Sweden
189
Ahlström, Gabriella (text)
Arrhenius, Ingela P. (illus.)
Fanny … och fallet med flickan i staden (Fanny … and the case of the girl in the city)
Stockholm : Tiden, 2006. – 107 p.
(Ett fall för Fanny / Gabriella Ahlström)
ISBN 978-91-85243-61-7
Cannes – Film festival – Detective
With this series, the publisher Tiden offers another detective series specifically for girls. In the first volume, the young detective Fanny travels to the film festival in Cannes with her mother and solves a complicated case there. Even if the plot moves within the conventional frame of this genre, the fresh voice in which it is told makes this book quite unusual. Thus, the director at Fanny’s school, who suggests a change of air to cure her restlessness, is boldly addressed by first name – a behaviour that is met with surprise by most foreign readers (who may also be utterly astonished to learn that »Vickan« and »Madde« refer to the Swedish princesses Victoria and Maddalena). Such a cheeky and disrespectful style turns this book into an entertaining read. (10+)
190
Althoff, Johan (text)
Sheppard, Sarah / Nyberg, Robert (illus.)
Nattpäron : en bok om att hitta på, tänka och berätta (Nightpear: a book for exploring, thinking, and storytelling)
[Stockholm] : Bonnier Carlsen, 2006. – 128 p.
ISBN 91-638-4621-7
Everyday life – Imagination – Day– Night
This book was originally created to accompany an exhibition striving to stimulate children’s imagination, but it can also be enjoyed independently. It shows the course of one night and one day up to the following evening in seemingly contradictory pictures. On collages presenting a rather bleak and narrow-minded everyday world, the artists have superimposed sketchy, caricature-like black-and-white drawings of apparently ordinary people doing everyday things but uttering absurdities. The book’s aim is to teach children that they can enrich their dull everyday life by using their imagination. (7+)
191
Beèeviæ, Zulmir
Resan som började med ett slut (The journey that started with an end)
Stockholm : Alfabeta, 2006. – 223 p.
ISBN 978-91-501-0750-0
Sweden – Bosnian immigrant– Refugee – Integration
Just like the author, Nino, the first-person narrator of this novel, is a Bosnian refugee arriving in Sweden in 1992. Therefore it seems likely that the story has strong autobiographical elements. For those readers who are not familiar with the problems of being a refugee, this book provides important and sometimes fairly amusing information. It relates, for example, the various difficulties that may arise in a class of pupils from more than eight different nations when learning Swedish. Unfortunately, there is a lot of violence involved and even the immigrant children are not free from prejudice against others. Problems with the female sex constitute another barrier to overcome on the way to becoming a »true Swede«, even if, in the end, it is a girl who gives Nino more self-confidence. (14+) <>
192
Grähs, Gunna (text/illus.)
Tutu och Tant Kotla (Tutu and Aunt Kotla)
[Stockholm] : Alfabeta, 2006. – [24] p.
(En hejhej bok)
ISBN 978-91-501-0579-7
Sweden – Immigrant– Foreigner – Integration – Multicultural society
With this series, the publisher offers a number of small picture books dealing with all kinds of integration. In this volume, the reader follows a black boy delivering newspapers on a snowy grey winter day. He trudges through one of the bleak Swedish suburbs of newly-erected houses so unlike the boy’s familiar African home. Nevertheless, in one of the tall buildings a door suddenly opens and he is invited for coffee and cake by a lonely old woman simply because she likes his friendly face. He tells her about Africa, she tells him about her childhood. In the end, Tutu walks away with a smile. Such a sweet story might easily turn into a pedagogical lecture if it wasn’t for this wonderful artist who combines a fresh, decorative, spacious style with original visual ideas. (5+) <>
Special Mention
193
Herrström, Christina
Tusen gånger starkare (A thousand times stronger)
[Stockholm] : Bonnier Carlsen,
2006. – 217 p.
ISBN 91-638-5250-0
School – Girl – Social differences – Inequality – Assertiveness – Gender role
What starts as an ordinary school story on the perennial topic of powerful
bullies gathering their »subjects« around them and tyrannising the rest of the
class soon acquires a different note. The new girl, an interesting foreigner
aptly named Saga, acts with such confidence and superiority that she easily
dethrones the old Number One – to the delight of (most of) the other girls. By
dealing a complete defeat to a teacher who, intentionally or unintentionally,
always favoured the boys, she turns herself into the speaker of the timid
girls, who used to let the male classmates get their way. With her and because
of her, the girls’ badly battered confidence receives a boost. It doesn’t even
matter much that the school authorities win through in the end. The shy
first-person narrator, for one, is inspired by Saga’s courage. With her
exceptionally precise language, the author manages to get to the core of the
problems and build up the suspense in each scene. Her cheeky tone turns this
book into an entertaining and diverting read. (12+)
194
Holmberg, Bo R.
Skuggaren (Stalker)
Stockholm : Rabén & Sjögren, 2006. – 155 p.
(Ett fall för Robert Parkman / Bo R. Holmberg)
ISBN 978-91-29-66420-1
Girl – Stalking – Pursuit – Private detective
With this first volume, the popular children’s book author has started a new series of crime fiction for children because such stories have been mushrooming in the Scandinavian countries for years. A teenager who runs a small detective agency is approached by a girl who fears that she is being followed – his first proper case. Instead of disarming the alleged stalker, however, he catches a violent burglar and hands him over to the police. Holmberg has a lot of experience in creating an exciting plot mainly from dialogues. He portrays his hero Robert’s great self-confidence in a clearly ironical way to make him fail all the more effectively. Ultimately, this is a highly amusing, well-crafted story disguised as a detective novel. (12+)
195
Nilsson, Ulf (text)
Eriksson, Eva (illus.)
Alla döda små djur (All the little dead animals)
Stockholm : Bonnier Carlsen,
2006. – 34 p.
ISBN 91-638-4668-3
Child – Animals – Death – Burial
This is a book about death, though not – as one might expect – a sad one. On the contrary, it proves that burying animals can sometimes be quite funny. When, on an utterly boring day, Esther finds a dead bumblebee, she is delighted. She builds a little cross, digs a grave, and scatters some flowers on it. Her brother is allowed to write an elegy. While he is good at poetry, he turns out to be a sissy who is afraid of dead animals. Esther even opens her own funeral parlour. Armed with a suitcase full of necessities, the children set out in search of dead animals. The anonymous dead are quickly christened before the funeral. After having treated several mice, a hedgehog, a hamster, and three fishes snatched from mother’s freezer, their most exciting case turns out to be a roadkilled rabbit. The next day however, the children’s morbid game gets pushed into the background by other fascinating matters. With Ulf Nilsson’s witty style and Eva Eriksson’s ingenious eye for characterisation, this book is a real treasure. (6+)
196
Stolpe, Marika (text)
Pehrson, Lars (photogr.)
Ida & elefanterna (Ida and the elephants)
Stockholm : Ström, 2005. – [64] p.
ISBN 91-7126-000-5
Kenya – Elephant – Wildlife reserve
This photo documentary accompanies a Swedish girl on her visit to her friend John in a wildlife reserve in Kenya. The author makes Ida tell in first-person, eyewitness style about how young elephants are brought up and looked after. Both children help with the feeding, play with the animals, and sleep close to them at night to give them a sense of security. The factual narrative is complemented by equally factual, lively photographs, which present an accurate picture of everyday life at the reserve and enable children to (almost) share the protagonists’ experiences. The readers are offered a true introduction to African nature without getting dazzled by picture-perfect, glossy magazine photographs. (8+) ¤ <>