Pippi Longstocking turns 60

Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking) is celebrating her 60th anniversary this year. Two weeks ago I and my Japanese friend went to a celebration parade from Strandvägen all the way to Junibacken on Djurgården. It is a pity that the author of the famous children's book series, Astrid Lindgren, is no longer alive to join the festivities.

Pippi has been a phenomenon in the past 60 years. Just in Sweden, over 7 million books have been sold. The book has been translated into 57 languages and made children all over the world happy.

Before I moved to Sweden, I had never heard of Pippi though. But Pippi has been instrumental in helping me learn Swedish. The original films where Inger Nilsson played the role of Pippi are terrific, and through the books I have learned many Swedish words and gotten a glimpse of the inner world of children.

Pippi is such a strong girl, not just physically (she can hold a horse with her bare hands), but mentally and emotionally as well. She lives alone in a house called Villa Villekulla, together with a horse and a monkey. She takes care of herself and loves adventures. She defies authorities and has a very independent, strong will. I don't know if this has anything to do with the feminism in Sweden, but surely she has become a model figure for Swedish girls.

The story behind the making of Pippi Longstocking is quite a saga of itself. In the 40s, Astrid Lindgren's 7-year-old daughter Karin was sick with pneumonia, and she wanted Lindgren to tell a bed time story about someone she dubbed "Pippi Longstocking." "What a strange name that is," thought Lindgren. With such a strange name, this girl has to have a strange character to go along as well. So she improvised, and a series of stories were created by her vivid imagination. The stories were not only loved by Karin but also became popular among her friends. When Karin turned 10, Lindgren gave her the manuscript of the first-ever Pippi Longstocking book as a birthday present. At the same time, she sent the manuscript to a publisher to try her luck, never believing that it would be published. At first, the publisher was too broke to publish it, but after a couple of years decided to give it a try anyway. It was Pippi Longstocking that saved the publisher from bankrupcy, and the book became a big success.