Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (English) Paperback Book

Description: Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson, Elizabeth Portch Its spring in the valley and the Moomins are ready for adventure. Moomintroll and his friends find the Hobgoblins top hat, just waiting to be taken home. They soon realize that his is no ordinary hat. Illustrations. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description It is spring in the valley and the Moomins are ready for adventure! Moomintroll and his friends Snufkin and Sniff find the Hobgoblins top hat, all shiny and new and just waiting to be taken home. They soon realize that his is no ordinary hat; it can turn anything--or anyone--into something else! Author Biography Tove Jansson (1914-2001) was born in Helsinki and spent much of her life in Finland. She is the author of the Moomin books. Born into an artistic family--her father was a sculptor and her mother was a graphic designer and illustrator--Jansson studied at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, and LÉcole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In addition to her Moomin books, she also wrote several novels, drew comic strips and worked as a painter and illustrator. In 1966, she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for her body of work. Jansson had a studio in Helsinki but spent most of her time at her home on a small island called Klovharu. Review "There is, in short, everything in the Moon books: giant comets and secret caves and tree houses and stilts and magic-carpet clouds and amusement parks run by despotic practical-joking kings and time machines and ski instructors." --Harpers "We need Moominland for its gentle pace, its sense of beauty and awe, and its spirit of friendliness and empathy--now more than ever." --The Horn Book "These charming fantasies are propelled by a childlike curiosity and filled with quiet wisdom, appealing geniality, and a satisfying sense of self-discovery." --School Library Journal.com "If you had no shame reading Harry Potter on the subway, theres no need to hide Tove Janssons witty, whimsically illustrated Finnish series." --Daily Candy "The Moomin books make for both splendid bedtime read-alouds and solitary savoring." --Wall Street Journal "Its more than forty years since Janssons Moomintrolls first appeared. I found the writing and invention as appealing as ever. She has a thistledown touch." --The Washington Post Book World "The adventures of the easygoing Moomintrolls have all the crispness and tart surprise of a lingonberry, thanks to Janssons ineffably light touch, her uncanny sensitivity to universal childhood emotions, and her gift for terse, naturalistic dialogue." --Entertainment Weekly "A gentle, offbeat fantasy." --The Horn Book "A lost treasure now rediscovered . . . A surrealist masterpiece." --Neil Gaiman "Jansson was a genius of a very subtle kind. These simple stories resonate with profound and complex emotions that are like nothing else in literature for children or adults: intensely Nordic, and completely universal." --Philip Pullman "Tove Jansson is undoubtedly one of the greatest childrens writers there has ever been. She has the extraordinary gift of writing books that are very clearly for children, but can also be enjoyed when the child, like me, is over sixty and can still find new pleasures with the insights that come from adulthood." --Sir Terry Pratchett "Clever, gentle, witty, and completely engrossing." --Jeff Smith, author of Bone "Its not just Tove Janssons wonderfully strange fairytale world that so appeals but also her beautiful line work and exquisite sense of design." --Lauren Child "[Tove Jansson] is a master." --The Times Literary Supplement (London) "The most original works for children to be published since the Pooh books, and possibly, since Alice." --Saturday Review "You will declare yourself a citizen of Moominvalley and call the stories your own--the Moomin world is that compelling." --Riverbank Review Review Quote You will declare yourself a citizen of Moominvalley and call the stories your own--the Moomin world is that compelling. Excerpt from Book Chapter 1 In which Moomintroll, Snufkin, and Sniff find the Hobgoblins Hat; how five small clouds unexpectedly appear, and how the Hemulen finds himself a new hobby. One spring morning at four oclock the first cuckoo arrived in the Valley of the Moomins. He perched on the blue roof of Moomin house and cuckooed eight times-rather hoarsely to be sure, for it was still a bit early in the spring. Then he flew away to the east. Moomintroll woke up and lay a long time looking at the ceiling before he realized where he was. He had slept a hundred nights and a hundred days, and his dreams still thronged about his head trying to coax him back to sleep. But as he was wriggling around trying to find a cozy new spot to sleep he caught sight of something that made him quite wide awake-Snufkins bed was empty! Moomintroll sat up. Yes, Snufkins hat had gone, too. "Goodness gracious me!" he said, tiptoeing to the open window. Ah-ha, Snufkin had been using the rope ladder. Moomintroll scrambled over the window-sill and climbed cautiously down on his short legs. He could see Snufkins footprints plainly in the wet earth, wandering here and there and rather difficult to follow, until suddenly they did a long jump and crossed over themselves. "He must have been very happy," decided Moomintroll. "He did a somersault here-thats clear enough." Suddenly Moomintroll lifted his nose and listened. Far away Snufkin was playing his gayest song, "All small beasts should have bows in their tails." And Moomintroll began to run toward the music. Down by the river he came upon Snufkin who was sitting on the bridge with his legs dangling over the water, his old hat pulled down over his ears. "Hello," said Moomintroll sitting down beside him. "Hello to you," said Snufkin, and went on playing. The sun was up now and shone straight into their eyes, making them blink. They sat swinging their legs over the running water feeling happy and carefree. They had had many strange adventures on this river and had brought home many new friends. Moomintrolls mother and father always welcomed all their friends in the same quiet way, just adding another bed and putting another leaf in the dining-room table. And so Moomin house was rather full-a place where everyone did what they liked and seldom worried about tomorrow. Very often unexpected and disturbing things used to happen, but nobody ever had time to be bored, and that is always a good thing. When Snufkin came to the last verse of his spring song he put his mouth-organ in his pocket and said: "Is Sniff awake yet?" "I dont think so," answered Moomintroll. "He always sleeps a week longer than the others." "Then we must certainly wake him up," said Snufkin as he jumped down. "We must do something special today because its going to be fine." So Moomintroll made their secret signal under Sniffs window: three ordinary whistles first and then a long one through his paws, and it meant: "Theres something doing." They heard Sniff stop snoring, but nothing moved up above. "Once more," said Snufkin. And they signaled even louder than before. Then the window banged up. "Im asleep," shouted a cross voice. "Come on down and dont be angry," said Snufkin. "Were going to do something very special." Then Sniff smoothed out his sleep-crinkled ears and clambered down the rope ladder. (I should perhaps mention that they had rope ladders under all the windows because it took so long to use the stairs.) It certainly promised to be a fine day. Everywhere befuddled little creatures just woken from their long winter sleep poked about rediscovering old haunts, and busied themselves airing clothes, brushing out their moustaches and getting their houses ready for the spring. Many were building new homes and I am afraid some were quarrelling. (You can wake up in a very bad temper after such a long sleep.) The Spirits that haunted the trees sat combing their long hair, and on the north side of the tree trunks, baby mice dug tunnels amongst the snow-flakes. "Happy Spring!" said an elderly Earthworm. "And how was the winter with you?" "Very nice, thank you," said Moomintroll. "Did you sleep well, sir?" "Fine," said the Worm. "Remember me to your father and mother." So they walked on, talking to a lot of people in this way, but the higher up the hill they went the less people there were, and at last they only saw one or two mother mice sniffing around and spring-cleaning. It was wet everywhere. "Ugh-how nasty," said Moomintroll, picking his way gingerly through the melting snow. "So much snow is never good for a Moomin. Mother said so." And he sneezed. "Listen, Moomintroll," said Snufkin. "I have an idea. What about going to the top of the mountain and making a pile of stones to show that we were the first to get there?" "Yes, lets," said Sniff, and set off at once so as to get there before the others. When they reached the top the March wind gambolled around them, and the blue distance lay at their feet. To the west was the sea; to the east the river looped round the Lonely Mountains; to the north the great forest spread its green carpet, and to the south the smoke rose from Moomintrolls chimney, for Moominmamma was cooking the breakfast. But Sniff saw none of these things because on the top of the mountain lay a hat-a tall, black hat. "Someone has been here before!" he said. Moomintroll picked up the hat and looked at it. "Its a rarey hat," he said. "Perhaps it will fit you, Snufkin." "No, no," said Snufkin, who loved his old green hat. "Its much too new." "Perhaps father would like it," mused Moomintroll. "Well, anyway well take it with us," said Sniff. "But now I want to go home-Im dying for some breakfast, arent you?" "I should just say I am," said Snufkin. And that was how they found the Hobgoblins Hat and took it home with them, without guessing for one moment that this would cast a spell on the Valley of the Moomins, and that before long they would all see strange things . . . When Moomintroll, Snufkin and Sniff went out onto the verandah the others had already had their breakfast and gone off in various directions. Moominpappa was alone reading the newspaper. "Well, well! So you have woken up, too," he said. "Remarkably little in the paper today. A stream burst its dam and swamped a lot of ants. All saved. The first cuckoo arrived in the valley at four oclock and then flew off to the east." (This is a good omen, but a cuckoo flying west is still better . . . ) "Look what weve found," interrupted Moomintroll, proudly. "A beautiful new top hat for you!" Moominpappa put aside his paper and examined the hat very thoroughly. Then he put it on in front of the long mirror. It was rather too big for him-in fact it nearly covered his eyes, and the effect was very curious. "Mother," screamed Moomintroll. "Come and look at Father." Moominmamma opened the kitchen door and looked at him with amazement. "How do I look?" asked Moominpappa. "Its all right," said Moominmamma. "Yes, you look very handsome in it, but its just a tiny bit too big." "Is it better like this?" asked Moominpappa, pushing the hat on to the back of his head. "Hm," said Moominmamma. "Thats smart, too, but I almost think you look more dignified without a hat." Moominpappa looked at himself in front, behind and from both sides, and then he put the hat on the table with a sigh. "Youre right," he said. "Some people look better without hats." "Of course, dear," said Moominmamma, kindly. "Now eat up your eggs, children, you need feeding up after living on pine needles all the winter." And she disappeared into the kitchen again. "But what shall we do with the hat?" asked Sniff. "Its such a fine one." "Use it as a waste paper basket," said Moominpappa, and thereupon he took himself upstairs to go on writing his life story. (The heavy volume about his stormy youth.) Snufkin put the hat down on the floor between the table and the kitchen door. "Now youve got a new piece of furniture again," he said, grinning, for Snufkin could never understand why people liked to have things. He was quite happy wearing the old suit he had had since he was born (nobody knows when and where that happened), and the only possession he didnt give away was his mouth-organ. "If youve finished breakfast well go and see how the Snorks are getting on," said Moomintroll. But before going out into the garden he threw his eggshell into the wastepaper basket, for he was (sometimes) a well brought up Moomin. The dining room was now empty. In the corner between the table and the kitchen door stood the Hobgoblins Hat with the eggshell in the bottom. And then something r Details ISBN0312608896 Author Elizabeth Portch Short Title FINN FAMILY MOOMINTROLL Language English Illustrator Tove Jansson ISBN-10 0312608896 ISBN-13 9780312608897 Media Book Format Paperback Translator Elizabeth Portch DEWEY FIC Series Number 02 Audience Age 9-12 Residence US Birth 1936 Year 2010 Publication Date 2010-04-27 UK Release Date 2010-04-27 Imprint St Martins Press Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2010-04-27 NZ Release Date 2010-04-27 US Release Date 2010-04-27 Pages 176 Publisher St Martins Press Series Moomins Illustrations Line drawings, black and white; Illustrations, black and white Audience Children / Juvenile We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:26048298;

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