I noted in the “favorite authors” thread (in which neither CalMeacham nor I were mentioned, by the way) that someone did mention Tove Jansson, authoress of the wonderful “Moomin Valley” series.
Has anyone else read these children’s books? They’re dark and creepy and funny—like “Winnie the Pooh” only without the “Pooh.”
I have modeled myself after Little My, and my mother now regrets letting me see the damn books in my formative years . . .
Pooh is “dark and creepy and funny”?? Different Pooh than I remember :D. My take on Pooh is the same as Dorothy Parker’s (in her Constant Reader column): “Tonstant Weader fowed up”
But I do vagely remember the Moomin books. Moomin-Momma and Moomin Papa, et al. I remember likeing them too, but I don’t remember anything about them. I’m going to have to reread the few I have now.
And Tove Jannson is a woman?? I thought she was a he!
Fenris
Yeah, I’ve read at least one of those books. It was “A Comet in Moominland.” I was wondering if that was what this thread was about before I opened it. It was a great story. I even reread it in high school out of boredom and surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it.
I can’t remember any of the character names, but I do remember the song (at least partially) that one of the characters played on his harmonica (although they called it something else).
No, no, Fenris—that’s what I mean; there IS no darkness and creepiness in “Pooh.” The Moomin books were written by a Dane (and a great one, I may add), so they have the overall background hum of hopelessness and depression that seems to reign out there.
Yes, Tove is a woman—still alive, too, must be well into her late 80s.
I must’ve lead a sheltered life – I’ve never heard of Moomins. I thought you were mispronouncing “Mormons” in print. I’m going to Amazon.com to look these up. Are they anything like Gumps?
Oops, Finnish, not Danish! Here’s a link:
http://www.io.com/~fazia/Moomin.html
The books really aren’t as twee and adorable as you’d think from seeing this. The evil little character at the bottom of the page is my role model, Little My.
I bought three books in the series (at Eve’s urging, I might add) for my daughter about a year ago…FINN FAMILY MOOMINTROLL, MOOMINLAND MIDWINTER, and COMET IN MOOMINLAND.
Tried to read them to her at bedtime. Did not prove popular. She didn’t actually say “Lose the god damn Finnish Troll books, already, Pop” but there was no effort to scurry through the toothbrushing and into jammies to hear the next chapter. Gave up halfway through the first book.
She didn’t read them on her own, either.
I may try them on my son, who’s a completely different character than she is. He’s only five, but there’re enough illustrations throughout (and marvelously bizarre illustrations they are, too) that he might go for it.
Or maybe I’ll just read them myself. I got a major kick out of them.
Minor caveat: The current publisher does not include a “card page,” or listing of titles in order. It’s damn hard to figure out which ones to buy if you want to read them in order (unless the bookseller has copies of ALL the titles [hah] and you can check copyright pages).
Oh, yeah…one of the reviewers on Amazon mentions that the Moomins were such a hot ticket in Japan in the 1970s that there was a (short-lived) animated series!
My Swedish half-sister gave my older daughter “Finn Family Moomintroll,” “Tales From Moominvalley,” and “Moominland Midwinter” a few years back. She never did read them, probably because she assumed from a first look that they would be sweet. I should haul them out and get her to try them again - “dark, creepy and funny” is right up her alley.
Hmmm . . . Ike, so if I babysit Little Pianola, that means I’ll have to read her from Milt Gross, complete with vaudeville Yiddish accent?
So where ARE these books popular? Everyplace but the USA?
And if Tove Jansson is a woman, does that mean that beloved filmmaker Tove Hooper, creator of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, is a woman too?
And Finnish?
Just make sure she itt opp all de nize krim of whit.
Eve’Twas me. BTW, the link doesn’t seem to work.
Ukele Ike, I believe they are in the order (by Finnish publication date/English publication date):
Comet in Moominland (1946/1951);
Finn Family Moomintroll (1948/1950);
The Exploits of Moominpappa (-/1952);
Moominsummer Madness (-/1955);
Moominland Midwinter (-/1958);
Tales from Moomin Valley (1962/1963);
Moominpappa at Sea (1965/1966);
Moominvalley in November (1971/1971).
The age guide in my very elderly, shedding-pages copies indicates “read aloud from six years up, also for readers 8 to 9, maybe up to 10”. Or in my case, just slightly older!
I’m confused. It was me who mentioned Tove Jansson in the favourite author thread, right here, in fact. I’m pleased to meet all you fellow Moomin fans. If a person likes the Moomins, then I will probably like that person.
I have all of the books apart from Exploits of Moominpappa and Moominvalley in November.
Moominpappa at Sea reminds me exactly of the way my father used to be on family holidays. See me as part Moomintroll, part Little My.
Yes, Tove is a female Swedish name (although Miss Jansson is Finnish, she is a Swedish speaker, and the books were originally written in Swedish). Here is an interesting article about how the Moomins started.
Tansu, my apologies. You are correct - 'twas you, not me. I didn’t read the OP carefully enough. I had rabbited on about the Moomintroll books a couple of weeks ago in a kids books thread, so just assumed it was the thread the OP referred to. (Who said egocentric???).
As you like the Moomintroll books, the kids book thread may be worth a visit if you didn’t notice it the first time round. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=48444
I saw the cartoons years ago in the UK, never read the books (1. It never occurred to me that there were books, 2. I wasn’t that impressed with the cartoons, 3. Hi Opal!)
I didn’t notice any atmosphere of darkness & hopelessness in the cartoons either. I think they still rerun them during kids cartoon times, though (ie when most adults are out at work).
Uke,
I have seen the Moomin animated series. It was bizarre. In fact, I think it was one of the first programmes to corrupt me.
AKAMame: that’s OK - I was far more confused than offended.
Uke, fierra, TwistofFate: There are two animations. The first was a marionette version which was around in the 1970s and early 1980s. I remember the cotton wool clouds. I’m willing to bet solid cheese that that’s the one that TwistofFate is referring to. The second is a dire cartoon abomination that ripped the melancholic souls from the Moomins and made them bright and fluffy. Of course fierra was not impressed with it. How could she be?
Okay, retraction time.
I asked Little Pianola over dinner last night what she had thought of the Moomin books, and she said they were great! She HAD gone back after the reading-aloud thing fiasco and read them on her own, the rascal!
She said that I should go ahead and read them to Little Banjo, that she thought he’d probably love 'em. Looks like I’d better pick up the ones we don’t have.
AKAmame: So COMET is the first title in the series? Weird. A plot based on “Celestial destruction threatens town, protagonists try to stave off disaster” just SCREAMS “fourth or fifth book in the series.”
I was just about to write a new thread when I read “Moomins” and was like “ooooh moooooomins!!!”
The books were not popular here - otherwise I d have read them - I ve always been a bookworm…
but I loved the moomins on tv…
But they cant keep up with Eyore…
dodgy