Rookie calls The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My “just SO GOOD-LOOKING”

The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My
Tove Jansson
1952, Ernest Benn Limited
EVERY Moomin book is good, but Moomin, Mymble and Little My has paper cut-outs, so I chose this one to recommend. It is a Finnish picture book from 1952 about these little hippo-looking trolls who live in a tall house with ghosts and a brat named Little My, to whom I was constantly compared as a 50% Scandanavian child with older sisters. The COLORS are such a delight, and the handwritten text gets all topsy-turvy, and it’s just SO GOOD-LOOKING. It is the Channing Tatum of Finnish children’s books, and I’m sure Tove Jansson would be psyched to hear it. I also know it’s for children, but it’s so lovingly written and illustrated that I end up letting myself get lost in it each time without even a pinch of irony. —Tavi