maiden decide to spend the night on shore--then the adventure really begins. Moomintroll and the Snork Maiden get lost, and Moominpappa decides to write a play which they will perform in the house, in the hope that Moomintroll will hear about it and find his way home.
"Moominsummer Madness," the fourth in Tove Jansson's classic series of books about Moominvalley, is enchanting and full of exciting adventures and surprises, some of them odd even by Moomin standards!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fanciful Moominfolk take to the stage as only they can in this series of droll escapades. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"It's difficult not to be drawn in by the adventures of Moomintroll and his family as they take refuge from a flood in a floating theater, get separated when Moomintroll spends a night on shore and are reunited at Moominpappa's grand amateur drama." --Publishers Weekly

"As appealing as ever." --The Horn Book

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (March 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374453101
• ISBN-13: 978-0374453107
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #804,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

TOVE JANSSON (1914-2001) is revered around the world as one of the foremost children's authors of the twentieth century for her illustrated Moomin chapter books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ranks with Pooh as classic children's lit, December 12, 2001

By 

Gideon Ansell (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moominsummer Madness (Paperback)

I discovered this book while rummaging through a flea market bookshelf 5 years ago. I had never heard of Jansson or the Moomins, but was looking for something to read to my daughter, who was then 6. With nothing more than an interesting cover illustration to recommend it, I took a 10cent gamble.

Within the first 10 pages I realized that I had stumbled onto something quite remarkable, by the middle of the book both my daughter and I were engulfed in Moominland, and by the end I went out to scour bookshelves and web sites to get my hands on all the other Moomin books.

Quite simply, this series (and this book in particular) ranks with Winnie-the-Pooh and the Alice books as the truest, wisest, funniest, and most beautiful books for kids ever written. Tove Jannson has created a world populated with myriad creatures possessing a variety and depth of character unrealized in any other children's series I can think of, and rarely reached in adult fiction.

Of particular note are her numerous and varied female characters, unheard of in American and English children's lit...Little My is brash, determined, unrepentant, and spoiling for a good fight. Moominmamma is warm and nurturing without ever being sappy or sentimental. Long sufering Misabel looks only at the bluer side of life and relishes a good cry. The Snork Maiden is vain and frivolous. Emma is cantankerous, crochety, and uninterested in changing to suit anyone else's agenda. How many other books can you read to a young girl with that variety of female characters? And that's just the beginning of the list. The male characters are equally as varied, fallible, goofy, and complex.

Character aside, Jansson's sense of adventure, wild imagination, bleak Scandinavian humor, and peaceful world view make these books a marvel to read. Her illustrations are gorgeous, plentiful, and a perfect compliment to her writing.

My daughter is 11 now and doesn't require a parent to read to her anymore, yet she still asks to hear the Moomin books read aloud.

My advice...give Harry Potter a rest, and treat yourself and family to real classic children's lit. You won't be sorry. And if you like this one, Moominland Midwinter and Comet in Moominland are great next choices.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a Classic., July 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Moominsummer Madness (Paperback)

The Moomin books are extremely unique in the realm of children's literature. They are clean, endearing, thoughtful, a little dark, and always utterly enchanting. I am in high school now, and I still love to read these books.

I first recieved a copy of Finn Family Moomintroll from an aunt who read and loved them in HER childhood, spent in Japan. I devoured it, and promptly begged my mother to find more. Now, several years later, I am still held spellbound by these books. They are quirky, charming, full of clever witticisms and simple, wonderful turns of phrase, and are among the many hidden gems which so many cynical youngsters will scorn for lack of blood.

This book, though contains plenty of fun and even a little revenge (provided by Snufkin, of course,) but of course the characters are forever polite. Better yet, they set a good example for kids without shoving sticky-sweet morals down their throats. In addition, by setting the story around a theatre - which the Moomin family knows absolutely nothing about - Jansson gives the reader a humorous edge over the characters, which helps keep the story moving and the reader amused.

These books should be introduced to young, thoughtful children, older, shy children, college students, people going through mid-life crises, and/or those in rest homes. They are to be read in a comfy chair before a fire on a gray, rainy day, or with the snow coming down and a mug of cocoa. These books are only for those who have open, quiet minds, and for people ready to be enchanted and amazed.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best Moomin books..., May 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Moominsummer Madness (Moomintrolls) (Hardcover)

I received this book as a Christmas present in the early 50s from a Finnish family whom my mother helped through the hard times of WWII and after with her version of CARE packages.

Moominsummer Madness became my favorite of all my books--read until the red hardboard cover faded to pink and the binding frayed. My personal favorite interaction is Moomintroll and the Fillyjonk at her hut in the spruce forest on Midsummer's Eve. When I first read it, I didn't have a clue what Midsummer was or what a spruce tree looked like, but I immediately resolved to have a life full of both as soon as I could escape from Eisenhowerian Oklahoma.

And I did just that.