The Children of Noisy Village

Kids love it but getting another because the dog ate it

My own son is nearly out of high school and will no longer sit on my lap to let me read to him. Imagine! The rascal! But I have two boys, children of my cousin, and a niece, who are beginning to appreciate my reading talents. Their mothers have not been slow to recognize my utility on that front. Astrid Lindgren was famous in America, years ago, for her Pippi Longstocking books. I think those are still common in bookstores. As an ex-boy reading to a boy, I enjoyed Lindgren's Rasmus books much more, and I loved the "Noisy Village" series. Lindgren's children's books are deliciously old-fashioned and rustic. Rasmus is the Huckleberry Finn of Sweden, and the five children of Noisy Village might remind English readers of Tom Sawyer and Little Women melded together. I read all these books in Swedish, and I'm just becoming acquainted with them in English for my young relatives. The translation is good - not quite as idiomatically piquant as the original, but attractively brash and blunt. Boys will enjoy the stories as much as girls. The target age for hearing these stories is about four to six, and quick-to-read children will be able to handle them at seven. Life in a village in oldtime Sweden was little different from life in rural areas of the Upper Midwest before TV. Parents also may feel the pull of that good-natured, fundamentally decent community. There are no tickets to the past, however, except in books.

I'm 43 and remember every page of this book- My parents read it to us every summer- and its pages and stories have stuck with me for decades. Buy it- turn off the tv AND the internet AND the cell phone- and read it out loud to your kids- its the best thing in the world!

This is a wonderful book depicting the simple joys of growing up in a small Scandinavian village in the early 20th century. The Children of Noisy Village get into mischief, celebrate birthdays and holidays and enjoy hayrides and picnics together. It's the kind of childhood we all wish we could have experienced. It's a beautifully written book and not sentimental. A great read aloud for the 5-8 set. Lots of fun.

The book I read was The Childern of Noisy Village.This book is about a group of young childern. They do different things every day. One of the girls in the book tells about some things in her life and other people. The childern play and have a good imagination. Astrid Lindgern takes us through the year of six Swedish childern living in a row of three houses North Farm, Middle Farm, and South Farm. Many differnt surprises come through this book. This book I recommend to children and adults. This is a book for people that realy want to hear a child's point of view, and that loves to hear about the country of Sweden.

This is Nils (16) from Germany. I read this book several times. It's so wonderful. When I was 4 or 5 my sister read me the book for the first time and I think that it formed my life. It' just great. And I am just reading it again and think that I will do it again and again.