The Pippi Longstocking books don't have a lot of substance -- I mean, once you know that Pippi is enormously strong and totally defies all conventions of the adult world, you have the idea -- and although I liked them as a child, they got a bit tedious even then. This is a really good alternative to the whole series, or an introduction to children who might go on to read the rest of the books. It has attractive colourful pictures on every page and just the right amount of text for reading aloud. Highly recommended. ( )

Pippi är en stark tjej som går sina egna vägar, som vägrar låta andra säga åt henne hur hon ska leva sitt liv och som hittar på mycket bus. Hon är lite av en rebell och det gillar jag. ( )

Tommy och Annika är syskon och bor tillsammans med sin mamma och pappa. mitt emot deras hus ligger Villa Villekulla som är ett tomt hus. Tommy och Annika önskar att någon som har barn kan flytta in där så de får en kompis att leka med. Men så en dag flyttar Pippi Långstrump in där tillsammans med sin häst och apa. Pippis bor utan föräldrar fast hon bara är ett barn men det visar sig att hon klarar sig bra ändå. Jag är uppväxt med Pippi Långstrump och tycker att det är en mycket bra bok för barn eftersom den både är spännande och rolig. Min tvååriga dotter har redan Pippi Långstrump som en av sina favoriter.

Tommy and Annika long for a friend and this wish is answered when a quirky little girl named Pippi Longstocking moves right next door to them. She lives all alone except for her horse and her pet monkey, Mr. Nilsson, and has lots of unusual ways of doing things!

I have to admit that there's a big gap in my knowledge of children's literature when it comes to Pippi Longstocking. Of course, I had heard of the iconic character plenty of times and knew a small modicum of information about her. But I had never read any of the books (or even saw the movie based on them). So when I read this about a year ago, this was my first foray into Astrid Lindgren's literary world.

As far as I can tell, Do You Know Pippi Longstocking? is "Pippi Lite." This is a relatively short picture book that serves to introduce younger readers to the character and a little bit of her back story. Pippi is an orphan who is independently wealthy, very generous, enormously strong, and a whole host of other interesting qualities. She does a lot of strange things but at the end of the day, she is a good friend with a kind heart. Her various adventures are sure to appeal to many young children. I shared this book last year with my kindergarten class and more recently with my toddler class, thus finding that children ages 2 to 7 all found various ways to connect with the main character and her antics.

The illustrations are simple but colorful and eye-catching. They serve to illustrate specific points in the text, but they also contain little details here and there that are just fun extras (i.e., a birds' nest under the eaves of Pippi's roof). All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and the kids I shared with did as well. It sparked interesting discussions with children of various ages, and the older children used it as a jumping off place to write adventures of their own. ( )

Handbook in anarchy for kids that caused a prolonged discussion among worried parents and teachers back in the innocent fifties. The kids couldn't care less though and just loved the stories about the superstrong and fun girl who lived alone in her old house. Her fertile imagination, her tall stories and her heart of gold make her the ideal and funny friend for the two well brought up neighbour kids from a typical fifties middelclass family with the typical fifties Reader's Digest brand of parents. Pippi is the incarnation of a child's dream of freedom, living alone with her monkey Mr. Nilson and her horse Little Old Man, doing whatever she damn well likes, going to bed horribly late and financing her projects from her sack of gold coins. As superheroes go she is very lovable with her kind heart, her streak of vulnerability and her generosity that includes all her friends. Pippi has continued to appeal to new generations. I asked a young friend, a big and burly guy who the State Railways occasionally hires to stack discarded locomotives, which book he loved most. And sure enough it was the Pippi books. I totally understand him. ( )