Sweden Books

I rejoice that this short work has come into print again, though it's rather sad that it took the author's recent death to prompt the publishers into action. I'd read an extract in a guide to the top 100 books of the twentieth century and was surprised and disappointed not to be able to get my hands on the full edition.

Jansson has an inate understanding of the wisdom and skewed world-view of children, and manages to capture the fragile - and ephemeral - friendship which can exist between the very old and the very young. There is a freshness about her style which never teeters into whimsy. A rare achievement indeed.

Yes, this is truly a great work of literature. For one, the unique, intimate descriptions of life on a small island off the west coast of Finland are exquisite. The writing captures so much of this maritime word in such sure, spare language, that the reader is placed there among the nordic flora, tasting and feeling the ocean, the sky. Nature binds this book together.

The other facet of this book is the relationship between the child, Sophia, and her Grandmother. We do not learn anything about the father, other than that he works at a desk, plants flowers, and skeins. We do learn early that the mother has died, but aside from its initial mention, it is never directly addressed again. Instead we get an oblique look at grief through the interactions between the two primary characters -- granddaughter and grandmother. Sophia deals with the loss primarily through questioning the natural world around her, observing and mourning the deaths of other small creatures, like mice and birds. In fact a lot of dead animals make an appearance in this work. The psychological portrayal of Sophia is astute, at times subtle. Perhaps the strongest part of the books is when she dictates a book to her grandmother about the death of a worm, which turns into a free-flow stream of conscious on death in general. Powerful stuff.

The grandmother seems less affected by the loss of Sophia's mother (her daughter-in-law?). She does not seem overly concerned with death, although she has to deal with its imminence daily through her own physical limitations, but more with the emotions of her granddaughter. She proves to be very tolerant and wise.

The book's ultimate power and brilliance rests heavily on the use of an old woman juxtaposed against a child. They are both confronting the mystery of existence, and their conversations and interactions reveal a deep longing to understand the eternal. A great book.

PS -- this reader felt that the illustrations added to the work, however the few with human characters seemed strangely off-putting.

Mm, this is a beautiful, wonderful little book! It is a collection of little stories of a very small girl and her small grandmother going adventures on their little island in Sweden. So full of green things and little bites of happiness. The grandmother is oh so clever and says so many poignants to the girl. The girl is wise too. So full of joy.

As a child, Tove Jansson lived in summer on islands in the Gulf of Finland, and later she and her partner Tuulikki Pietilä lived on a small island called Klovharu. Jansson wrote many children books, including the Moomin series, and ten books for adults.

The plot of the most famous of her adult novels is very simple; an elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend the summer on a tiny island exploring and talking about everything but Sophia's mother's death and their love for each other. They wander, pick flowers, watch storms, take trips in a rowboat. The 22 short episodes create a unity: "On an island," thinks the grandmother, "everything is complete."

The interaction between Sophia and her grandmother is a clash of wills, Sophia stubborn, impetuous and supportive; her grandmother wise, unsentimental, on the edge of exhaustion, dizzy, fearful of losing her balance "the balance between survival and extinction was so delicate that even the smallest change was unthinkable".

"It was just the same long summer always, and everything lived and grew at its own pace."

The book has been a major best seller in Scandinavia since it was first published in 1972. Thomas Teal has produced a wonderful English translation. This new edition from NYRB Classics is beautifully printed and bound. This novel captures a summer growing "at its own pace."

Robert C. Ross 2008

This book was given to me by an uncommon friend and I enjoyed it very much. It is about the friendship between a grandmother and her young grandaughter who live on a bit of an island in Finland (?). The beauty and treasures discovered in the quiet lives they lead, finding joy in simple things and loving each other besides those petty annoyances of personality (they are very much alike). There are many "huggable" humorous moments. I think of one in which they trade cats--their cat is indifferent to the grandaughter's overtures and the one traded was much more warm and cuddly, but then (and I quote from the book).

"Hunt! Do something! Be like a cat!" And then she started to cry and ran to the guest room and banged on the door.
"What's wrong now?" Grandmother said.
"I want Moppy back!" Sophia screamed.
"But you know how it will be," Grandmother said.
"It'll be awful," said Sophia gravely. "But it's Moppy I love."

Absolutely beautiful. The artwork is achingly pretty and the stories are wonderful. I'm a folklore nut and an illustration enthusiast, so this book made my whole weekend.

My 9 yr old son loves the stories in this book. He is very interested in dwarves, fairies and the like, so this book is perfect for finding out more about them. I would highly recommend this book.

This book far exceeded my expectations. The illustrations are not just beautiful, imaginative, and magically evocative; they are plentiful, too, with one on nearly every other page. The tales are well constructed and wonderfully readable in this translation. I assume they are 19th century art tales, but they are in the folk tradition and they keep to a standard stable of fantastic creatures (usually trolls, sometimes also tomtes or gnomes or elves). I would have liked a bit more bibliographic and biographical information on the writers (not just on the remarkable John Bauer), but this is a quibble that maybe a future printing can fix (along with the occasional typo).

Quibbles aside, I recommend this collection most highly. I read it out loud to an almost-four year old daughter and a five-and-a-half year old son and they love it. Princesses, trolls, brave and clever peasants making their way in the big world: what more could one wish for?

In short, the stories are a good length for reading aloud, the pictures are plentiful, and altogether this is a truly enjoyable book. I don't write many reviews, but I had to sing the praises of this gem.

The illustrations and the stories are a wonderful combination, and they converge to make this book truly a "must have". In fact, I ordered one copy for my daughters to share at Christmas, and then after seeing it, I ordered 2 more copies so that they could each have one of their own to keep. It's that good! I prefer these tales over the Grimm's fairy tales (though those are very good) but there is something simply spellbinding about these. And John Bauer's illustrations -- what can I say? Pure magic. I have since looked for more folk tales from this area of the world, and for more works llustrated by Bauer, but really there is nothing like this book out there. If your child loves to hear a good tale you can't go wrong with this book. Buy it, and I guarantee that you won't regret it.

Fantasy, whimsey & pathos- all the ingredients to wonderful tales for young and old are here in full measure. John Bauer's illustrations were for me a previously unknown treasure. They capture the beauty and grotesque elements of legend and folklore with the playfulness of a Dulac or Rackham. If only Bauer had lived, what more wonders could he have created? Some of the finest Swedish authors are included in this collection as well, including the superlative Elsa Beskow. Share this collection with a child as well as yourself.

This book ranks amongst the very best military history I have ever read. It incorporates a detailed account of Charles XII's campaign that led his army deep into Ukraine, the action at Poltava, clear portraits of the main actors and moving accounts of what happened to so many of the ordinary Swedish soldiers (the wealth of information that the writer has for such an old battle is really astonishing). As it says on the cover, it pulls no punches about fighting. It makes an excellent starting point for delving into warfare of the era. I was especially impressed by the descriptions of the artillery fire and its consequences, the terrible fate of the wounded, the sacrifices made by the Swedish soldiers in order to save their king and the paradox ethics of warfare at that time. The book is mainly focused on the Swedish side with the Russians mentioned in a general and not so analytical way. Thus the subtitle on the cover should rather be "Potlava and the Demise of the Swedish Empire".

Firstly it must be said that this narrative is told from a distinctly Swedish perspective. The Russian forces are largely faceless and there nowhere near the same degree of detail about the Russian forces of Peter the Great as there is those of Charles the XII.

Englund starts with detailed analysis of force organisation. How did such a small country with a combined population of a little over a Million become the major power in Northern Europe? Some clues are found in the revolutionary way of raising the Swedish Army and the skilful leadership of Charles XII. The Swedes were also not the lovable pastey-faced ideoluges of peace and understanding as we know them today; they were ruthless in their suppression of enemy popultions and their rapacious behaviour in cowing almost all of central Europe. Moreover they highly motivated by territorial incentives. Peter the Great's Russia was unfortunate enough to be the nearest and most logical enemy to attack with Sweden traditionally controlling almost all of the modern-day Baltic states as an advanced glacis to both protect and launch offensives against Russia.

Englund dwells very little on the political motives for war and plunges right in with the march of the Armies from Livonia and modern-day Poland into the heart of Russia. We follow this army as Russia eventually draws is deeper and deeper into Sweden trading land for time and letting the elements of Russia eat away at the invader. In the hot summer sun the Battle of Poltava is really the only military option that Charles had and although it may have been successful one is always amazed at the plan to battle through a line of heavily armed forts, reform on the other side and then wheel to attack the main Russian force, also heavily entrenched. But Englund gives us a breath of adventure and dash in the movements of the Swedes and we hope that they will somehow pull if off...

The fighting is as desperate and intense as in any war, but as with the Germans over 300 yrs later, there is a particularly frightening shadow of being isolated and cut off by the Russians with no hope of reuniting with your main force.... all the time being deep in the Russian hinterland.

We follow the army as it turns and tries its getaway. Compressed within the ends of the Dnieper it eventually gives way, but our redoubtable Charles XII escapes. Englund leaves us there, there is nothing more about the remarkable adventure of Charles from that point, or his further attempts to dominate Europe, all crushed eventually. Poltava ended a 100 year dominance of the Swedes as the greatest land army in Europe, unbeatable until Poltava, but never really challenging the heartland of Russia.

One word: excellent. Wish more books of that level of quality were written and published.

Englund has written a detailed history of a key battle fought between Sweden and Russia in 1709. Although an interesting book it often becomes bogged down in its detail, both in terms of statistics and in terms of its description of the battle. The book is also limited in that it's told exclusively from the Swedish standpoint. There is little, if any, information from the Russian perspective that may have given more insight into how and why the battle evolved as it did.

However, the book is not without merit. The description of the Swedish army preparing for battle and its later disintegration as attrition and the fog of war took over, is key in understanding why the Swedes lost and allows insight into the impact of the fog of war. It also allows insight into how quickly that factor becomes real once a battle has been joined. Englund does an excellent job of describing the events leading up to the battle especially as they apply to the condition of the Swedish army on the eve of Poltava and its impact on why the Swedish king chose to fight when and how he did.

Despite the book's subtitle, Englund does little to link Poltava to the rise of Russia. Although it appears this is a generally accepted truth, he does not put the battle in the context of the Great Northern War, which didn't end until 1721.

This book was originally published in 1988. Its success took everyone by surprise, including the author, then a freshly baked historian at Uppsala University, Sweden. It has retained its bestseller status in Sweden ever since. Now, this excellent book about an important, but comparatively unknown event in world history, has been reissued in the U.S.
Peter Englund follows in the footsteps of Edward Gibbon, who taught that good history should also be good literature. The direct inspiration for this book was John Prebble's 1963 classic book Culloden

There was such wisdom here, that while reading it I'd bought my mother a copy, and now I'm rereading my copy again a year later.

Lindahl does an excellent job of guiding us through a 'cultural tour' of the Nordic mindset toward health. The info is organized well, into chapters covering physical fitness, a proximity to and relationship with nature, relaxation, and diet. Through each of these, she illustrates how it's different from the frenetic life of a business professional (which she'd once been), and give practical advice for those of us whose lives are still frenetic.

While reading On My Swedish Island by Julie Catterson Lindahl, I noticed I had a myriad of feelings towards it. At times, I was bored reading about herbs that are apparently capable of making your life more enjoayble, but at other times, I perked up upon reading about Sweden's "Every Man's Right" law. The book was well organized and easy to read through. I felt as if I could do some of the things Lindahl mentioned and create my own Swedish paradise inside my New Jersey home.
To begin with, Lindahl suggests various ways to achieve inner peace. The Swedes are big on being outdoors and this value shines through in the writing. Although Lindahl is British, she married a Swede and appreciates and respects their values. She used to run on the treadmill everyday but ditched this habit and began going outside to run and cross country ski. "..I live in part of the world where the overwhelming majority of people perceive going out into nature as an integral part of life. A 1995 study showed that 80 to 90 percent of Swedes and Danes...spent recreational time in forested and natural environments or parks." (Lindahl 49-50) It's hard to get out and enjoy nature when no one else around does and too many things are going on. I appreciate how much the

This has become one of my top favorite 5 books because of the wisdom the author shares. Everything from simply living spaces, simple food, the outdoors, being content with less and more observant about the world around us. Call it Scandinavian zen or simply wise living.

The author hits the nail on the head when she shares how our choices can make our lives better and that these choices often have to do with being still and observant and not allowing big business or hurried people to sway us from taking the path less traveled.

Its a book that I read and then set down, then pick up and read some more, and set down. I savor the lessons I have learned from the book and have recommended it to simple living group friends who like myself try and live a self sufficient lifestyle void of so many of the 'must haves' that American society pushes.

Living here in the Sierras I also appreciated the authors wonderful stories about what the outdoors offers. Be it walking for fitness, or enjoying the fresh fish and vegetables it offers.

So much to be learned from the author and cannot recommend the book highly enough.

The suggestions in this book are not expensive. It is always good to get back to the basics. This book has sent me back out doors to enjoy my own little slice of nature. I don't think she is suggesting others to recreate her experiences but to consider your own. This book is a very good buy.

I thought the book was entertaining,enlightening, comprehensive, and useful. It made me dream of my very own 'away from everything' cabin in the woods living with nature. The references were especially useful and I am already using some of the products mentioned in that section. A very good book for anyone who cares about health and keeping our planet as it should be.

Set in a Swedish village long ago, Per and the Dala Horse is the charming tale of a young boy's quest to recover a golden chalice stolen by trolls. When an old farmer dies, he leaves all his worldly possessions to his three sons. The eldest inherits the farm. The middle son receives a fine riding horse. But Per, the youngest son, receives only a beautifully carved and painted wooden horse. The two elder brothers laugh at Per and his seemingly worthless wooden horse; but Per cherishes it, sure that it will one day prove useful. When the trolls steal the golden communion chalice from the village church, Per's two older brothers try unsuccessfully to rescue it. It is Per, with the help of his magnificent Dala horse, who is able to rescue the cherished stolen chalice. Yvonne Gilbert's stunning colored pencil illustrations are more vibrant than ever in this new edition of Per and the Dala Horse. Rebecca Hickox's spirited text makes this an enchanting picture book.

Illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert

This really is a must for anyone of Swedish heritage - especially for boys. The story is suitable for around 3-8 years. The illustrations are probably the most gorgeous I have ever seen in any child's book. The author has combined the best of many traditional Swedish stories. Consequently the book has a very evocative, almost primal feel. Anyone with Swedish blood will relate to this story in a very deep way. This is a magical book and it really should come back into print - publishers, why are you wasting time! Reprint this book!

My heritage is 100% Swedish. It is difficult for me to find books about Swedish culture in general, and close to impossible to find Swedish stories to which my seven-year old son can relate.

I believe each cultural has its own beauty and much to offer the world. I often encounter people assuming that because we speak English and are Lutheran, then our cultural heritage is the same as Britain's (we're are not Anglo-Saxons, the Church of England has nothing to do with Scandinavia, and our native tongue is Swedish) or since Swedish is a Germanic language, then our culture must be like the Germans'. Like every other society that has evolved on its own, the Swedes are proud of who they are and how they came to be.

I remember Dala horses all over my grandparents' homes and in my house growing up as well. I want very much for my son to enjoy the richness of where his family comes from, and why we still remain so close to our relatives in "the old country." This is simply a wonderful book that has aided in giving my son his own cultural identity.

I am very grateful that this book is so Swedish. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for new perspectives about the smaller European nations.

Set in a Swedish village long ago, Per and the Dala Horse is the tale of a young boy's quest to recover a golden chalice stolen by trolls. When an old farmer dies, he leaves all his worldly possessions to his three sons. The eldest inherits the farm. The middle son receives a fine riding horse. But Per, the youngest son, receives only a beautifully carved and painted wooden horse. When the trolls steal the golden communion chalice from the village church, Per, with the help of his magnificent Dala horse, is able to rescue the cherished stolen chalice. Yvonne Gilbert's stunning colored pencil illustrations are more vibrant than ever in this new edition of Per and the Dala Horse. Rebecca Hickox's spirited text makes this an enchanting picture book. Ages 4-9. Paperback.

This book so captured our imaginations that I had to purchase a little wooden Dala horse for our son. The artwork is beautiful, the story is culturally sensitive, the scenes are exciting and the language is rich. I've been reading this book to my son since he was two. He's four, now, and still loves it!

I read this book several times when I was young. It brings together 2 people who society has forgotten. They both turn out to be great human beings. This book has adventure suspense and a great ending.

One of Astrid Lindgren's best books, deserves to be better known and more widely circulated. The characters are realistic, and the story carries them through difficult times into an ending that is satisfying as it is surprising. Bravo!

Rasmus is a likeable boy stuck in an orphanage because the prospective parents that come always pick the curly haired girls. He runs away and meets a vagabond named Oscar, and then the adventures begin. This book has it all - warmth, humour, danger, excitement, wonderful characters, and an ending that is deeply satisfying. I loved this book as a child and have bought several since as presents for other children. A hardcover edition holds a place of honor on my bookshelf. If you have a heart, you will love this book.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Its like a kid running off and joining the circus. Like going to the animal shelter and always seeeing the puppys or kittens getting to go home. This will take you back to simpler times, that I miss. I felt this is a great book for any kid to read. I read this at least 20-30 times and still am reading it! A+ A+ A+

I must have read this book 100 times as a kid. I remember checking it out from my school library so many times that the librarian told me I should go out and buy a copy to have forever. I wish I would have taken her advice as it is now out of print. I recently found a copy at our public library and had the pleasure to read it aloud to my 7 and 9 year old boys. It was great to see them enjoy this tale as much as I had. I would read two chapters a night and every night it was the same old thing... "Just one more chapter Dad???" Reading about Rasmus and Oscar again after all of these years was like meeting up with old, long-lost friends.

So nice to share the input of the Swedish culture with my grandchildren! This series of books for girls and boys (Snipp, Snapp, Snurr), is delightful....wonderful stories and messages to share. Thank you Amazon for offering these choices. Will buy more..

Was delighted with this nostalgic purchase. The condition of the book was as advertised. and it arrived sooner than expected.

this is such a wonderfully simplistic and sweet book. i spent quality time with my dear younger sister reading the book to her. it helped to teach her how to read and within time, she was reading it to the rest of the family. everyone enjoyed it. buy this treasured book and be like us in finding all the love in it and other books of this fabulous series. oh and dont miss the delightful boys series by the same incredible author!

We bought all the F-R-D books that are available in paperback for my daughter's third birthday. She loved them all. She will be turning 6 soon and she still enjoys them alot. The illustrations are charming and story topics are sweet. The illustrations especially can encourage talking about life in the past such as using baskets for things instead of the paper/plastic rut we are in. One thing to keep in mind is these books were written some 40+ years ago and times were different. We would not encourage our children to wander off in the woods to help a stranger without adult supervision. This plot can lead to some good conversation about what is/is not safe now. Keeping that in mind the books are awesome!

Flicka, Ricka and Dicka, the three Swedish girls, are given new red dresses with white dots that their mother made for them. They then go out to play.

While playing they meet and old woman carrying firewood. As their mother has taught them to always help others, they offer to help. The woman accepts but is concerned about getting the dresses dirty. But the girls wish to follow their mother's teaching.

Soon they are at the old woman's cottage and helping with all sorts of chores late into the day. As they return home their dresses are dirty and even torn. Their mother is happy that her girls were so helpful.

The next day the girls wash and mend their dresses and their mother gives them new advice. Next time they help the old woman, they should wear overalls.

Another wonderful and charming story. One never knows what Flicka, Ricka and Dicka will get up to, but it is sure to make an enjoyable tale. Each pair of pages has the story on one side and a beautifully painted illustration by the author on the other. If you like Flicka, Ricka and Dicka, check out Snipp, Snapp and Snurr.

When you think of an "explorer" you think of a guy like Hedin. From an early age he ventured again and again into large swatches of Asian geography where few or no Europeans had ever trod. Hedin graphically and realistically portrays his travels with such detail that you can feel the cold, the heat, the parched throats, the curious indigenous eyes and the scenery staggering in its beauty. When you come to the end of this book, you will be all "adventured" out, for on almost every page there is a suspenseful, fascinating episode. Hedin was truly an explorer's explorer. His greatness is dimmed, however, by his fervent support of Naziism during WWII. As someone has writen elsewhere, Hedin knew about the death camps and never disavowed them. He was a solid Nazi partisan. In an epilogue to this book, author and admirer Peter Hopkirk urges us to look at Hedin's many and major contributions and to forgive his pro-German activities in both world wars. I'm not quite willing to forgive, but I will segment my views of Hedin into Hedin the explorer and Hedin the Nazi sympathizer. Anyhow,if you're looking for a fascinating book about exploration in the most forbidding sectors of our planet at the turn of the 20th century, this is a book for you.

(This refers to the National Geographic Reprint edition)

This is truly a great book, full of the amazing adventures of an incredible explorer. You have to admire Hedin's determination and stubborness, although sometimes I wonder about his planning. It seems like every trip all his animals die, and the men are on the verge of starvation. And as for his trips in the desert, I would have thought the concept of "take some extra water" would have occured at some point!
Hedin is a fine writer, and his descriptions are not only accessible to the average reader, but often quite poetic as well.
Nevertheless, I only reluctantly give this a full 5 stars, because I feel that National Geographic missed a great opportunity to make this an almost perfect book, and it wouldn't have been that difficult to do. As a previous reviewer mentioned, some good maps could have helped. There's almost no excuse for NG not to have included some decent maps of Central Asia in their edition. Furthermore, one tends to forget (although Hedin mentions in the text), that he also took photographs on many of his travels. These might have been included as well. (To see some, refer to the Photos section of the website of the Sven Hedin Foundation, "http://www.etnografiska.se/hedinweb/htmsidor/organi.htm"). Aside from the simplistic drawings that are included, Hedin also did many detailed sketches and potraits on his travels. Now one can assume that none of these were included in the original, and this is only a reprint, but nevertheless, it is a missed opportunity. The introductory chapter by A.Brandt also adds little insight, and might as well have been left out as well.
However, despite the lost opportunities, this book is highly recommended.

The Swede Sven Hedin was the last great explorer we will see on this well-traveled planet. Hedin was born in 1865 and this autobiography describes his life up until 1908. Hedin's career was hardly finished, however, as he continued to traipse down the old Silk Road in Central Asia until the 1930s when he was 70 years old.

In a happy trait that should be copied by more auto-biographers, Hedin doesn't spend much time on his childhood. By the third page of his narrative he is 20 years old and off to the Caucasus Mountains which only whets his appetite for the little-known peaks and deserts of Tibet and Central Asia. He spent the years between 1893 and 1908 exploring these regions and filling in blank places on the map.

National Geographic's "Traveler" magazine put this book on its list of 100 best adventure books and, truly, the tales of Hedin's adventures make for good, exciting reading. Hedin displays both charm and generosity in his account. He traveled without the company of other Europeans and he enjoyed the companionship of his local helpers and the dogs he adopted along his way. He draws many clever portraits of the people he met in his travels. Hedin, however, was no mere adventurer. He was a serious, sober scholar who produced dozens of scientific studies of his findings.

One of the most hair raising tales in the book concerns Hedin's first expedition into the sands of the Takla Makhan (desert) of China in which he and his companions nearly died of thirst. A second high point of the book is the account of his attempt to visit Lhasa, the forbidden capital of Tibet. He failed after getting nearly to the gates of the city and was denied the honor of becoming the first foreigner to visit Lhasa in half a century. Amidst the plethora of adventures, the stoic Swede brushes over incidents others would consider high -- or low -- points of their lives. "Fever kept me in Kashgar a long while" is his complete description of one serious illness.

The book is illustrated with many of Hedin's drawings, including his hand drawn maps. I suggest that you read the book with a good modern map at hand so as to trace his routes with more precision as his constant tooing-and-froing can be confusing.

Smallchief

This is a tale wonderfully told of an explorer's quest to fill in the blank spots on the map of Asia. Not only does Hedin present a clear and highly entertaining view of his travels, but he also gives us a portrait of his character. He shows us that he is a man with high goals and is undeterred in achieving those goals, even when all odds are against him. He shows us that he is also a very caring man, very much concerned about the welfare of his men and his animals. He also is a man that is awestruck by nature and is very concerned about not unduly intruding upon it or unnecessarily destroying it.

But most of all, this is an adventure story that is just plain fun to read.

A suggestion to readers who are not very familiar with the geography of central Asia would be to have on hand some good maps as the ones Hedin draws are quite limited and often fail to give the perspective that may be desireable.

I concur with NDylanRay@aol.com. This book is exceptional. I could hardly put it down. You feel the excitement and intensity of his adventures, you begin to understand the force that drives him (and you respect him for it), and you meet the people and the places that make Turkestan and Tibet 100 years ago like no place that you could ever imagine.

I was shocked & amazed that I could find this old book, purchase it & have it delivered to my home in 2 days for less than $10. It was not available ANYWHERE ELSE! What service & what a deal. My class of 1st graders was pleased with the reading of this specific book which went hand-in-hand with our study & class project.

I bought this book to read to my childrens classrooms and it was a big hit.

These books are absolutely wonderful. I remember reading them as a little girl, and now I am sharing them with my two little girls. The Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka books by the same author are also GREAT. Highly reccomended.

This is the most fanciful of the Snipp, Snapp Snurr books (or Flicka, Ricka, Dicka) that I have seen. In this one, the three Swedish boys would like some butter for their bread. But there is none in the house.

The boys go on a quest for butter and discover what it takes to create butter. Butter is made from milk witch comes from a cow that eats green grass that needs the Sun to grow. In order to get their butter, they must appeal to the Sun so that it will shine and make the grass grow green and etc. etc.

Each pair of pages has the story on the left and a painted illustration by the author on the right. A fun and fanciful story that helps teach about how things depend on one another.

This is the most fanciful of the Snipp Snapp Snurr tales (or the Flicka Ricka and Dicka stories). Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr, the three Swedish boys, are hungry one day and ask their mother for some buttered bread. But there is no butter. The boy must have their bread plain.

In order for the boys to get butter, they will need milk. but the cow isn't giving any because the grass is brown because the sun has not been shining.

Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr appeal to the sun and tell it that it needs to shine and make the grass green. Their appeal is heard and eventually there is butter for their bread again.

Each pair of pages has story on the left and an illustration painted by the author on the right. A rather amusing and fun tale. Read all of the Snipp, Snapp and Snurr books.

A classic children's book that has truly stood the test of time. I loved this book 50 years ago as I shared the adventure of three little girls baking a birthday cake for their Mom. The prose is clear and simple and poetic with the rhyming names. The detailed, colorful illustrations capture the interest of readers and non-readers alike. I am delighted that it has been reprinted (and the whole series) so that I can read it to my granddaughters.

This series of books allows children to be children and enjoy simple delightful innocent stories. We don't outgrow the excitement of baking a cake as we join these sisters!

This is absolutely my favorite children's book! Every little girl should have a copy.

Flicka, Ricka and Dicka, the three Swedish girls, are trying to decide what to get for their mother's birthday. Father says it should be something the make themselves. An Aunt suggests that they bake a cake and she has just the recipe.

The Girls shop for the ingredients, mix the cake, clean the kitchen and go out to play for a few minutes. But they play too long and the cake is burned. The girls must make another one. Once the cake is made and decorated, the girls and their father give the mother a memorable birthday.

Another fine book by Maj Lindman and it teaches the importance of paying attention when doing a job. Each pair of pages has the story on one side and a painted illustration on the other. Read all of the Flicka Ricka Dicka books (and check out Snipp Snapp and Snurr).

A simple story about a simple activity (baking a birthday cake for mother) that my children and their friends have enjoyed for several years. They repeatedly ask for me to read this book. The underlying messages in all the Flicka, Ricka and Dicka books (as well as the Snipp, Snapp, Snurr stories) encourage kindness to others and responsiblity. Not inspiring literature but a great book about somthing young children are interested in.