We are huge Moomin fans and enjoyed reading More Adventures in Moominvalley, a new collection of nine stories about the Moomin family. Inspired by Tove Jansson’s characters the stories are based on episodes of the animated Moomin series and include many of the characters we know and love.
More Adventures in Moominvalley has a sturdy hardback cover embossed with gold and shows a wonderful wintery picture of Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden outside the Moomins’ bathing house.
The stories are gentle and revolve around the minutiae of life in Moominvalley but there is still adventure involving volcanoes, fires, ghosts and a disappearing Fillyjonk.
All our favourite characters are included in the stories – Little My gets up to her usual mischief, Mrs Fillyjonk helps Moominmama look for a maid and Snufkin helps to protect The Moomin house from a volcano. We’re also introduced to Moominmama’s accident prone new maid and The Invisible Child, both cause chaos in inimitable ways!
Life is dictated by the weather and the seasons, in winter the Moomins hibernate but life still goes on without them as Moomintroll discovers when he wakes during his winter sleep and meets The Ancestor and The Lady of the Cold.
Gentle humour pervades the stories and adds originality to the action – Little My lives in a teapot, Moominmama’s reaction to Moominpapa’s ‘new job’ makes us laugh as does her escape from jail and we love the originality of Mymble’s floating home! Our favourite story introduces a ghost who helps Moomintroll to scare Snorkmaiden but unfortunately for Moomintroll the joke backfires and puts him in danger.
The illustrations are full colour photos from the animated Moominvalley series and are interspersed throughout the text. They are so full of wonderful details and are a fantastic way to introduce children to Tove’s characters.
Just like Christmas comes to Moominvalley, More Adventures in Moominvalley retains the style and humour of Tove Jansson’s original stories as well as all the Moomins eccentricities and foibles that we know and love. It really is a beautiful book.
Age Range: 5 +
Author: Amanda Li
Thank you to Macmillan Children’s Books for sending us a copy of More Adventures in Moominvalley. It’s the perfect Christmas present for Moomin fans 🙂
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