Karin Nyman / Karin Nyman, daughter of Astrid Lindgren, May 21, 2015 turned 81 years old, and Pippi Longstocking celebrated her 70th birthday that day.
And why is it so? And everything is simple.

It all happened in the winter of 1941, when Astrid Lindgren's daughter Karin fell ill and was in bed.
Here is what the writer herself said about this: “My daughter was lying in bed with a cold, she was then 7-seven years old. One evening she asked me to tell her something. About what? I asked. "Tell me about Pippi Longstocking," Karin asked me. The name sounded very strange, but I didn’t ask who it was, but just started the story ... "

And the story began like this: “On the outskirts of a small Swedish town you will see a very neglected garden. And in the garden stands a dilapidated house blackened by time. It is in this house that Pippi Longstocking lives. She was nine years old, but, imagine, she lives there all alone. She doesn't have a dad or mom, and to be honest, it even has its advantages - no one drives her to sleep just in the middle of the game and no one forces her to drink fish oil when she wants to eat candy.
It all started with an oral story that Astrid Lindgren told her daughter with new details over the course of several years. The writer, of course, could not then imagine what this story would result in. For her, it was an ordinary, insignificant event.
And only thanks to a sprained leg (Astrid Lindgren lay in bed for two weeks) the book about Pippi Longstocking was written and published.
This is the case when "there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped."
The daughter of the writer came up with the name "Pippi Longstocking" and received a manuscript of the story about Pippi as a gift on her tenth birthday on May 21, 1944. That is why Pippi Longstocking's birthday is considered May 21, but not 1944, but the next - 1945, when the book was first published.

The classic image of Pippi Longstocking was done by Danish artist Ingrid Vang Nyman. She herself had freckles and red hair, and she looked like Pippi.
She is also the author of illustrations for all Lindgren's books about Pippi Longstocking and she also drew comics about Pippi.

Astrid Lindgren.

Pippi Longstocking

According to Astrid Lindgren, "Pippi Longstocking" (1945) was born primarily thanks to her daughter Karin. In 1941, Karin fell ill with pneumonia, and every night Astrid told her all sorts of stories before going to bed. Once a girl ordered a story about Pippi Longstocking - she invented this name right there, on the go. So Astrid Lindgren began to compose a story about a girl who does not obey any conditions. Since Astrid then defended the idea of ​​​​education taking into account child psychology, which was new for that time and caused heated debate, the challenge to conventions seemed to her an interesting thought experiment. If we consider the image of Pippi in a generalized way, then it is based on the innovative ideas that appeared in the 1930s and 40s in the field of child education and child psychology. Lindgren followed and participated in the controversy unfolding in society, advocating education that would take into account the thoughts and feelings of children and thus show respect for them. The new approach to children also affected her creative style, as a result of which she became an author who consistently speaks from the point of view of a child. After the first story about Pippi, which Karin fell in love with, Astrid Lindgren over the next years told more and more evening tales about this red-haired girl. On Karin's tenth birthday, Astrid Lindgren wrote down several stories in shorthand, from which she compiled a book of her own making (with illustrations by the author) for her daughter. This original manuscript of "Pippi" was less carefully finished stylistically and more radical in its ideas. The writer sent one copy of the manuscript to the largest Stockholm publishing house Bonnier. After some deliberation, the manuscript was rejected. Astrid Lindgren was not discouraged by the refusal, she already realized that composing for children was her calling.

Adults are never fun.

They always have a lot of boring work,

stupid dresses and cuminal taxes.

And yet they are stuffed with prejudices and all sorts of nonsense.

They think there's going to be a terrible misfortune

if you put a knife in your mouth while eating, and so on.

Pippi Longstocking

Pippi Longstocking

(Swedish Pippi Långstrump, full name Peppilotta Viktualia Rulgardina Krisminta Ephraimsdotter Longstocking, Swedish Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump) is the central character in a series of books by the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. The name Pippi was created by Astrid Lindgren's daughter, Karin.

Translator Lilianna Lungina. Her translation is considered a classic.

The main illustrator of books about Pippi is the Danish artist Ingrid Wang Nyman. It is her illustrations that are most famous all over the world. They are in front of you.

Pippi is a little red-haired, freckled girl who lives alone in the Hen Villa in a small Swedish town with her pets, Mr. Nilsson the monkey, and a horse. Peppy is the daughter of Captain Ephraim Longstocking, who later became the leader of a black tribe.

From her father, Pippi inherited fantastic physical strength, as well as a suitcase with gold, allowing her to live comfortably. Pippi's mother died when she was still a baby. Peppy is sure that she has become an angel and looks at her from the sky.

Pippi “adopts”, but rather, invents a variety of customs from different countries and parts of the world: when walking, back up, walk the streets upside down, “because it’s hot on your feet when you walk on a volcano, and you can put your hands in mittens.” Pippi's best friends are Tommy and Annika Söttergren, children of ordinary Swedish inhabitants. In the company of Pippi, they often get into trouble and funny alterations, and sometimes real adventures.

Attempts by friends or adults to influence the careless Pippi lead to nothing: she does not go to school, is illiterate, familiar and composes fables all the time. However, Pippi has a good heart and a good sense of humor.

Pippi Longstocking is independent and does whatever she wants. For example, she sleeps with her legs on the pillow and her head under the covers, wears multi-colored stockings, returning home, moves backwards because she does not want to turn around, rolls out the dough right on the floor and keeps the horse on the veranda.

The most amazing thing about Pippi is her bright and violent fantasy, which manifests itself in the games that she invents, and in amazing stories about different countries, where she visited with her dad-captain, and in endless pranks, the victims of which are stupid adults .

Pippi brings any of her stories to the point of absurdity: a mischievous maid bites guests on the legs, a long-eared Chinese hides under her ears in the rain, and a capricious child refuses to eat from May to October. Peppy gets very upset if someone says that she is lying, because lying is not good, she just sometimes forgets about it.

Parents are not comfortable with active children who have their own independent opinion on any issue. In any case, as a mother, I would be more comfortable spending time in the company of a quiet girl who is fond of coloring inexpensive albums, watching calm cartoons and trying her best to help adults.

Alas, my daughter is often mistaken for a boy on the playground, despite the pink jumpsuit, pigtails, Hello Kitty purse and other girly attributes. Her activity, extreme degree of independence and stubbornness, which is completely beyond my control, make the baby look like a boy.

Therefore, it is not surprising that my soul (together with my hand) reached out for the story-tale “Pippi Longstocking” by Astrid Lindgren. I’m sure that you don’t need to describe the plot or the dignity of the writer - if you haven’t read the book, then you’ve probably watched a movie, cartoon or TV series.

The new edition has retained the classic translation by Lilianna Lungina (for me personally, this was a decisive factor in choosing this book), but it has acquired new illustrations. In my opinion, a very advantageous combination - the drawings of the artist Dzhanikyan are bright, interesting, forcing you to look at the details for a long time together with the child.

The only negative is that they are not every turn. If there were more illustrations, our reading would go much faster. And so the child showed genuine interest in the plot, while there was something to look at, but immediately began to jump around the reading mother when “empty” turns occurred.

However, it is worth making allowances for the fact that my daughter is only 3 years and 8 months old, and I originally planned to save "Pippi Longstocking" for five years. But she herself took it out of the bag and asked to read it, because, I repeat, the illustrations are very attractive.

Each new chapter begins with a very nice little drawing with a beautifully designed title.

And ends with a small miniature from the life of Pippi.

The book is quite expensive (about 450 rubles), but it looks extremely colorful - glossy paper, high-quality execution, stylish drawings. It will be a great gift for a child over 4-5 years old. In addition, this edition is more profitable than the previous ones, since it contains 3 parts at once: “Pippi settles in the Chicken Villa”, “Pippi is going on the road” and “Pippi in the country of Cheerfulness”.

This book allowed me to look at children's tricks through the eyes of children themselves. And also how boring I can be with all my “You can’t”, “Gently, you’ll get dirty”, “Girls don’t behave like that”, etc. etc.

Agree - what irritates us adults is seen by children in a completely different light.

Text and photo: Elena Khapova

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