If I had read 'Pippi Longstocking' when I was very young, I'm sure I'd have loved it. Pippi would have been one of my childhood literary heroines alongside Matilda Wormwood.
But it doesn't really matter that, in my mid twenties, I only just now started reading 'Pippi Longstocking'. Because Astrid Lindgren's classic books are for the inner child in all of us.
All three books in the 'Pippi Longstocking' series are just the right kind of fun, over-the-top silliness, like a comic strip. Episodic with no obvious morals, and that's okay. There's no nauseating preaching or teaching about goodness/Christianity/ladylike manners like in so much of classic children's literature.
Pippi Longstocking was created in 1945, and she is every bit a strong independent girl who lets no one tell her what to do or how to live her life. She's nine-years-old and lives alone with a monkey and a horse in a house in the outskirts of a little Swedish town. She speaks her mind, makes up her own games and routines, is highly creative and imaginative, tells fibs for the fun of it, doesn't go to school (or only when she feels like it), has had lots of exciting adventures overseas already (her father was a sea captain), and is physically the strongest person in the world. She can lift and toss around anything and anyone. Without adult authority figures, she can manage fine on her own.
Traditional gender roles do not apply to the marvelous Pippi Longstocking. She wants to be a pirate when she grows up, or maybe a real, proper lady in her unique way if she can pull it off (no chance, since she's as free as a bird), or maybe she doesn't want to grow up at all.
People will say Pippi is too independent, too irresponsible, too thoughtless, too much of a bad influence. But that is precisely why she is so beloved. Uncontrollable and unmanageable, she is every kid's dream. When she plays around with a bull or a tiger or a shark or a pistol, the grownup part of my brain telling me that this is wrong and dangerous for a child to do is drowned out by my feeling childlike fancies that I'd long thought were dormant. Besides, Pippi's not just like a female Dennis the Menace. She's optimistic and caring; in fact she's very thoughtful of other people, stands up to bullies and criminals, and tries to cheer up those around her. She gives away presents constantly (though with her inherited gold pieces she can afford to) - even to burglars - and saves children from a burning house no problem. And you thought Wonder Woman was the only female superhero in the forties that comes to mind!
Pippi Longstocking isn't a naughty brat. She's friendly, funny, perceptive, witty and extremely playful and chatty. The one thing close to a legitimate flaw she has in the mad reality the books are set is she can come across as bossy sometimes, without being too overbearing. Despite the books' simplicity for child readers, young Pippi does have depth; concerning her loneliness, which she keeps to herself. She is a lot like Peter Pan, as well.
Plus, what do you know, another awesome female redhead!
I'd recommend these books for Pippi alone. The two children she hangs out with, her neighbours Tommy and Annika Settergreen, are normal kids, if a bit bland in the reader-identification-avatar role and function. They don't stand out when Pippi is always making decisions on what they should do. That girl overshadows everything and everyone she comes in contact with. She's infectious.
So for a jolly good time, if you can overlook the 1940s racism of dark-skinned Islanders being called cannibals - though there are no hateful or fearful attitudes towards them, and this isn't meant to be taken seriously - go read the three 'Pippi Longstocking' books. They are short and can all be read in one day.
Pippi - full name Pippilotta Provisionia Garberdina Dandeliona Ephraims-daughter Longstocking - is a one of a kind treasure/heroine/icon, especially for her time. I am actually quite sad there are no other books about her adventures.
Final Score: 4/5
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