Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren, née Ericsson, was a Swedish children's book author and screenwriter, whose many titles were translated into 85 languages and published in more than 100 countries. She has sold roughly 145 million copies worldwide. Today, she is most remembered for writing the Pippi Longstocking books, as well as the Karlsson-on-the-Roof book series.
Astrid Lindgren 1907-2002: Biography
Pippi Longstocking, novel for children by Astrid Lindgren, published in 1945 in Swedish as Pippi Långstrump. Pippi, a rich young orphan, is a spirited freckled redhead who lives independently of adults and must answer to no one. She is also athletic and possesses great physical strength. Her ingenious solutions to problems always allow her and her friends to return home safely from their fantastic adventures. The two sequels were Pippi Långstrump går ombord (1946; Pippi Goes on Board) and Pippi Långstrump i Söderhavet (1948; Pippi in the South Seas). The books have been translated into scores of languages and feature-length films.
Pippi is a truly original character: a nine-year-old redhead with pigtails that stick out sideways and who lives by herself in a large house—the Villa Villekulla—with her monkey and her horse. Her mother died when she was a baby, and her father is lost at sea, but he left her with a suitcase full of gold pieces, and she is cheerfully optimistic that he will return one day. She is highly unconventional and very assertive. Pippi’s complete lack of adult supervision delights children, as do the episodes where she outwits grown-ups (as she frequently does.) This is shown when she dances with the burglars and they leave without stealing anything, or when she plays tag on the roof with the policemen who come to take her to a children’s home before carrying them to their car, on each hand. Her wacky adventures often involve the two children next door, Tommy and Annika, to whom she is a superhero. Whether Pippi is dealing with bullies, beating up the strongest man in the world, rescuing children from fires, or making up absurd tales about people she says she has known, including her grandmother’s servant who never swept under the beds, she is always hysterically funny. Pippi’s unique take on life—not bothering with all the usual problems that children have (mainly inflicted by their parents), and as she cheerfully rights wrongs, plays with her horse, and dances and eats pancakes—is a joy to read./ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pippi-Longstocking-by-Lindgren/