Pippi Longstocking

School Library Journal

Gr 2-5 This oversize edition of the classic story has much to offer a new generation of readers. It has new full-color illustrations, some full spread, and a new translation. Nunnally updates some of Florence Lamborn's old-fashioned phrases and makes other terms more politically correct. For example, the original English translation calls Pippi's father a "Cannibal King," while this one calls him a "King of Natives." In Lamborn's version, Pippi goes for a "morning promenade"; here, she simply goes for a "morning walk." Nunnally's language flows naturally and gives a fresh, modern feel to the line drawings, filled with color and pattern, to create a Pippi who is full of personality. A variety of perspectives, colors, and textures adds movement and excitement to the story. Child often incorporates the text into the art, linking the text and illustration into a single whole. Libraries should consider archiving (or retiring) older editions of this old favorite, and replacing them with this new offering.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT

Children's Literature - Claudia Mills

Pippi makes a dazzling reappearance in a new translation by award-winning translator Tiina Nunnally together with effervescent accompanying pictures by Lauren Child, creator of the popular "Clarice Bean" series. Pippi herself needs no reintroduction: the brave, strong, utterly irrepressible daughter of a now-angel mother and shipwrecked sailor father who lives in Villa Villekulla with her monkey, Mr. Nilsson, and pet horse, and who does whatever she wants to all day long, to the awestruck delight of her young neighbors Tommy and Annika, and the periodic alarm of adult authorities. In this lively new edition, Lauren Child and the Viking design team miss no opportunity to enhance the already abundant fun of Lindgren's classic text with playful art and typesetting. The circus tent for Pippi Goes to the Circus is fashioned of collaged floral fabrics; dialogue appears in the large black weights lifted high by the "world's strongest man" (who of course turns out to be no match for Pippi); Pippi sits surrounded by glittering photos of actual golden coins; dancing lines of type emerge as water spray from Pippi's hose or as extensions of Mr. Nilsson's curved tail. It's a feat of considerable creativity to equal Pippi's own exuberant self-delight: Child has done precisely that. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D.