Pippi Longstocking [Paperback]

Astrid Lindgren (Author), Lauren Child (Illustrator), Tiina Nunnally (Translator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Astrid Lindgren?s story of feisty, red-haired Pippi has been given a sparkling new translation by award-winning Tiina Nunnally and engaging pictures by acclaimed Lauren Child.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`Lauren Child is so good, it's exhilarating.' The Independent --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) created the character of Pippi to entertain her daughter. Lindgren was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her contribution to international children’s literature.

Lauren Child is the award-winning creator of the characters Charlie and Lola. She has won the Smarties Gold Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal. Lauren lives in London.

Tiina Nunnally has translated over twenty books from Scandinavian languages into English. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (October 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670062766
• ISBN-13: 978-0670062768
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Illustrations are cute, writing has lost some charm, March 13, 2010

By 

Arthur Bradley "Arthur Bradley" (Eastern USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pippi Longstocking (Paperback)

I recently read a short Pippi story to my kids that was from the original translation. It had magic and charm to the words - odd little phrases that made Pippi seem like a unique quirky child who had traveled the seven seas. That prompted me to order this colorful volume. Unfortunately, this translation lacks that same magic of words. After reading about 20 pages, my kids were yawning and uninterested. I plan to return this version and try the "Adventures of Pippi Longstocking" which is reported to be written with the original translation.

I should say however that my kids enjoyed the illustrations. They are drawn by the same person who draws the Charlie and Lola kids shows - very cute.

Please be kind enough to indicate if reviews are helpful.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh-Faced Pippi as Delightful as the Original, January 6, 2008

By 

Little Willow (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pippi Longstocking (Paperback)

Over sixty years ago, Astrid Lindgren wrote stories about Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump for her daughter. In 1945, the book Pippi Longstocking was published in Sweden. Five years later, it was published in the USA. In 2007, one hundred years after Lindgren was born, Viking released a new edition of Pippi Longstocking, with a new translation by Tiina Nunnally and new illustrations by Lauren Child.

I really enjoyed this edition. I liked the original novels by Astrid Lindgren when I was younger, and I haven't revisited them in decades, so this was a nice piece of escapism on a Sunday morning. I appreciate the work that went into this book.

I have read many of Lauren Child's books and have come to embrace her style. She uses pieces and patches to create her collages and pictures, an interesting combination of photography and illustration. I think the illustrations in this edition are adorable AND match the text.

This edition also gets kudos for its typesetting. Most of it is straightforward, but every so often - just often enough without being too often - there's a sentence or two that runs backwards or sideways, or there's a bold word or two. This too is Child's style. In this particular book, one of my favorite restructured lines is a sentence about Mr. Nilsson's tail that is actually shaped like a tail. That makes me happy because I like emblematic verse. (You can thank Charles Dodgson for that, because I was first exposed to emblematic verse in his book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.)

Translating is never easy, especially when it comes to artistic endeavors such as stories, lyrics, and poems, which are dependent upon language, word choices, and meter. I salute Tiina Nunnally for her translation, which truly preserves the original story.

Kudos again to Tiina Nunnally for translating the original text and to Viking for giving readers a new edition of Pippi to read, to share, and to treasure. If Viking/Nunnally/Child offer editions of the other Pippi books, I will certainly read those as well.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pictures are nice; new translation isn't, September 2, 2009

By 

Matthew Miller (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pippi Longstocking (Paperback)

I bought this edition to read to my young daughters because I was enchanted by the pictures, and hey, it said "sparkling new translation". Unfortunately, it loses some of the charm of the older one. I showed it to some Swedish friends of ours, and they agreed -- specifically, the original book itself is a bit old and uses dated Swedish phrasing, so the older English translation seemed more fitting. (Imagine if, say, The Wind in the Willows were updated to sparkling new English!)

Worse, the words haven't been updated just to be more modern -- they're also sanitized. The glaring example throughout is that Pippi's father is no longer King of the Cannibals -- he's now king of the _natives_. That's not just a translation, it's an editorial change.

I recommend getting The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking instead. The translation is better, and it contains all of the stories, not just the first book.