LearnSweden Blog

Our Winter Reading Favorites

One activity that we really enjoy is reading. Not only do we read for ourselves but we read to eachother as well. On cartrips, while washing the dishes, after school, and always before bed. Some of our favorite books happen to be written for Winter , when it's the darkest outside and a perfect occasion to crawl up with a good book.

        

I've kept it to our Top Ten . It was a very difficult task but I believe we've done it. Already I'm thinking about all of those favorites I've left off the list. Sitting in a hand woven basket beside our reading bench our many holiday favorites. Here are just a few.

                                 

Can you Whistle, Johanna ? A Boy's Search for a Grandfather- Ulf Stark. There are plenty of old men who would do as a grandfather at the retirement hom, ulf suggests, when Berra wonders why he doesn't have one. They go there together to fine a grandfather-ideally one who eats pig's trotters, invites you to tea and who can teach you how to whistle.  This is a warm and funny story about a friendship between two boys and an old man. A gentle account of companionship.

                             

Christmas Treasury - Jan Brett
I can't imagine winter reading without Jan Brett's stories and tales full of scandinavian traditions. The Mitten, The Hat, and Christmas Trolls are our favorites, but I just found this treasury with a few more pulled together as one holiday collection. (As a side note - if you don't know about Jan Brett's website, and you have little ones, you must pay it a visit. It will keep you busy all winter long.)

Lucia Morning in Sweden-Ewa Rydåker: Peek inside the busy Svensson house in Sweden, where Sofie, Louise, and Carl are getting ready for Lucia Day, December 13. Follow their adventures t hrough the day and learn how to create your own Lucia Day celebration. This wonderful book includes recipes for Lucia buns and ginger snaps, words and music to the Santa Lucia song, and patterns for a Lucia gown, plus the legend of Santa Lucia.

                        

Annika's Secret Wish- Beverly Lewis: A beautiful book that will has become part of our family's Christmas heritage. Annika has wished for ten long years to find the almond in her Christmas rice pudding. Will this be her year ? Beautiful illustrations by Pamela Querin.

The Tomten-Astrid Lindgren: I have loved this book for over 40 years. The copy I have was printed in Sweden a long time ago but I am very glad that this story is available as a nicely affordable paperback because it's such a sweet and comforting tale that lots of children will love. The beautiful illustrations capture perfectly the crisp, cold, snowy atmosphere of a still winter's night as the Tomten, a small spirit and guardian of a humble farm homestead goes about on his secret rounds doing his caretaker duties in his gentle, loving way. He whispers encouragment to the sleeping animals and children. He has seen many hundreds of winters and so he knows that "winters come and winters go, summers come and summers go" and the wheel of the year turns on and on. I encourage you to read this to children to help them feel safe and cozy and snug in their beds on a cold, dark winter's night...maybe try it this Winter Solstice and be sure to keep a look-out for tiny footprints in the snow around your home.

                           

The Tomten and the Fox-Astrid LIndgren: Same them as the above book. You can't have one without the other. Moonlit scenes of the farmyard under snow show Reynard the fox prowling near the henhouse. He's hungry, but Tomten, the kindly old troll who guards the henhouse at night, shares his porridge with the fox and the hens are safe--for another night.

Snow- Uri Shulevitz: This classic is simple and sweet and beautiful. When the snow starts to fall around here we grab this book. It's great for new or early readers. It has many repetitive phrases that you will find yourself quoting whenever the white stuff falls from the sky.

         

Ollie's Ski Trip and Peter and Lott'a Christmas - Elsa Beskow
Two wonderful stories by one of my favorite author/illustrators.  Everytime it snows or we get ready to go sking this book comes to mind - full of magic and wonder at the winter season. Peter and Lotta's Christmas is equally as beautiful as Beskow's other stories, and includes a few sweet Swedish Christmas traditions in the tale.

 

The Story of the Snow Children - Sibylle Von Olfers
Is there anything more magical than the thought of staring out the window at the snowflakes and having them turn into little snow children that carry you away on a magical winter adventure? Oh my. So much delight and goodness. The illustrations in this are simply stunning.

Christmas in Nosiy Village - Astrid Lindgren
This tale of Christmas contains all that I hope my children will remember from their own childhood holiday seasons - handmade gifts, baking, singing, celebrations with friends and family, and much joy. 

        
 So this is my favorite holiday reading list. I know there are many lists going on in the blogosphere, if you have a list of your own be sure to leave a link for it in our comments section so that we can see it . If you have a favorite book that hasn't been mentioned, let us know that too! We can never refuse a good read.

Have many wonderful nights of cozy reading with you and your little ones....or your young at heart !

      

The Magic of John Bauer

Often we read out loud at night. The place always differs....sometimes in front of a fire, sometimes on the top bunk of a bed, under a make shift tent, but always we are together and always out loud.

One of our favorite books is Swedish Folk Tales. The stories are enchanting but what really draws the reader in are the incredible illustrations of John Bauer. We had a lengthy discussion about him tonight and realized for all of the years we have enjoyed his paintings we know very little about him. Thus began our journey into the magical world of John Bauer.

           

John Bauer was one of the world's greatest illustrators of fairy tales.  He was born in 1882 in the Swedish city of Jönköping. His father came from southern Germany; his mother was Swedish. As a boy, he showed an interest in and a gift for drawing, and his school books are filled with caricatures.  He also diplayed a warm feeling for nature, and often made long excursions on foot, alone, through the deep forests that line Lake Vättern, on the shore of which Jönköping is situated.

       

When he was no more than sixteen years old he went to Stockholm, seeking to enter the Royal Academy of Arts; but while his great talent was obvious, he was too young to be admitted. He had to wait two more years, during which time he further improved his skill as a draftsman.

At the Academy, Bauer soon achieved a respected name, among both teachers and pupils. He drew with serene and sure strokes, with spirited detail, and with a pronounced feeling for form.

       

In his spare time Bauer studied historic costumes, weapons, and buildings, and the value of this reserach shows itself particularly in his later fairy-tale illustrations. These also reflecty his strong feeling for his native land---the deep forests with mossy boulders, the smiling glades, the low houses, the tarns, and the mountains.

      

While still a student at the Academy he received his first big commission as an illustrator of fairy tales: it was Anna Wahlenberg's book Länge,länge Sedan (Long, Long, Ago._ Three years later he made his real breakthrough when the annual Julstämning (Christmas Spirit), under the aegis of Cyrus Graner, began publishing the collection Bland tomtar och troll(Among Tomtes and Trolls) which came out once a year. Of the first ten editions, eight were illustrated entirely by Bauer, and his clumsy, strangely natural-looking troll figures were soon beloved by every Swede. During his short lifetime, he illustrated the work of almost every well-known swedish story teller, the best of whom are  represented in the collection of swedish tales titled,"Swedish Folk Tales". Generations of Scandinavian children have been brought up among his pictures, both in their books and on their walls.

      

John Bauer did not wish to remain illustrator of children's books forever. He had long felt a strong urge towards other kinds of painting but was never able to fulfil this ambition. With his wife and their two year old son, John Bauer was among the passengers on the steamer Per Brahe which, on a dark November night in 1918, sank in Lake Vättern, drowning all on board.

       

You can find your copy of the book Swedish Folk Tales in the LearnSweden bookstore, www.learnsweden.com.

For more information about John Bauer have a look at these sites as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John-Bauer

www.Jonbauersmuseum.nu

http://Bauer.artpassions.net

http://runeberg.org/jbauer

www.artsycraftsy.com

                            

                          

                          

                            

                            

                            

                          

Happy Birthday to Selma Lagerlöf

                                    

Today, November 20th, is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sweden's beloved writer Selma Lagerlöf. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1909, Selma Lagerlöf has always been one of Sweden's favorites writers.

                                                    

~....in appreciation of the lofty idealism,vivid imagination, and spiritual perception that characterizes her writings."  From the Nobel Prize for literature presentation.

                                    

 Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was born in Östra Emterwik, Värmland, Sweden. She was brought up on Mårbacka, the family estate, which she did not leave until 1881, when she went to a teachers' college at Stockholm. In 1885 she became a teacher at the girls' secondary school in Landskrona. She had been writing poetry ever since she was a child, but she did not publish anything until 1890, when a Swedish weekly gave her the first prize in a literary competition and published excerpts from the book which was to be her first, best, and most popular work. Gösta Berlings Saga was published in 1891, but went unnoticed until its Danish translation received wide critical acclaim and paved the way for the book's lasting success in Sweden and elsewhere. In 1895 financial support from the royal family and the Swedish Academy encouraged her to abandon teaching altogether. She travelled in Italy and wrote Antikris mirakler (1897) [The Miracles of Antichrist], a novel set in Sicily. After several minor works she published Jerusalem (1901-1902) [The Holy City], a novel about Swedish peasants who emigrated to the Holy Land and whom she had visited in 1900. This work was her first immediate success. A book intended as a primer for elementary schools became one of the most charming children's book in any language: Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (1906) [The Wonderful Adventures of Nils].               

                                      

None of her later works matched the power or success of Gösta Berlings Saga. In the mid-twenties she published the historical trilogy: Löwensköldska Ringen (1925), Charlotte Löwensköld (1927), and Anna Svärd (1928) [The Ring of the Löwenskölds, 3 vols.]. She also published several volumes of reminiscences under the title Mårbacka (1922-32).

                                                 

From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969

This autobiography/biography was first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

I wouldn't want any of you to miss the huge celebrations happening in Sweden today.

You can actually hear Selma Lagerlöf during her Nobel lectures at www.nobelprize.org

Swedish Radio has an entire webpage dedicated to her and for the next 30 days you may hear Selma and others honor her whole life through word, play , and song. This is not to be missed. www.sr.se

The National Library of Sweden has an exhibit of Selma Lagerlöf happening now. http://www.kb.se/english/about/news/2008/lagerlof/

                                       

The exhibit is intended to create interest in the career of Selma Lagerlöf, and is based around a number of different themes. In addition to showing her working process – from preliminary draft to printed manuscript – the exhibit will also include first editions, translations, letters, reviews and photographs.

In addition to her work as an author, Selma Lagerlöf was also a committed advocate of both women's suffrage and the peace movement. She was highly respected within the cultural establishment, but also had deep ties to the common people, as witnessed by her incredible correspondence. The Lagerlöf Collection includes some 40,000 letters from some 17 000 correspondents

Please enjoy some photos of her home in Mårbacka. ~

                                       

                                               

                                       

                                      

                                       

                                      

Books Continues

As we continue our discussion about Swedish reading I thought you might want to know what Swedes think of the issue. The Nyheter took a survey and asked their readers what their favorite books were. The aftermath was a list of the "Best 100 Swedish Books". Have a look at the top ten.

1. Utvandrarna by Vilhem Moberg; The Emmigrants

2. Pippi Långstrump by Astrid Lindgren ;Pippi Longstockings

3. Bröderna Lejonhjärta by Astrid Lindgren; The Brothers Lionheart

4.The "Stad" series by Per Anders Fogelström

5. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige by Selma Lagerlöf; Nils Holgersson's wonderful adventures through Sweden.

6. Emil i lönneberga by Astrid Lindgren;Emil

7. Röde Orm by Frans G. Bengtsson The Red snake

8. Mio min mio, by Astrid Lindgren; Mio my mio

9. Ronja Rövardotter by Astrid Lindgren; Ronja the robbers daughter

10. Juloratoriet by Göran Tunström.

Happy Reading !!!!!

In love with Books

Long hot days, a gentle breeze, the sound of water gurgling in the fountain......balancing our hectic lives with the relaxation and pleasure of summer.  Is there any better way than curling up with some great reads by the pool ?

Here are some Svenska reads in English that you won't want to miss.

Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, by Vendela Vida : On the day of her father's funeral, twenty-eight-year old Clarissa Iverton discovers that he wasn't her biological father after all. Her mother disappeared fourteen years earlier, and her fiance has just revealed a life changing secret to her. Alone and adrift, Clarissa travels to mystical Lapland, where she believes she'll meet her real father.  There, at a hotel made of ice, Clarissa is confronted with the truth about her mother's history, and must make a decision about how and where to live the rest of her life.

                                              

Astrid & Veronika, by Linda Olsson: Veronika, a 30 year old Swedish writer, rents a home in a remote village to finish work on her second novel. Her only neighbor for miles is Astrid, a reclusive octogenarian who has earned a reputation as the village witch.  Veronika and Astrid gradually become friends, taking long walks and sipping wine made from the wild strawberries in Astrid's garden. Each shares painful secrets along the way. Veronika abandoned a devoted boyfriend to take up with a bartender from New Zealand.  They fell passionately in love, then tragedy befell him, leaving Veronika paralyzed by grief. Astrid endured abuse from her father and a long loveless marriage to a man chosen by him. Until now, she has never told anyone the truth about her infant daughter's death. This is the first novel for Olsson, a native of Stockholm who now lives in New Zealand.

                                                                        

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson: In The Summer Book Tove Jansson distills the essence of the summer-its sunlight and storms, into twenty-two crystalline vignettes.  This brief novel tells the story of Sophia, a six-year old girl awakening to existence, and Sophia's grandmother, nearing the end of hers, as they spend the summer on a tiny unspoiled island in the Gulf of Finland.  The grandmother is unsentimental and wise, if a little cranky; Sophia is impetuous and volatile, but she tens to her grandmother with the care of a new parent.  Together they amble over coastline and forest in easy companionship, build boats from bark, create a miniature Venice, write a fanciful study of local bugs. They discuss things that matter to young and old: life, death, the nature of God and of love. Jansson created a complete a beautiful world in this book. It is translated from the original which was written in Swedish.

                                                             

Unseen by Mari Jungstedt: Swedish journalist Jungstedt's first mystery, set on the island of Gotland, a popular tourist destination, opens with some promise. After a gathering of friends dissolves amid jealous accusations, the source of the conflict, Helena Hillerström, vanishes from her home, only to turn up the victim of a savage ax murder. This violent act shocks the residents of the normally sleepy resort island. Despite the dedicated efforts of Insp. Anders Knutas, the killer strikes twice again.

                                                            

Selma Lagerlöf Special on SR4

Greetings everyone....we've all been on vacation in various places on the planet, hence the weeklong gap in blog postings. I wanted to let you know about a very special Swedish Radio summer special on Selma Lagerlöf.

                                                      

It has been 150 years since Selma lagerlöf was born in Mårbacka,Värmland. To celebrate the occasion Radio Värmland has a ten day radio special highlighting her life.  Not only do they talk about her books and theater pieces, but her love of living at Mårbacka.  Included on the website are Selma's Favorite recipes such as vinbärsgömmor and Mårbackakaka. One of the most special items are the recordings of Selma reading Nils Holgersson and the Julklappsoboken plus there is even a midsommar greeting from Mårbacka.

This isn't to be missed. I really have the sense that I know Selma Lagerlöf well now.  The program and the website are in Swedish. The Selma Lagerlöf special only stays until July 27th . You can enjoy it here:

http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/varmland/program/index.asp?ProgramID=3215

For our friends and visitors who don't speak Swedish there is still really great programming in english on Swedish Radio. You can catch it here:

http://www.sr.se/rs/english/

Vi hörs/see you later