REVIEWS

“The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson,” is a Swedish children’s classic. Published in 1906, the book actually resulted from a commission from the National Teachers Association to write a geography reader. Author Selma Lagerlof apparently spent three years studying Nature and also investigating folklore and legends from around the country, before writing this book.

The story itself involves a fourteen year old boy called Nils who is a bit lazy and naughty. Amongst the mischief he gets up to is the rather unpleasant way he likes to hurt animals on his family farm. One day, he is left home to memorise Bible chapters and then falls asleep. Waking, he sees a gnome, which he traps. Eventually, he is also turned into a gnome and able to talk to animals. With wild geese flying over the farm, a farm goose attempts to fly off with them and, when Nils grabs hold, the two of them end up on an adventure…

This book involves a lot of the history and natural world of Sweden, which is a beautiful country. At just over 270 pages and with an illustration at the beginning of each chapter, this is certainly a book for the more fluent child reader; although it is also delightful to read aloud. It has a lovely, hardback cover, with pictures of flying geese and is an unusual story.  A lovely novel for adults and children.’–Susan, Goodreads.

‘There are three very good reasons to read this book – the author is first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize, it appears on Le Monde list of best books of 20th century And the fact that the protagonist’s picture appears on 20 Swedish krona banknotes. The talking animal surpass those of Kipling’s Jungle Book in detail and characterization, and they are also talking about such subjects like deforestation and industrialisation. And there is additional flavour of histories, local folktales and legends.’- Siddharth, Goodreads.