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.