Happy birthday to Astrid...and me
Friday, November 14, 2008 at 09:36PM 
Today is Astrid Lindgren's birthday; it would have been her 101st. It's also this blog's birthday: its first! I'm celebrating by making plans for bookstogether's future. All of which include...more posts, for starters. Thank you for reading and commenting thus far!
And check out this gorgeous edition of Pippi Longstocking (Viking, 2007). Tiina Nunnally's translation is described as sparkling; I like it, but I definitely prefer "thing-finder" to Nunnally's "thing-searcher" (does anyone know what that is in Swedish?). I love Lauren Child's illustrations, though; her Pippi is sweeter somehow than Glanzman's (the one I grew up with), but still sassy. And I really love the book's design, which occasionally merges text and illustration (full-color throughout) in all kinds of interesting ways. Our new favorite Pippi. And we do love our Pippi.
[N.b., it's not actually my birthday; that's October 5, and I share it with Toot of Holly Hobbie's Toot and Puddle (see A Present for Toot). Although I'm probably more of a Puddle than a Toot, except when it comes to European travel. And definitely more of an Annika than a Pippi, for that matter.]
Reader Comments (4)
Happy blogoversary to you! I'm grateful for your blog and for Lindgren's books. I read everything of hers I could find in the library. Ronia, the Robber's Daughter and Rasmus and the Vagabond were favorites.
I have a Korean spice chest that used to belong to my grandmother, and I've placed all sorts of treasures in its drawers for my daughter to discover in tribute to Pippi's own cabinet.
Happy Blog Birthday! I remember being taken to see the Pippi movies back in the seventies, but I've never actually read any...someday.
What an auspicious day you chose to start your blog. Happy Blogiversary, Anamaria. Funny - just this morning I was just thinking about Pippi in the South Seas (one of my favorite movies as a kid). Something in the book Nation reminded me.
Thank you all for your blog birthday/anniversary wishes!
Alkelda, I read Ronia for the first time not too long ago and liked it quite a bit. Trina Schart Hyman (another mutual favorite!) did the cover art on the edition I read. Lovely.
Charlotte, I've never seen the Pippi movies! Will have to remedy that.
And Jen, Nation is on my to-read list--it got an excellent review in the Washington Post Book World a couple of weeks ago (Allegra Goodman's Other Side of the Island was well-reviewed the same week; I'm still on the hold list for that one, too).
Thanks again, everyone!