Customer Reviews

Pippi Longstocking

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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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.

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.

It really pains me to give this beautiful book only 2 stars. We are huge Pippi fans AND Charlie and Lola fans, so I really, really wanted to love this book. As other reviewers have mentioned though, the updated translation may conform with modern sensibilities, but it is a bore. We are usually laughing out loud as we read Pippi, but with this version, we went 3 chapters with barely a snicker. My apologies to the translator (I know it is a very hard job), but the humor has been completely translated out.

0670062766 This edition is illustrated by Lauren Child. It has large type and exceptional illustrations. The attached file for the "look inside" feature is absolutely the wrong one as of this writing -- 7/27/2008. I can't find a place to tell Amazon that. The illustrations on this version are unique. The pages are designed around inserted motifs and there are many, many unique full page illustrations. No matter how many other editions of Pippi you have, buy this one too.

To be fair, if there were a 3.5 star rating, I'd have chosen that one. Pippi is one heckuva lotta fun. Who can resist a 9-year-old girl who lives in a big house with a monkey, a horse and a suitcase full of money? That's right, no parents! How cool is that!? And then there's Pippi's super-strength. She's an irresistible character.

Though the writing is solid, I wish there were more of a story here. Y'know, let's solve the mystery or find that certain something or expose this nasty person for who he/she really is. But, similar to Stuart Little (but Pippi is much better), the book is simply a series of somewhat unrelated adventures. I like a clear A to B to C in my fiction. Still, it's a good time.

This book is a perfect combination of a charming, fun story and adorable illustrations. I am a big fan of Lauren Child's so I was thrilled to find this version. My six-year-old twins (boy and girl) loved hearing about Pippi's adventures and have asked for more Pippi stories. My husband and I enjoyed Pippi as well--you can't ask for more from a children's book!

I coveted this book while visiting Oxford. Happy to see the price break at Amazon. Yummy drawings and appealing book size. Pippi lives on.

I was born in a village in Turkey but had a family who was obsessed with reading. The story of the little who could do anything if she put her mind to it and also chose to use her powers for the greater good still speaks to me.

Pippi is a delightful classic, and I just love Lauren Child's illustrations. They are quirky and fun. This book is lovely for kids and just as enjoyable for adults. Child has a distinctive style of illustrating, which includes some collages and upside down sentences in the text that go along with Pippi's charm. This is a beautiful edition of an old favorite.