Written in the style of a male adventurer's memoir this is an entertaining account of Moominpappas younger days in a foundling house and seeking his fortune elsewhere before settling in Moominvalley. He writes in a comical self-important way and we get some interesting and nonsensical back story. ( )

A little confused about this short book which is one of the Moomin stories that I didn't read as a child - but I think it was subsequently revised and published as Moominpapa's Memoirs? Anyway, I liked it in parts. Moominpapa, having reached the age of 40, and suffering from a cold, writes his memoirs for the edification of his family and friends. During the book, there are asides where we get the reactions of his son Moomintroll and his son's friends to whom he is reading each bit of the story. By the end of the book, a few mysteries are solved.

There are some places where I found it to drag a bit - I didn't find the ghost particularly funny, for example. The ending also makes no sense because why haven't certain characters' parents raised them if they are alive and well? And what happened to Hodgkins who was my favourite of the new characters introduced - I don't recall him being in any of the ones I've read? On the plus side, I loved the illustrations as always. So on balance, I rate this at 3 stars. ( )

A humorous prequel in which Moominpappa reads his memoirs to Moomintroll, Snufkin and Sniff, introducing lots of characters who stick around for future adventures.
I particularly liked the Horriblest Ghost, who Jansson skilfully makes both morbidly gruesome and amusingly pompous. 👻
Great fun 😊 ( )

Completely mad, utterly delightful. ( )

This reads a bit like a prequel to the first two Moomins books I read. In those books, Moominpappa spends a lot of his time up in his study, writing his memoirs. In this book, the memoirs of his early life are recounted. In essence, he's reading them to Moomintroll, Sniff and Snuffkin, occasionally taking a break so we know they're there. Once in a while Momminmamma wanders into one of the breaks in the memoir reading.

Anyway, in his early years, Moominpappa (who is obviously not a pappa at that point) lives in a foundling house run by a Hemulen Aunt. She is rather bossy. He runs away and comes across Hodgkins, who views himself as being an inventor. Hodgkins builds a ship, and they sail off together, in company of the Muddler and the Joxer. It turns out that the Muddler and the Joxer are the fathers of Sniff and Snuffkin, so that maintains their interest in the adventures. Eventually, they arrive at the Autocrat's Island. The Autocrat hires Hodgkins as his royal inventor, or some such. Hodgkins settles down to rebuilding his boat, Oshun Oxstra (meant to be Ocean Orchestra, but the painter, Hodgkins nephew, the Muddler, didn't spell particularly well) as a flying boat. Moominpappa needs an occupation, so gathers up a ragtag bunch into a colony, The Royal Outlaw Colony. Well, as happens in Moomin books, new creatures (beings?) show up and are brought into the fold, including the Mymble's Daughter, The Mymble herself along with oodles of her children, including, eventually, Little My (who, I gather, becomes more prominent in later Moomin Books), and a ghost. Also the Fuzzy, who marries the Muddler, thus giving Sniff two parents. Toward the end, Moominpappa rescues Moominmamma from the sea and we've most of the group assembled for the previous adventures and the ones to come (presumably, I've not read ahead). There are, of course, additional adventurous activities going on and additional creatures (beings?) encountered. Yes, this menagerie is a bit confusing, but they're also charming and, for the most part, good natured and well meaning. We can use a bit of that these days. Oh, I should not forget that we also have quite a number of charming drawings of the characters in this book. The drawings really help to keep the disparate characters straight.
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