"Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lindgren

Early Elementary/Elementary


   Can it be true that some parents and teachers really don't appreciate Pippi? She's a slob, doesn't care about standards, makes up her own rules in mathematics and many other subjects as well. In some respects, it may be scary for an adult to consider what a child with power is capable of.    Pippi has money to throw around and she does! She throws gold coins in the air, she buys a house, she buys gifts for friends and strangers--sometimes she just gives her money away. That's okay, because there's an endless amount of it, just like in myths and fairy tales, where kindness is rewarded by the replenishment of what is given away as gift. She's stronger than her horse,whom she can carry around. Pippi Longstocking doesn't have to play by the rules of grown-ups and children delight in the recognition of this, as well as realization of their limitations of freedom. The least we can give our students is the delight of irony, because even very young children understand Pippi and her wild ways. As Pippi attempts to sort through and navigate the unending social conventions and rules of childhood in an adult world,children may find great comfort in their own navigation through childhood.
    In the age of Common Core standards and testing, we must continue to give our students opportunities to find delight, to be free from conventions sometimes, to understand the value of  a little rebellion.  The best of children's literature gives us something that replenishes our minds and spirits. Children need to believe there is plenty of gold at hand for them, waiting in the pages of  treasured books like Astrid Lindgren's  "Pippi Longstocking."

Reviewed by Susan Kanga