6th June National Day of Sweden

June 6th is the day when Swedes celebrate their country – normally with a sea of blue and yellow flags! The tradition of celebrating this date began in 1916 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honour of the election of King Gustav Vasa on 6 June 1523, as this was considered the foundation of modern Sweden. Midsummer Eve is also celebrated in June on the 23rd and this is considered a much more important holiday.

It doesn't matter which day is celebrated, but here in Australia either is a good excuse to look at any Swedish children's books that have been translated into English and are available in libraries here.

Many Australian children will have met Pippi Longstocking and Moomins, but they might not recall the author's name or know of any others.

Astrid Lindgren (1907 - 2002) wrote Pippi Longstocking  in 1945 and it is still easy to find copies of this classic.The Lauren Child illustrated version is popular with my students. In 2021 many of Lingren's other books were newly illustrated by Mini Grey and published by Oxford University Press in the UK. These include the Noisy Village stories, the Emil stories and the Lotta stories.

If you want to know more about the influence Astrid Lindgren has had on Children's Literature, read her  picture book biography from the Little People Big Dreams series by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara.

Fantasy writer, Tove Jansson (1914 -2001) was from the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland and her Moomin  stories were published in Sweden.  Moomins are trolls that live in an economically and politically independent state, without any material necessities. She wrote and illustrated both novels and picture books about moomins. Occasionally I can convince a student or parent that Finn Family Moomintroll is worth a read and makes a good serial.  Then sometimes they come back for another in the series.

Following are other authors that I know of and who you will find in our school library.

Findus and Pettson  a picture book series by Sven Nordqvist (1946 -) has also been translated into English and available in Australia. The first book in the series Pancakes for Findus which introduces Farmer Pettson and his cat Findus is a favourite.

Ulf Stark (1944 - 2017) has several books translated into English and Can You Whistle Johanna?  even made it to the Premier's Reading Challenge list.

Rose Lagercrantz (1947 -) has had her wonderful series of books about Dani translated and marketed by Gecko Press and there is a complete set in the library.

Ulf Nilsson (1948 - 2021) is another Swedish writer we can get to know because his books have been published in English by Gecko Press.  His Detective Gordon  series are very popular with Year 2. Detective Gordon is a mystery-solving toad who loves cake.

Lena Anderson (1939 - ) first gained international success for her illustrations in the 1985 picture book Linnea in Monet's Garden, which was translated into English in 1987 and we have two of her Linnea books and another two books about an intrepid young girl Stina,  Stina and Stina's Visit in our school library which she illustrated.

Brita Granström (1969 - ) is a Swedish artist and illustrator who lives and works in the UK and in Sweden. Together with her partner Mick Manning she has a large number of books to explore.

Frida Nilsson (1979 -) is a younger author worth watching out for. She has written four junior novels.

9th August P. L. Travers (1899 - 1996) Tove Jansson (1914 - 2001) Seymour Simon (1931) Nick Sharratt (1962)

Pamela Lyndon (P.L) Travers was the stage name adopted by an Australian actress who was to become the novelist who became famous for her tales about Mary Poppins, an English nanny who perfected a novel mode of childcare. She left Australia in 1924 for London and only returned once for a short holiday, but Australia still claims her as its own, complete with a brass statue of Mary Poppins in a park in Ashfield, a suburb of Sydney where her family lived for a while.

Tove Jansson is a Finnish novelist, famous for her Moomin books, stories about chubby, lovable Moomintroll who lives in Moominvalley with his mother, Moominmamma and father Moominpapa. She wrote these books in Swedish but they have been translated into English and in print constantly. This year is the 65th anniversary of the first Moomin book and to celebrate a series of picture books, using Tove's original characters and artwork has been published. The first is Moomin and the Birthday Button. These may lead a new generation of children to the Moomin novels, the most popular being Finn Family Moomintroll. Not many book characters end up with a museum and theme park devoted to them!

Seymour Simon is an American non-fiction author whose books have stunning photographs and just the right amount of text for the children I teach. While most are about science the boys at school particularly like his Trucks and Trains. His website is extremely comprehensive and informative.

Lastly, Nick Sharatt is a British author /illustrator whose brightly coloured illustrations are recognised immediately and they always make you smile. He does 'fun books' and even when he illustrates a novel, such as one by Jacqueline Wilson which has a more serious theme the illustrations are still uplifting. He does the illustrations for Kes Gray's Daisy series and has illustrated books for Giles Andreae, Jeremy Strong and Julia Donaldson as well.