My new blogger avatar is Little My, my favorite character from the Moominland book series. She's a spunky little thing and some days my mood during this referral wait matches this particular image perfectly.
I'm not sure how common these books are in North America, but in the UK they were (are?) HUGE.
Written by Finnish author Tove Jansson, the books tell the wondrous tales of the Moomins and their friends living in Moominvalley. Despite being written for older readers (around 8 and up, I guess), I'm already looking to buy the entire collection to squirrel away for Myfanwy's library. Because any child of mine will have to have read these books.
Of course, I will have to re-read them all again. The subject matter is actually quite mature and intelligent, dealing with some rather dark issues but with the right balance of humour and whimsy to ignite a young child's imagination. I'm looking forward to reading them again as an adult.
I loved reading and re-reading these books as a girl, and it's important that I find the same versions as the ones I read back then. With Jansson's original black & white illustrations (unfortunately, most of our books & toys were left behind in England when we immigrated).
I've seen them for sale on line at Chapters and Amazon but I'm not yet convinced they are the Puffin book editions. I'll have to try harder to find them in a bookstore.
