SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Manga
  • All Ages
  • Young Adult
  • Interviews
  • News

December 30, 2014 by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Review: Pippi Won’t Grow Up

December 30, 2014 by J. Caleb Mozzocco   Leave a Comment

Pippi Won’t Grow Up
Written by Astrid Lindgren
Drawn by Ingrid Vang Nyman
Translated by Tiina Nunnally
Drawn & Quarterly, $14.95

Writer Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking returns to comics in another new volume from publisher Draw & Quarterly, containing Tiina Nunnally’s translation of Lindgren and artist Ingrid Vang Nymann’s original 1950s comics starring the world’s strongest girl.

This new, third volume in the growing Pippi comics library features short stories of our pint-sized heroine’s adventures with her friends Tommy and Annika, in which she generally comes to their rescue and occasionally shocks or embarrasses them with her lack of manners.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

In “Pippi Plays The Guessing Game,” she joins them at school to help the kids and their classmates defeat a particularly scary teacher, Miss Rosenblom, who asks the children very difficult questions and feeds them slimy soup if they don’t weigh enough. Pippi outsmarts her with her own smart mouth, then passes out gold coins and ice cream to all the kids at school—no wonder Pippi’s so popular with children!

Whether you’ve read the previous volumes or are starting with this one, it’s little wonder Pippi’s comics were so popular and are being republished today. They’re fantastic comics, starring a compellingly strange character who invites normal children from the real world into fantastic situations like a sort of Peter Pan figure and often crashes into the mundane world, upsetting its rules in amusing ways and defending the goodness and innocence of it by throwing around malicious adults with her super-strength.

The Peter Pan comparison seems most apt in the title story, in which Tommy and Annika visit Pippi’s house to find a surprise Christmas celebration hosted by their fiery, fire-haired friend. Pippi’s final gifts to her friends are “Krumalura Pills,” which Tommy notices look suspiciously like ordinary peas. These will keep one from growing up—and having to think of “bunions and county taxes and boring stuff like that”—and playing until “you’re a hundred.”

All you have to do is say “Dear little Krumalura, I don’t want to grow up, never ever” and take the pill.

Does it work? Well, Pippi first appeared in Lindgren’s prose book Pippi Longstocking in 1945, which would make her 69 this year. With those books still in print, not to mention picture books, films, TV series, and, of course, these charming comics, she ought to make 100 easy.

Filed under: Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Astrid LindgrenDrawn & QuarterlyIngrid Vang NymanPippi LongstockingPippi Won't Grow UpTiina Nunnally

About J. Caleb Mozzocco

J. Caleb Mozzocco is a way-too-busy freelance writer who has written about comics for online and print venues for a rather long time now. He currently contributes to Comic Book Resources' Robot 6 blog and ComicsAlliance, and maintains his own daily-ish blog at EveryDayIsLikeWednesday.blogspot.com. He lives in northeast Ohio, where he works as a circulation clerk at a public library by day.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

February 2023

Kiss Number 8 | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

February 2023

The Archie Encyclopedia | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

January 2023

Monkey Prince Vol. 1: Enter the Monkey | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

January 2023

Young Agatha Christie | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

January 2023

Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Sydney Taylor Blog Tour: THE TOWER OF LIFE by Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

“… A relationship of reciprocity with the Earth.” Diana Sudyka Discusses Her New Picture Book, Little Land

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Haley Newsome on Unfamiliar | Interview

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Showing Teens It’s Okay to be Angry, a guest post by Lauren Blackwood

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Manga, An All-Ages Starter List | Mondo Manga

18 Superb Graphic Novel Adaptations for Kids and Teens

Top 10 Manga of 2022

12 Graphic Novel Series Updates for Young Readers

Eight Graphic Works that Offer Fresh Perspectives on the Past | Stellar Panels

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023