One of the most tender stories ever... | The Brothers Lionheart

Perfect | The Brothers Lionheart | Astrid Lindgren

books:


	• The Brothers Lionheart Astrid Lindgren Oxford University Press, 2009 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 53 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

The mysterious beyond

What happens when I die? Will I be all alone? Where will mom and dad be when I die? Will they be sad? What will happen to me after I die? These are questions children wonder about. When my daughter was about 5-6 years old she kept talking about "the mysterious beyond" where you go after you die. We have no idea where she got this idea from.

In this book, Astrid Lindgren, the Swedish author who also wrote the Pippi Longstocking books, the Emil books and the "Children of Noisy Village" books, address these difficult questions. She does this without giving any definite answers and still she succeeds to give comfort to children via this exciting and beautiful "after death adventure". Astrid Lindgren's writing is very much in tuned with the feelings of children and the story is spell binding and well paced.

Briefly, Scotty (Skorpan in the Swedish version) is a ten year old boy who is very sick. Everyone knows that he is dying except himself. Then one day he finds out in a cruel but accidental turn of events that he is going to die. To comfort him his older brother Jonathan tells him a story about Nangiyala, the land of adventures that lies beyond the stars, where you go after you die. As it turns out Scotty will not be going to Nangiyala alone. In fact the tragic and short life of Scotty and Jonathan and the love they developed for each other during their earthly lives enabled them to be the heroes that Nangiyala needs upon their arrival. The adventures in Nangiyala are much like many other good fantasy stories like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings, but they also have a deeper meaning to them.

My teacher read this book to the entire class when I was about 9 years old (the Swedish version). All the kids in the class loved the book and we listened intently while our teacher struggled to read it. The death of your child is a parent's worst fear and having to deal with it head on like you do when reading this book is, I think, emotionally harder on the parent then on the child. I and my wife started reading this book to our daughter (8-years old) but she ended up reading the whole book to herself and she loved it.

It should be noted that the story is not tied to a specific set of religious beliefs about life after death, so if you have strong beliefs in what exactly will happen after death (religious beliefs or atheistic beliefs) you may have a problem with this fantasy version. In my opinion this book is Astrid Lindgren's greatest book. However, it is also her most potentially problematic book, so I advise that you read the first third of the book yourself before you read it to your child. This would help you to prepare answers to difficult questions and to verify that you really want to read it to your child. The writing is very sensitive, peaceful, and thoughtful but it deals with difficult questions. Some people have a problem with the ending so check out the ending too (I did not have a problem with the ending). I loved it as a child and so did my daughter but it may not be true for you, so find out.

for more information click here

One of the most tender stories ever...

Way before Harry Potter and JK Rowling came along, European children book writers were taking children more seriously than most English and American writers. At the helm of this beautiful movement of children-centric literary world was Astrid Lindgren of Sweden and the wonderful Erich Kaestner of Germany, both well-known and widely read in non-English speaking Europe and most other places, but conviniently limited to a few of their works in UK and the USA (Pippi Longstocking for Lindgren and The Parent Trap for Kaestner).

Brothers Lionheart is Lindgren manifesting Kaestner's frustration at those childrens books authors who think that "children are made out of sweet pastries and cotton candy" (expressed at the beginning of the Flying Classroom, another master piece not known in the English speaking world). I read this book when I was 7 and have continued reading it, mainly in other languages, and had never seen it in English. The translation is good, although I do not like "Scotty" as a translation of Carl's nickname. The real one "Skorpan" (a sort of doughnut) is much nicer and homier.

Brothers Lionheart was very influential in my life. I learnt many lessons from it and enjoyed it very much, and I never felt that I was being preached to or was put down by the author. It is a novel that will appeal to children and even many adults (those who have not forgotten their childhood and thus their reason). I profoundly disagree with the person who is worried about the "negative" effects of the books darker issues (the after-life). It might surprise you that children are a lot more open-minded than their parents: they have not been spoiled by the prejudices we call "our heritage".

This book, I will claim, is one of the best books ever written, anywhere, in any language, and if it was me, I would have given it to all the 6 billion people in the world to read...

for more information click here

Perfect

There are not many books I read more than once, as a father of 3 these are mostly childrens books. Of all of these no book has made me cry every time like this one does. It is in my opinion Astrid Lindgren's best book. It tells the story of two brothers that face a terrible evil, more so because it is evil like we know, bad people doing bad things. In ways resembling recent wars and tyrants.

It is a book ful of morals and lessons. They are not slapped into the readers face or overexplained but they are there and an innocent child can relate to them.

The lesson of the book is to do the right thing always, no matter the risk and several more lessons besides. I have yet to read the first 2 chapters and not cry.

It is the perfect childrens book.

for more information click here

beautiful book 30 years ago as well as now

I read this book when I was a child and it was one of my favorite. Now I finished reading it to my sons and they love it too. It took me a while to read the first two chapters though, I just couldn't stop sobbing...although I knew the story. It didn't take us long to finish the book, we needed to find out what was happening next...Such a great book, we will buy some copies and give them to friends!!!

There's no one Karl Lion loves more than his older brother, Jonathan, who is brave, strong, and handsome - everything Karl believes he is not. Karl never wants to be parted from him. But Karl is sick, and knows he's going to die. To comfort him, Jonathan tells him stories of Nangiyala, the wonderful place he'll be going to when he dies, and where he will wait until Jonathan is ready to join him there. Then the unthinkable happens ...Jonathan is killed in an accident. Heartbroken, Karl longs for the day he'll be reunited with his brother. When the time comes, he finds Nangiyala just as wonderful as he'd imagined. However, Nangiyala is under threat. A cruel tyrant is determined to claim it as his own, and at his command is a terrible beast that is feared throughout the land. Karl must summon all of his courage to help his brother prepare for the battle that lies ahead ...'I adored Astrid Lindgren as a child' Francesca Simon, author of the 'Horrid Henry' books.

for more information click here