Sunday, October 6, 2013

Pippi in the South Seas (Pippi Longstocking #3) by Astrid Lindgren

★★★½

In this installment, Pippi, Tommy, and Annika visit Pippi's father on Kurrekurredutt Island in the South Seas. Even though the location has changed, most of the chapters had a bit of that "more of the same" feel.

Pippi is as adventurous, optimistic, brave, selfless, and loyal as always. While on the island, Pippi faces down two sea-faring bandits who were up to no good, similar to the way in which she handled two would-be burglars in the first book.

One chapter that stands out to me takes place before the children take their sea voyage. Pippi participates in a bizarre event in which some seemingly random person in town subjects all the school children to a high-stress verbal examination that results in either public praise or public shaming, depending on how well each child answers her questions. In this day and age, it seems like such a terrible situation in which the poor kids are labeled "good" or "stupid", and completely traumatized if the latter. Thankfully, Pippi saves a bunch of children from disgrace with her usual good-hearted sense of justice.

I particularly enjoyed the ending in which Pippi, as usual, completely and selflessly devotes her time and energy to making her dear friends Tommy and Annika happy. The last couple pages had a kind of wistfulness to them, as the three children hope to never grow up, and Tommy and Annika take comfort in knowing that Pippi will "always" be at Villa Villekulla.

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