Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren (1959)

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It wasn’t that long ago that I read Astrid Lindgren‘s first book in this series, Pippi Longstocking, to my kids and we loved it so much, I’ve kept my eye out for more. Pippi in the South Seas is the only one I’ve found, and it’s actually the third book—after Pippi Goes on Board, which I haven’t yet come across. My public library doesn’t carry these books, and I can only surmise why. Our ultra-liberal town promotes tolerance and inclusion so much that they’ll ban anything that disagrees with them (ignoring the irony), even Swedish books six decades old.

I’m not sure if Pippi met her dad again in the second book, but the king of a cannibal island shows up here and invites his daughter and her friends to visit him on Kurrekurredutt Island. That’s the main thrust, but even before that happens, Pippi and Tommy and Anika experience some other adventures that draw out from Pippi her delectable uniqueness, scenes that made me laugh.

One great example came in the first chapter, when a city man sought to purchase Villa Villekulla. In conversing with the kids, he said:

“I don’t want any youngsters running around my garden. Children are the worst thing I know.”

“I think so too,” said Pippi and stopped skipping for a second. “All children ought to be shot.”

“How can you say that?” said Tommy, hurt.

“Yes, I mean it: all children ought to be shot,” said Pippi. “But that isn’t possible because then no nice little uncles would ever grow up. And we can’t do without them!” (17)

The conversation continued:

The fine gentleman looked at her and said, “I really think you’re the ugliest child I’ve ever seen.”

“Well,” said Pippi, “you’re not exactly a beauty yourself.”

The fine gentleman looked hurt, but he didn’t say anything. Pippi stood and looked at him in silence for a while with her head tilted to one side. “Do you know in what way you and I are alike?”

“Just between us,” said the fine gentleman, “I hope there is no likeness.”

“There is,” said Pippi. “Both of us have big mouths. Except me.” (18)

The quirkiness of this fantastic little character has kept us reading and looking for more, and it makes me wonder how she hasn’t been a staple read for kids and classrooms alike. I had to wait until my 40s to come across her, and that just ain’t right.

The fact that Tommy and Annika’s mother would ever consider sending her children off on a sea adventure alongside Pippi Longstocking isn’t one that needs explanation, because it’s fictional nonsense, and yet Astrid Lundgren decided that an explanation was perfectly in order. She quotes the mother’s reasoning:

“The children have been sick and the doctor says they need a change of climate. As long as I’ve known Pippi she has never done anything that has harmed Tommy and Annika in any way. No one can be kinder than she… Pippi Longstocking’s manners may not always be what they ought to. But her heart is in the right place.” (66-67)

After meeting some of the native children and battling the pirates, the children head home again to Villa Villekulla and the kids’ parents. As they sit chat one evening, Tommy breaks in:

“I never want to grow up,” he said emphatically.

“I don’t either,” said Annika.

“No, that’s nothing to wish for, being grown up,” said Pippi. “Grownups never have any fun. They only have a lot of boring work and wear silly-looking clothes and have corns and minicipal taxes.” (119)

Pippi then gives the children some chililug pills that will make sure the kids never grow up, adding: “Though the pills have been lying around in my closet for so long that one can’t be sure that all the strength hasn’t gone out of them. But we have to hope for the best.” (122)

After reading this book (which was the final in the series for nearly 40 years), these discussions by the main characters of never wanting to grow old made sense to me. Literature is just like that, a combination of letters on the page that long outlasts the authors and brings joy to children for decades and perhaps centuries to come—and Tommy, Annika, and Pippi will always remain that same age as when Lungren first created them. It’s a marvelous fact and it’s that magical power of books that keeps me reading.

Want a good series to take you back to childhood, even if it’s your first time reading it? Look no further than the Pippi Longstocking series—which apart from those already mentioned also includes Pippi on the Run.

Read more from Astrid Lindgren: