Review: New Pippi Longstocking books for readers transitioning to chapter books
With 2020 marking the 75th birthday of Astrid Lindgren’s lively and rebellious classic children’s book character Pippi Longstocking, there’s a range of new Pippi books being published by Oxford University Press, starting with two chapter books for younger readers that came out just before the start of the UK lockdown – Meet Pippi Longstocking (Oxford University Press, £5.99) and Pippi Longstocking and the Snirkle Hunt (Oxford University Press, £5.99).
These two books have been keeping us entertained for several days at home, giving us many jolly moments and reminding me how wonderfully refreshing it is to read about the glorious Pippi with the ginger plaits and carefree personality. We’ve been reintroduced to the much-loved stories about Pippi effortlessly lifting up a strongman when visiting the circus and terrifying two burglars breaking in to her cozy home Villa Villekulla.
With generally short chapters and sentences, a large font size and plenty of two-colour illustrations–refreshed original artwork by Ingrid Nyman–I think these books will be a hit with young readers transitioning from picture books to chapter books. I would recommend the books, which are aimed at children aged 5 and over, to fans of Julian Gough’s Rabbit & Bear and Alex T Smith’s Claude series.
It’s hard not to love the ever surprising and grin-worthy stories about Pippi Longstocking, which make for a pleasant distraction from reality at these uncertain times.
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