In two days, I’ll be announcing the pre-order for my debut picture book, Yumi and Monster, inspired by my rare disease and disability. The dedication includes a reference to Pippi Longstocking, whom, as a kid, I’ve admired for her spunky personality, and Astrid Lindgren, the author and activist behind Pippi. It’s a little full circle, as I never expected to illustrate and write a picture book.
Astrid Lindgren, a Swedish author ans activist born in 1907, is most famous for Pippi Longstocking. She is the eighteenth most translated author in the world and was a staunch public political activist for children, animal rights, racism, environmentalism, and world peace, often taking on the establishment. Lindgren wrote the daring yet compassionate anarchist Pippi Longstocking; the girl with the red pigtails, personality, freckles, mismatched socks; an orphan who would make waves in stale middle-class suburbia. As someone who was an orphan, I didn’t make this connection until I was much older.
“There was a complete emptiness in children’s culture in Germany after the war. When all the Nazi books and culture had been thrown away, there was a vacuum, and then Pippi came and filled it up.” - Astrid Lindgren
Lindgren’s daughter, who as a child had come up with the name Pippi Longstocking while in bed, could never really identify with her willful, independent, progressive, unconventional, anti-authoritarian, and freedom-loving personality, which was ahead of its time. Instead, it was Lindgren who mirrored Longstocking’s zest. Lindgren defied the conventions of her time by wearing pants, jackets, and sporting short blonde hair. She was an influential activist, author of 30 children’s books, and businesswoman during a time when women’s opinions were rarely sought. Having lived during the Holocaust, Lindgren tried to make sense of it, fighting against wars through her writing and fiction. Despite struggling with depression and fear, she continued to climb trees at 70. Lindgren lived to be 94 years old.
Pippi was one of my favorite childhood characters; we named our pup after her. As a kid, I loved Pippi's subversive feistiness and her ability to prove people's perceptions of her wrong or help them to think differently, while turning overly conservative towns upside down. These kinds of figures greatly influenced who I am today.
As an adult, I realized that my favorite childhood books and influences featured strong female characters, including fiery red-headed orphans like Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, and Orphan Annie, which is interesting.
Red hair was typically reserved for “misfits” or “outsiders” and linked to negative stereotypes and unfair prejudices, which explains why orphans were often depicted as redheads, and still today such as in Queen's Gambit. Orphans are typically viewed as pitied outsiders, seen as unwanted, especially in older literature. Consequently, the romanticized success story of a charmed abandoned girl (Annie, Punky Bruster, Pippi) proving her town wrong was a common narrative. These spunky, sassy, and unique characters had more to prove because they were outsiders.
Visit my instagram this Thursday, March 20 for my Yumi and Monster pre-order announcement!! Sharing something I feel is important makes me most grateful. I’ve been waiting years for this moment.
Https://www.instagram.com/kamredlawsk
