The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My

TOVE JANSSON

NEW TRANSLATION BY SOPHIE HANNAH

"A most welcome new edition of this brilliant picture book. A real classic."
Financial Times Pick of the month

Coming soon - Who can comfort Toffle?
Visit the Toffle page

SYNOPSIS

Finnish artist Tove Jansson’s Moomin stories have been continually in print for more than half a century, in 35 languages. They are among Europe’s best loved and enduring children’s classics, and through the current TV animation (BBC2), the warm-hearted, whimsical creatures of Moomin valley have been brought to a new younger British audience.

Introducing the first Sort Of Children's Classic in a new English version by Sophie Hannah. Sort of Books proudly presents the original full colour Moomin picture book with its irresistible cut-out page designs and playful rhyming text in a new version by one of Britain's star poets.

AUTHOR NOTES

"In a children’s book there must be a path where the author stands still and the child walks on. A threat or a wonder that is never explained. A face that never shows itself entirely."
Tove Jansson

The writer and artist Tove Jansson (1914-2001) is a Scandinavian national treasure: she has a museum dedicated to her work in her native Finland, and the Moomin characters adorn everything from mugs to schoolbags. Elsewhere, Moomin stories have been published in 35 languages.

 

Praise for Tove Jansson

"Every so often a writer manages to create an imaginary world so convincingly that thousands of others eventually come to share what in essence was always a highly personal, individual fantasy. Such was the claim for Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, and the same claim can me made for the Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson."
Nicholas Tucker, The Independent
  "Some writers have the gift of being able to construct an entire coherent and detailed world and to people it with more or less human creatures out of their imagination . . . Somewhere at the top of any list would be Tove Jansson."
Thomas Warburton, Virtual Finland


"Few illustrators come near the economy, individualism and occasional well-placed twinge of creepiness that Tove Jansson brought to her sketches . . . should be on every child’s shelf.
Sarah Johnson, The Times
 

Sophie Hannah is that rare thing: an acclaimed and best-selling poet. Her first book was greeted with amazement. The Poetry Review declared, 'Shall I put it in capitals? SOPHIE HANNAH IS A GENIUS.' Each subsequent collection has been informally more inventive, thematically more complex, yet each has met with a similar welcome. Her latest book, 'First of the Last Chances', was published in 2003.

KEY POINTS

The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My was nominated 2001 Book of the Year by four major newspapers and has been reprinted three times since publication

Ideal gift and perfect accompaniment to the forthcoming Who Will Comfort Toffle?

  A Moomin ‘rediscovery’ that will appeal to fans of the new Moomin TV cartoon series as well as the Puffin storybooks.

This is the first of four Moomin picture books and launch title of the Sort Of Children’s Classics.
REVIEWS

"Brilliant new edition . . . Sophie Hannah’s text teases and beguiles at every turn." Kate Kellaway, The Observer

"Full of the particular magic that only Tove Jansson can evoke."
Philip Pullman, Financial Times

 

"An effective page-turner . . . loaded with appealing psychedelic characters and exciting, eerrie locations." Times Educational Supplement

"Thanks to Sophie Hannah’s wonderful verse adaptation . . . appeals to children and adults alike."
Daily Telegraph

 

"Delightful, and has an oddness to which modern illustrators might aspire." The Sunday Times

"A most welcome new edition of this brilliant picture book. A real classic." Financial Times Pick of the month

"Should be on every child’s shelf." Sarah Johnson, The Times
RIGHTS
For details of rights available please email Natania Jansz at Sort Of
PUBLISHING INFORMATION

Age Four to Infinity
Pub date 4 October 2001
ISBN 0-9535227-4-1
Price £8.99
Format Hardback (210x285 mm)
Extent 28pp
Illustration full colour throughout with cut-out sections
PUBLICITY RESOURCES click > hold down and download to disk
Download or view the original Moomin BLAD as a PDF (Moomin_BLAD.zip - 116k)

High resolution JPG of the Moomin cover (Moomin_front_cover.zip - 748k )

Sort Of Books [about us] are distributed worldwide, excluding
North America by the
Profile/Independent Alliance and TBS.
For editorial
, publicity and rights enquiries please email
Natania Jansz