Customer Reviews

Most Beloved Sister

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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Charmingly written by Astrid Lindgren and beautifully illustrated by Hans Arnold, Most Beloved Sister is a delightful picturebook children's story, with stylized, gentle color illustrations about a young girl and her secret twin sister, who embark on a wondrous magical adventure. Warmly translated into English by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard, Most Beloved Sister makes for excellent family bedtime reading and is an enthusiastically recommended addition to school and community library collections as well.

Others have already provided an adequate synopsis of the story. I just want to add that the "death theme" is in no way a heavy one here as it is encompassed in the fantasy elements of the storyline and actually is "resolved" with a message of rebirth and life. I first purchased this for my younger daughter when she was 6 two years ago. She loved it then and still does and had no problem with the fate of the sister. Also recomended by Astrid Lindgren (for a slightly older audience) is _Ronia, the Robber's Daughter_. One question: Is _Most Beloved Sister_ really now out of print and available as an expensive used book?

As a child, I loved Pippi Longstocking, and my daughters, 5 and 7, adore "Most Beloved Sister". They sometimes plug their ears when Lalla-Lee's death is mentioned, and they don't want to look too long at the picture of the Frights in the Horrible Forest, but they'll ask for the story over and over again. The story seems a little mysterious to me; it reminds me of a young child coming up with an unpremeditated imaginary story. I wonder if Astrid's daughter came up with this one, as she supposedly invented Pippi. I don't understand all the psychology that must have been behind the story line, but I understand its attraction to my daughters. They can relate to it; it reminds them of their own imaginary wanderings.

Meet seven year old Barbara. She has a secret no one knows, not even Mama or Papa. She has a twin sister, Lalla-Lee, who lives in an enchanted world beneath the rosebush in a corner of the garden. Lalla-Lee is queen and lives in the Golden Hall. "Papa likes Mama best, and Mama likes my little brother, who was born in the spring, best. But Lalla-Lee just likes me." Lalla-Lee never calls Barbara by her given name. She always calls her "Most Beloved Sister." The sisters have a special language all their own, and enjoy marvelous adventures. They ride their horses, Goldfoot and Silverfoot, through the Great Horrible Forest where the Frights live. They visit The Kind Ones who bring them cookies and caramels, and ride to The Most Beautiful Valley in the World where the flowers sing and the stream hums. But on this visit Lalla-Lee tells Barbara it's almost time for her to die, a secret Barbara doesn't want to hear. "Right then, I felt a pain in my heart....." Astrid Lindgren, author of the Pippi Longstocking series, wrote this stand alone story about imaginary friendship over fifty years ago, but it wasn't published in the States until now. Her wordy text doesn't sparkle or engage the reader and feels somewhat dated, and little ones may find the storyline as a whole, confusing, and the subject of a beloved sister's death, upsetting. Hans Arnold's captivating illustrations are magical and rich in detail, and though youngsters will enjoy the artwork, the book really doesn't work for its chosen audience of 4-8 year olds.