Cheeky Pippi

She wears mismatched stockings and lives by herself with a monkey and a horse as pets. The character Pippi Longstocking, 9, a scruffy tomboyish girl created by Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren has enthralled little girls in Sweden since 1945. The four book series—Pippi Celebrates Christmas, Pippi In The South Seas, Pippi Goes Abroad and Pippi Longstocking has now been published in India for the first time, and it was launched on Friday, to coincide with Children’s Day. Around 120 school children from the Shri Ram School enjoyed the teleseries of Pippi and her friends, Tommy and Annika showcased by the Swedish embassy at the Landmark store in Gurgaon. “The stories were inspired by Astrid’s own childhood of growing up in a farm and listening to her father’s tales,” says Annika Lindgren (seen below with children), the author’s 45-year-old granddaughter, currently in India for the launch of the book. After the reading, the students, enamoured by Pippi’s irreverent attitude, her untidy hair and her strength, wondered what she would do with the bag of gold coins stacked under the bed. Annika, who answered all the questions put to her by the inquisitive children with a smile said, “If she ever grows to become a pirate she might have a ship full of candies and animals.” Available at all bookstores, the series begins at Rs 125.