While looking in the library for the original Doctor Doolittle series (which, believe me, is a whole nother story) I remembered another series of books I loved as a child: Moomintrolls.<\/p>\n
It is fun to go back to the books you read as a child and see what you think of them when you are grown up. Alice in Wonderland <\/i>and Winnie the Pooh <\/i>are nice escapes from the grown-up world. And they have enough good stuff to please the more sophisticated adult reader, too.<\/p>\n
But those two books are well-known. When I would talk to my friends about the Moominfamily, I got blank looks.<\/p>\n
This was hard to understand! My brother and I read the series voraciously, reading some of them even twice.<\/p>\n
I asked my brother if he remembered the Moomins. He did. He even said that the author, Tove Jansson, had won awards for the psychological complexity and apporpriateness of the books.<\/p>\n
Wow!<\/p>\n
Well, I finally remembered to remember the Moomins when I was at the library. I grabbed the first Moomin book on the shelf that my hand fell on.<\/p>\n
MoominPappa at Sea<\/i><\/p>\n
Here is the first paragraph:<\/p>\n
“One afternoon at the end of August, Moominpappa was walking about in his garden feeling at a loss. He had no idea what to do with himself, because it seemed everything there was to be done had already been done or was being done by sombody else.”<\/p>\n
Oh yes. Yes. This was going to be everything I had enjoyed as a child and more. What a perfect description!<\/p>\n
Moominpappa and Moominmamma are so real, they have such human feelings and interactions and reactions.<\/p>\n
Moomintroll is the perfect introspective child, and Little My is the best bratty little sister.<\/p>\n
They meet the most fascinating people and make friends with them as best they can. The stories of their adventures are a kind of magical realism fairy tale.<\/p>\n
As you see, I am re-smitten.<\/p>\n
BUT! There is very little awareness in America about these wonderful stories!<\/p>\n
It’s hard to imagine.<\/p>\n
If you have a child, run, don’t walk, to buy these books and read them to your little one.<\/p>\n
And if you are looking for a little escape from the grown-up world to a gentler place, read a moominbook. There is no way you will regret it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While looking in the library for the original Doctor Doolittle series (which, believe me, is a whole nother story) I remembered another series of books I loved as a child: Moomintrolls. It is fun to go back to the books … Continue reading