Sunday, November 11, 2007

Pippi Longstocking was a name made up by Astrid Lindgren's daughter, Karin. The little girl was very ill at home and wanted her mother to tell her a story.

Karin invented the name -- in Swedish, it's Pippi Langstrump -- and her mother took it from there, inventing one adventure after another about the strong-willed girl with horizontal red pigtails

who could pick up a horse with one hand!

As a gift for Karin's 10th birthday, Lindgren put the stories down on paper. She mailed a copy to a publisher in Stockholm who rejected it. Lindgren didn't give up. In 1945 the first of a dozen Pippi books was published.

Some adults didn't like the book one bit. They thought Pippi set a shocking example for children.

But young readers loved the spirited rich kid who lived with a monkey and told whopping lies when it suited her.

Lindgren wrote more than 80 books before her death in 2002. They have been made into movies and TV shows and translated into more than 75 languages.