Pippi Longstocking
SynopsisPlot
Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on her porch, and a pet monkey named Mr. Nilsson. Whether Pippi’s scrubbing her floors, doing arithmetic, or stirring things up at a fancy tea party, her flair for the outrageous always seems to lead to another adventure.
Story
About this book
Pippi Longstocking, by the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, introduces a girl who moves into a house called Villa Villekulla at the edge of a small village. She lives there with no adults at all, sharing the place with a horse that stands on the porch and a small monkey named Mr. Nilsson. A bag of gold coins covers her expenses. Next door live Tommy and his sister Annika.
Pippi is presented as the strongest girl in the world, fearless and generous, and she does more or less as she pleases. Ordinary business such as scrubbing floors, working through arithmetic, or sitting at a formal tea party turns unpredictable once she takes part. The episodes are told in a calm, matter-of-fact voice that treats her behaviour as entirely normal, and that steady tone supplies much of the comedy.
Lindgren first published the story in Swedish in 1945, after telling versions of it to her daughter. It has since appeared in many languages; German readers know the house as Villa Kunterbunt and the girl as Pippi Langstrumpf. The setting stays small throughout: a village, two neighbouring gardens, and one house where the usual household rules do not apply.
