The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

I had rather forgotten I had a copy of this, and am really glad to have rediscovered it. As the title suggests, the book consists of a series of adventures experienced by a 14-year-old boy names Nils Holgersson, who, the author begins by telling us, "wasn't good for much". On a Sunday afternoon, when he has been excused from attending church with his parents in exchange for a promise to read the service for himself, Nils naturally goofs off a bit, falls asleep trying to read enough of the daily portion to be able to answer some questions, and wakes to find his mother's treasure chest inexplicably open. He concludes there must be a thief in the house, but shortly finds himself in an encounter with an elf, which he manages to snare in a show more butterfly net. This does not end well, however. The elf cons Nils into releasing him, then takes his revenge by clipping Nils round the ear and casting a spell on him. When Nils wakes from the elf's blow, he realizes he has been shrunken to elf-size himself. Further, upon visiting the cowshed trying to find the elf, Nils also discovers that he can now communicate with all the animals. Attempting to prevent one of the family's domesticated geese from flying away with a wild flock, Nils becomes trapped on the back of the large bird as it takes off and soars to a great height. For the next month, Nils shares the travels of the white gander and the wild geese, and thus ensue all his "wonderful adventures". This imaginative rendering of Swedish folktales and legends was a pure delight to read. Many of the tales have familiar elements (think Tom Thumb and the Pied Piper for example), and the aerial tour of Sweden taught me much about that country's geography and wildlife (this actually was the POINT of the book, which was commissioned as a child's geography reader in 1902.) The translation must be extremely well-done, because much of the prose is quite lovely to read. There are several full-color plate illustrations, and well as more numerous pen and ink drawings throughout. My copy contains only the first volume of this two-volume work. One day I hope to get my hands on the second half. show less

After a brief encounter with an elf, a rude young boy named Nils is turned into a miniature version of himself who can now communicate with animals.

This was an interesting book, to say the least. For starters, I was surprised by how lengthy this picture book is and how much text was crammed in per page. I noticed this with another picture book translated from Swedish into English and am wondering if perhaps that's just how picture books are made in Scandinavian countries. (Just surmising, I have no real expertise on this subject.) It is broken down into chapters, but every page has illustrations like a picture book. It is more likely for older elementary school students because the attention span will just not be there with younger show more children, unless of course it is read just a chapter or two at a time.

I'm guessing there's a moral in here somewhere about being a good person and a loyal friend, but it's kind of hard to tell at times. The adventures are more like mishaps than edge-of-your-seat thrills, although I find that's fairly common in many children's books with that title or subtitle. Still, there wasn't much in here that really felt exciting or noteworthy in any way. I read it a week ago and I've already pretty much forgotten most of it.

The illustrations are done with a limited palette of blues, reds, and some browns. The really neat aspect was every so often there are these stencil-cut pages. (I really don't know how else to describe them.) There will be a page spread with just an illustration of a scenic backdrop and in between them is a page that allows you to see through to the backdrop either way. This stencil-cut page will show the outline of a bear, birds, trees, etc. It was quite lovely and my niece and I both agreed it was an awesome addition to the book.

Oddly enough, the character 'cheat sheet' and table of contents were at the very end of the book. So was a map of Sweden, which highlighted the journey the geese took as they migrated. That was pretty neat for showing the geographic context. This will probably be especially useful for those who are unfamiliar with Sweden's various regions. show less

While this is a very famous story, it's not in my view a good children's book, at least by modern standards. It's quite slow and rather boring, spending far more time on Swedish geography, history, flora, fauna, folktales, and life during the 1800s and early 1900s than it on its purported story. If you plan to read this story to kids, find a greatly edited book that contains a lot of illustrations and maps and read them that. The original 2-volume set is better read by adults who can put up with its antique style and its lack of illustrations and maps. So I'd recommend it, but with reservations when it comes to kids.

In 1902 the National Teachers Association of Sweden commissioned Selma Lagerlöf to write a geography book for students. She spent several years studying bird and animal life before writing her internationally famous book about the boy who travels across Sweden with a flock of wild geese.

Nils is a naughty child, and his parents despair over his cruelty, caprice, and laziness. One day, when his parents are at church, Nils captures a tomten (an elf-like creature that looks after the welfare of the farm) and threatens it. As punishment, the tomten turns Nils into one as well. Nils runs outside and discovers he can understand the speech of the birds and animals. When a flock of wild geese fly overhead, a tame gander flies after them, show more carrying Nils with him.

Thus begins the adventures of Nils as he flies north to Lappland with the geese on their summer migration. His adventures are accompanied by descriptions of the Swedish countryside, often interlaced with legend and tales that make it easy, even for a non-Swede such as myself, to remember. In addition to the topography, Lagerlöf includes information about the habits of animals, the types of plants that grow in each habitat, and information about the types of industry common to each area. The result is a wonderful mix of fact and fiction that reads like adventure but imparts a tremendous amount of information. And Nils returns home a wiser and much nicer little boy.

Originally published as two books, I read them back to back, as the English translation was published as one volume. show less

I've heard it was originally intended as a textbook for Swedish geography. Perhaps that's why some parts read like an adventure book while others seem to have more of an educational tone.

Sweden's most beloved adventurer, Nils is a disobedient child shrunken to the height of a gnome. He slowly befriends various native animals and flies around Sweden on a goose. He grows more mature as he copes with death and suffering, learning to help as he can.

You'll learn more about Sweden's plants and animals than you bargained for. Martens are pretty cute though.

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1951218.html

Nils is a Swedish boy who gets magically reduced in size and discovers that he can talk to animals, and has a bunch of adventures, some of which are morally improving and some of which are just adventures, mainly with geese though other animals get a look-in too. Lagerlöf, who was an early Nobel Prize winner, clearly loved the countryside and her writing is very sensitive to the rhythms of nature and the rural economy, and also somewhat anti-modernist. I wasn't completely satisfied with my translation, by Velma Swainston Howard, but I loved the illustrations in my edition by Thea Kliros.