Vintage children's books of Finland

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Vintage children's books of Finland

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1SaintSunniva
May 2, 2014, 1:28 am

Hello!

I love and collect vintage (1930 - 1970) children's books, and wanted to ask if any of you collect them, so I can share my joy in finding, purely by accident, these two jewels: Lingonberries in the Snow by Britta-Lisa Joutsen, and The Secret Journey of the Silver Reindeer by Lee Kingman, which takes place in Lapland...only it's not called that anymore.

Another title I've had for years is Kidnapped by Accident by Arthur Catherall. The story takes place in Finland. Catherall wrote many amazing, exciting stories for age 9-14, but they are so well-written I enjoy them too.

Of course I realize Kingman and Catherall are not Finnish...but maybe they had some Finnish connection?
I have one other book set in Finland, at least partly, Children of the Northlights by the D'Aulaires

Unfortunately I do not speak Finnish, in case you hadn't guessed. Please share authors and titles that may be in English.

2SaintSunniva
May 2, 2014, 1:33 am

I have a Tove Jansson book, too.

3hdcclassic
May 2, 2014, 4:10 am

Hmm, I must say I haven't heard of any of these books (well, except Jansson of course and I have seen another book by Joutsen) and the Finnish children's books available in English I know tend to be newer ones (no idea if any of the old classics like Anni Swan is available...)

That said, beside the translations I suspect there are some children's books written by first- and second generation immigrants in US and Canada but but they are probably quite obscure...

4SaintSunniva
May 2, 2014, 11:03 am

>3 hdcclassic: Anni Swan? About how old is that one?

5starbox
May 4, 2014, 3:11 pm

Back in the 1970s, while at school, I recall reading quite an enjoyable teenage novel in translation called Priska by Merja Otava

6SaintSunniva
May 4, 2014, 10:46 pm

Thanks >5 starbox:. I was able to find a copy of Priska.

7Cynfelyn
May 5, 2014, 9:10 am

One of the threads of my library is also vintage children's books, with a strong bias towards Arthur Ransome, including translations. I have recently added Pääskyt ja Amatsonit (Otava, 1979) and Pääskylaakso (Otava, 1955) to my catalogue.

I've filled in the Finnish Common Knowledge for both books to the best of my ability, but not having any Finnish, I'd be grateful if someone would cast their eye over them. For example, aren't there different words for 'translator' and 'translator into Finnish', or do you not differentiate on LT? And in 'Pääskylaakso', I couldn't identify the Finnish for the 'Great Aunt' or GA in the text, although she is one of the main drivers of the story.

Has anybody here read Pääskyt ja Amatsonit or Pääskylaakso? Are they good reads?

8differer
Jun 19, 2014, 7:13 pm

I know this isn't a good answer, but anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anni_Swan

No idea if any of her works have been translated.