BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Oct 23 - 05:03 PM

Mrrzy, I'm so sorry for the loss of your Moomintroll books.
It's always hard to lose something you cherish,
especially from your childhood.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 01:29 PM

Today's New York Times has a feature article reviewing
a Paris exhibit on Tove Janssen's life and work,
including many Moomintroll pieces.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 04:39 PM

thanks for reviving this thread, I've had a lovely time re-reading the posts. I might just pop into the library this afternoon & head for the Childrens books!

The rich, creative life of Moomins creator Tove Jansson

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 02:14 PM

Interesting info about a subject I know nothing of. There are some Finnish Americans in Alaska. I've received a ticket from a local cop with a Finnish nametag.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 11:09 PM

No, it didn't, and my niece (2 kids now) lost my Moomintroll books. I am sad about that.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Oct 23 - 05:03 PM

Mrrzy, I'm so sorry for the loss of your Moomintroll books.
It's always hard to lose something you cherish,
especially from your childhood.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 11:09 PM

No, it didn't, and my niece (2 kids now) lost my Moomintroll books. I am sad about that.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 04:39 PM

thanks for reviving this thread, I've had a lovely time re-reading the posts. I might just pop into the library this afternoon & head for the Childrens books!

The rich, creative life of Moomins creator Tove Jansson

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 02:14 PM

Interesting info about a subject I know nothing of. There are some Finnish Americans in Alaska. I've received a ticket from a local cop with a Finnish nametag.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Oct 23 - 01:29 PM

Today's New York Times has a feature article reviewing
a Paris exhibit on Tove Janssen's life and work,
including many Moomintroll pieces.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Jul 20 - 05:28 PM

Keb keep going with the exploration of authors and their works.
In my case I was unable to enjoy reading at critical times.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Jul 20 - 08:38 AM

Ha! I just mentioned Thingumy and Bob on the Spoonerisms thread...

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Jul 20 - 05:52 AM

Yui Kobo's photos of Akebono kodomo-no-mori park

keberoxu to make a blue clicky,
first copy a URL, then open the Blue Clicky link belo, next paste it into Link URL, then copy or type up the name of the article, next Create the link. Finally copy (not cut & paste) the new link into your post.

simple - mostly, but if the URL or the article title is too long it can be a problem

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Jun 20 - 09:55 PM

It was about this time of year when
Tove Janssen, the Moomintroll author, passed away --
nineteen years ago.
There is a Mudcat OBIT page for her, from then (2001).

And while I was killing time on the Internet looking at
unattainable real estate, what should I come across but
a homage to the Moomintrolls in Japan, of all places,
in Akebono Kodomo-no-mori Park, Saitama, Japan ...
in real estate.
Somebody built a Moomintroll House in this park,
surrounded by forests, with a stream running past the house
and a wooden footbridge over the stream.
I don't know how to link to the photographs.

And of course, the pandemic has closed down this attraction now.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 08:00 PM

I'm bringing home a Moomin picture book ...
purchased a copy of the very picture book
described in this thread's earlier posts.
ISBN 1-883211-10-7    copyright 1952

"Moomintroll from the milk-shop ran
With milk for Mother in his can,
Up through the forest dark and wide
Wind in the tall trees moaned and sighed.

"The road was eerie, long and drear,
'Twas six o'clock and dusk was near,
How tired he was feeling -- when --
What do YOU think happened then?"


Every open spread of two pages
has rhyming verse like that,
the above is from the opening page.

My memory, as I posted it previously, was faulty.
The milk has been purchased,
and the book tells about
the journey homeward to the Moomin House.

Things came back that I had forgotten.

I had forgotten the vacuum cleaner.
The vacuum cleaner was being put to use
by a big grouchy Hemulen.
By this time the Moomintroll
has been joined by Mymble,
who has misplaced her sister, Little My.

The Hemulen's vacuum cleaner
sucks up Moomintroll and Mymble into the hose attachment.

And it's Little My to the rescue,
fetching a pair of scissors that is bigger than she is,
and she cuts open the vacuum hose
to let the others out, black with dirt.
Then they have to run away
from the irate Hemulen.
Because you really don't
want to damage a Hemulen's vacuum cleaner
with the Hemulen watching you do it ...


The illustrations will be recognizable
to anybody who knows
the Moomintroll books of stories.
Of course the neat thing about the picture book,
besides the laser-cut holes that give you a peek at the next page,
is the lovely colors.

... it's never too late to have a happy childhood ...

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Jun 19 - 10:19 AM

I think my childhood predates laser cutouts... But no. And none of my books rhymed.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Jun 19 - 12:14 PM

Mrrzy, did your childhood Moominfamily include

The Book of Moomin, Mymble, and Little My,
the picture book with the laser cut-outs in the pages
and 'what will happen next' with every page-turn?


Have now had my first look at
Moominpappa's Memoirs,

wherein we are first introduced to the Mymble mother,
very fertile mother indeed,
and Little My is born.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jun 19 - 06:43 PM

Thingumy and Bob, right!

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Jun 19 - 02:52 PM

The spoonerisms come from the inseparable pair,
Thingummy and Bob
(heaven knows what their names are in the language of origin).

They are not in the Comet apocalypse Moomin book.
They show up in Finn Family Moomintroll,
which is very pleasant.

And the old Muskrat is a hoot,
especially his expressive shaggy face in the drawings.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Jun 19 - 01:14 PM

Comet in Moominland was scary!!

Good heavens, not just the Moominvalley in peril,
but the entire PLANET.
And the sky turning red.
And hiding in caves.

Sure, it had a happy ending, but my goodness,
this is a long way from the milk churn and
the picture book with the laser-cut pages.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Jun 19 - 09:16 AM

Yeah, a Jarvinen. But I read the Moomin books as a child.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 06:45 PM

... your sister married a Finnish-American? Neat.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 06:13 PM

Excellent. I had those. They are on loan to a niece interested in her father's Finnish roots. And who had a baby yesterday, yay!

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 05:32 PM

I'm bringing home a baby moomin book ...
actually three of them   

Comet in Moominland
Finn Family Moomintroll
Moominpappa's Memoirs

from the local library.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 02:59 PM

And to think that I had to wait until after the menopause
to be graduated from kindergarten ...


The book that I was so attached to as a small child
was a picture-book edition,
which is not true of all the Moomin books.

Its title in the author's original Finnish was
Hur gick det sen?

After all these years,
now I get to read the Moomin titles
that are more than picture books.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 12:50 PM

No, Moominpapa and Moominmama. I liked the little guys who talked in spoonerisms (I will niss you on the kose) too. Also Snufkin.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 12:29 PM

Clearly I have got a lot to learn.

It turns out that the "moomin" of my early childhood
is actually Moomintroll, but
I never knew he was Moomintroll because
of how the English translation dumbed him down.

There is a whole world of
Moominmother, Moominfather, Moomintroll, and goodness knows
how many other Moomins
who are commonplaces in the author's native Finland,
but to whom I have never been introduced.
At my age,
I better go at least halfway to meet them before it's too late.

Interesting detail:
Moomins, if you see the cartoon illustrations,
have no mouths.
Must make for a challenge for animation.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Jun 19 - 08:22 PM

one of the pictures around my desk is an ad for a Moomintroll exhibition at my local library - in 1995! I hadn't realised it had been so long ag. As I didn't get this desk until 2004 or 5, I must have been carefully keeping said yellowing newspaper clipping. The display was done in conjunction with the Finnish Embassy.

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Jun 19 - 07:19 PM

Did a little more searching and digging
to recall, as an adult,
this piece from deep in early childhood.

In English translation, I could be wrong here
but the piece I have described,
about fetching milk for the milk churn,
may have been the first one published in the English language.

It was intended for VERY young readers, as I then was,
with a device, along with the illustrations and text, of
what do you think happened next? when
it was time to turn the page.

I was keenly taken with it.
The whole translation
was written in verse, in rhyming couplets.

Word reaches my ears that
the book has been re-done
so as to be more faithful to the original Finnish?
And the rhyming verse has been thrown out.
My inner child would be greatly concerned!

Subject: RE: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Jun 19 - 02:21 PM

And this adaptation has a Facebook page.

Subject: BS: Moomin, Mymble, and Little My
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Jun 19 - 02:09 PM

Author Tove Jansson wrote these books,
and in my childhood they were available in English translation.
Because a recent adaptation was aired in the UK,
there is a recent article in The Guardian: Mad for Moomins.

I remember one book that was all about
getting fresh milk,
and there were all these peril and pitfalls getting to
where the milk was.
By the time the trio got there, all in one piece,
the milk had curdled.

The UK/Finnish collaboration this year
is animated (possibly 3-D)
and the voices are done by professional actors.
The English language version
has a Who's-Who of UK actors.

Anybody else grow up with the Moomins?