Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren's 1945 classic (published in English in 1950) about an anarchic Swedish girl. They discuss their love for the book as children, their mixed feelings on rereading it, and Pippi as a feminist icon. Mary Grace, who spent a month in Sweden earlier this year, talks about Lindgren's legendary status in Sweden, where she's literally on the money.
Discussed on this episode:
The BBC News survey on the 100 greatest children's books of all time, with Pippi Longstocking at #3
Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren
The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
Beverly Cleary's Ramona books
Joan Aiken's Wolves Chronicles series
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsen
The virtual tour of Astrid Lindgren's apartment on astridlindgren.com
Mary Grace couldn't find the interview with Lindgren's daughter Karin, who one night when she was ill with pneumonia asked her mother to tell her a story about Pippi Longstocking, but Karin discussed it in this 2016 Guardian article.
You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
#children's books
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com