I just wanted to share this with you and since a lot of you work with
children and have children of your own, it might be of interest.
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Perhaps you have seen it already on the news, it has been reported in
Washington Post, NY Times, numerous other international media and of
course all the swedish media.

Astrid Lindgren, the author of a whole range of wonderful children books
like "Pippi Longstocking", "Mio My Son", "The Brothers Lionheart",
"Karlsson-On-The-Roof", "Ronia, the Robber's daughter", "The Children of
Noisy Village" and many many more - passed away yesterday in her home in
Stockholm. She had been ill with a virus for some time.

Her books have sold in more than 100 million copies worldwide, in for
example Japan no other forreign writer has sold as many copies. Berliner
Zeitung calls her "World's most beloved children book author". In Russia
reportedly, the two most popular books ever are Karlsson-On-The-Roof and
the Bible.

The fact that she didn't receive the Nobel prize in literature is a bit
disheartening, but it would not surprise me the least if she will get it
soon anyway.

If you have children and you haven't read any of her books to them - do
so now. They are very special and most of her books appeal to both
children and adults.

I have read some of her books myself and had them read for me when
little. These books have made my life happier, which is more than I can
say about most books, even very good ones.

I remember especially reading "The Brothers Lionheart", a book for older
children. It is a book dealing with the true hard times of life and I
actually heard yesterday that doctors sometimes tell parents of dying
children to read that book together with their child to ease the pain
and to give the child something to believe in.

Read the first page here and you will understand why this book is
special: http://www.interlog.com/~wings/jane/a_lindgren/lionheart.html

Astrid is in Nangiyala now.

regards, Göran

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Some links on the coverage:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-2002045168,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52586-2002Jan28.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4344922,00.html
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-2002045168,00.html