Some of the Inhabitants of Moominland

Other than Lewis Carroll and L. Frank Baum (author of The Wizard of Oz), my favorite children’s literature author is Tove Jansson of Finland. Beginning in 1945, she created a world called Moominland, inhabited by a variety of engaging non-human characters. Chief among them is the Moomintroll family, consisting of Moominmamma, Moominpappa, the Snork Maiden, and Moomintroll himself (itself?).

It has been a few decades since I picked up one of the volumes of the Moominland saga. Today, I just finished reading Moominland Midwinter (1957). I found myself falling in love with the weird, utterly engaging world of a valley inhabited by lovable weird creatures.

One of my favorites is a philosopher called Too-Ticky. At one point, she muses:

I’m thinking about the aurora borealis. You can’t tell if it really does exist or if it just looks like existing. All things are so very uncertain, and that’s exactly what makes me feel reassured.

A true Scandinavian, she also ponders the following: “One has to discover everything for oneself. And get over it all alone.” Too true!

For an annotated list of all of Jansson’s Moominlit, click here.