The Brothers Lionheart

What happens when I die? Will I be all alone? Where will mom and dad be when I die? Will they be sad? What will happen to me after I die? These are questions children wonder about. When my daughter was about 5-6 years old she kept talking about "the mysterious beyond" where you go after you die. We have no idea where she got this idea from. In this book, Astrid Lindgren, the Swedish author who also wrote the Pippi Longstocking books, the Emil books and the "Children of Noisy Village" books, address these difficult questions. She does this without giving any definite answers and still she succeeds to give comfort to children via this exciting and beautiful "after death adventure". Astrid Lindgren's writing is very much in tuned with the feelings of children and the story is spell binding and well paced. Briefly, Scotty (Skorpan in the Swedish version) is a ten year old boy who is very sick. Everyone knows that he is dying except himself. Then one day he finds out in a cruel but accidental turn of events that he is going to die. To comfort him his older brother Jonathan tells him a story about Nangiyala, the land of adventures that lies beyond the stars, where you go after you die. As it turns out Scotty will not be going to Nangiyala alone. In fact the tragic and short life of Scotty and Jonathan and the love they developed for each other during their earthly lives enabled them to be the heroes that Nangiyala needs upon their arrival. The adventures in Nangiyala are much like many other good fantasy stories like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings, but they also have a deeper meaning to them. My teacher read this book to the entire class when I was about 9 years old (the Swedish version). All the kids in the class loved the book and we listened intently while our teacher struggled to read it. The death of your child is a parent's worst fear and having to deal with it head on like you do when reading this book is, I think, emotionally harder on the parent then on the child. I and my wife started reading this book to our daughter (8-years old) but she ended up reading the whole book to herself and she loved it. It should be noted that the story is not tied to a specific set of religious beliefs about life after death, so if you have strong beliefs in what exactly will happen after death (religious beliefs or atheistic beliefs) you may have a problem with this fantasy version. In my opinion this book is Astrid Lindgren's greatest book. However, it is also her most potentially problematic book, so I advise that you read the first third of the book yourself before you read it to your child. This would help you to prepare answers to difficult questions and to verify that you really want to read it to your child. The writing is very sensitive, peaceful, and thoughtful but it deals with difficult questions. Some people have a problem with the ending so check out the ending too (I did not have a problem with the ending). I loved it as a

The first two chapters of this wonderful book were so overwhelmingly sad I almost choked while reading them aloud to my son. A mother's greatest fears come alive in these chapters and at some points I could not believe I was reading a children's book. While the rest of the story is a little less sad (at least on its apparent side) it works on our deepest fears, mainly loosing a loved one, being alone. These however are my observations as an adult. I am sure my son's perceptions are not similar at all and that as an adult I feel this book in a different level. I enjoyed reading the other reviewers that describe their memory of reading this book as children. My experience was different, having read this book for the first time slowly, for several weeks, aloud to my son. My feelings are thus those of a grownup and maybe this makes this book even sadder to me (I do not want to plunge into the discussion of should children know how sad the world is - I have no good answer). In any case this is a marvelous adventure book for all ages whose power stems from many aspects. For me it was mainly the candid descriptions of the narrator, Scotty, who regards himself as a coward and who is moved to great acts of courage by his love to Jonathan, his beautiful, brave and kind brother. The love for Jonathan is really Scotty's driving force. The book really belongs to the canon of best children books ever. On the first level this is an adventure book. The good: a beautiful hero, who always seems to know the right words, a fight for freedom, acts of bravery and self-sacrifice. The evil: a cruel leader, always finding new horrible ways of torture, demonic creatures, treachery and deceit. On the second level this fight for freedom is taking place in a mystical world-beyond who has another world-beyond, a notion that is both scary and comforting (there is always where to go but it seems the problems never end). On yet another level I felt the story works on our deepest fears: death, oppression, darkness, monsters, loneliness and separation from your loved ones which are really the most important aspect of life or of living. I am thinking to myself that maybe the message is that death is better if you stay with your loved ones? is this too horrible to think? The reading therefore can be pleasing, emotional and thought provoking for different ages and is remembered a long while after the reading. .

I first read this book back in the mid 1970s when I was 12 and it has stayed with me ever since. There were a few things which didn't make sense in my old book, but after reading this new translation I find the story easier to read since it flows more naturally in this new edition. For example, I never knew what a "spring-fiddle" was, which Hubert gave Karl to eat on his trip. How do you eat a spring-fiddle and what is it, I thought? Now I know it should have said, "a leg of lamb!" As a kid I also didn't know what a rusk was, so Karl's nickname was confusing. Rusky made me think he was Russian. I like Scotty, derived from biscotti, and I also think it's more elegant to call Sofia the Dove Queen instead of the Queen of the Pigeons. I really appreciate this more accurate English translation of Astrid Lindgren's great story, which was origially written in Swedish :)

This is a truly fantastic book which seriously needs to be reprinted. I was given this book as a child when my little brother was dying and I can honestly say that it changed everything for me. I now share its moving first chapter with hundreds of secondary school children every 'World Book Day' and am always struck by the empathy it arouses in even the hardest school bully! I am privileged to own my original 1975 eng.lang. copy with beautiful drawings by llon Wikland. Over the last few decades I have searched worldwide for another few copies of this book to give my little sister and put in our school library but have been unable to find any despite having the ISBN no. etc. Now I find two further reprints exist but only at collector price! WE MUST ENCOURAGE PUBLISHERS TO REPRINT THIS BOOK! The story is as resonant in this new century as in the last since the fundamental issues explored are still with all children today. I would be very interested in hearing from anyone else who feels as passionate about giving this book back to the world!

It is completely ridiculous that all the Lindgren books (apart from the small children's ones) are out of print! When will somebody finally listen to all these comments made here on the web and reprint them? It is high time!