The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
My mom sent Ella The Children of Noisy Village for her birthday last month, and it was new to me.
Not only had I never read it, I’m not sure I’d ever even heard of it.
I immediately recognized Astrid Lindgren’s name, since she’s the author of Pippi Longstocking, but this series was new to me.
I’ll admit that I was a little worried because we tried Pippi Longstocking last year, and after about two chapters, Ella politely asked if we could read something else instead.
But The Children of Noisy Village was 100% delightful and we flew through it in a few weeks.
the children of the noisy village by astrid lindgren
The Children of Noisy Village is narrated by Lisa, one of the six children who lives in Noisy Village, which is a set of three farms all built close together
Lisa has two brothers, another farm has one boy, and the third farm has two sisters. And the book is basically a year in their life in Noisy Village, from school to crayfish catching to Christmas to running errands in the big village for their mothers.
I love that the children are mainly well-behaved and get along, but they also are real children that come up with some pretty ridiculous ideas and sometimes get on each others’ nerves. There isn’t too much teasing or unkindness, but mainly good-spirited fun and lots of imaginative games.
About half way through, Ella said, “This book is mostly just little stories, while Time at the Top is one long story.” And she was just right – every chapter basically stands on its own, and gives you a little glimpse into every day life in these Swedish families.
Each chapter is pretty short, so we could read just one before bedtime or cruise through two or three during school.
Ella loved every page, and Ani enjoyed coming over to look at the pictures or listening while she colored or played with Legos. Star just wanted to point out every time a dog or kitty appeared in an illustration which, fortunately for her, was about every third page.
If you have a child between about four and eight, I think The Children of Noisy Village is a perfect pick. I can’t believe I’ve never read it, but you can bet I immediately went and requested Happy Times in Noisy Village, because I’m not ready to leave behind these stories.
And apparently there is a Christmas book (it’s a picture book, rather than a novel), which is making me so anxious for the holidays I can hardly stand it.
I'm definitely going to check this out!! We are finishing up the Magic Treehouse series so I'm on the hunt for more easy chapter books for my almost 5 year old 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation!
I literally put this book on hold at the library last night! It sounds like one we'll love. (And my kids had the opposite reaction to Pippi– they loved it and laughed through the whole thing.)
Oh this sounds so fun! We're hitting a magic tree house burn out… this will be perfect to switch things up!
I have been folowing your gorgeous recipes and book recmmendations, but today I just need to write something. I am from Germany, where all of Lindgren's books are extremely popular. If you don't know them already, there are so many great stories full of imagination and adventure left to be discovered! I love Ronia the robber's daughter as a child; for older children, I recommend one of my favorite books of all times, The brothers Lionheart.
But if you and your daughters enjoy noisy village right now, you should definitely check out The six bullerby children and Emil of Lonneberga.
Maybe you know them already, but if you don't, I felt it my duty to report 😉
Addition: That's interesting, I just did some research on it and it seems in the English translation, Bullerby and Noisy Village are the same/have the same protagonists. That is not the case in the original or in the German translations I grew up with – completely different stories, children, settings! Interesting…
I love Noisy Village/Bullerby! There's a movie too, but it's probably hard to find in English. I have it in Polish (I thought I was getting Swedish, but oh well)
Well shut my mouth, my library has this! Will be checking it out tomorrow. Right now we are reading "How to Eat Fried Worms" and it's turning out to be a bit too old/boring in between worms.
wow
In an Amazon review it says that this book gives away the secret of Santa…can you tell me what it says. I want to send this book to my friend and her kids but I don't want to spoil something I shouldn't 🙂
In an Amazon review it says that this book gives away the secret of Santa…can you tell me what it says. I want to send this book to my friend and her kids but I don't want to spoil something I shouldn't 🙂
thanks for this suggestion.
I was going to say the same thing as above, about the Santa comment. Luckily my almost-7 year old only laughed it off. EeeK!
please get me some books please