The red bird

L’uccellino rosso (The red bird), Suona il mio tiglio, canta il mio usignolo? (My nightingale is singing), Tum Tum Tum! (Tu tu tu!); Messer Nils di Eka (Junker Nils av Eka). As part of its new series “Miniborea”, Italian publishing house Iperborea has collected these four stories, published in 1959, by the renowned children's writer Astrid Lindgren. In them, the author gives children – her favourite subjects – a voice, in a setting that Lindgren said took shape during “the times of misery”, a bleak era in a Sweden of long ago, when relentless poverty seemed to pervade the whole country. Yet, an unusually bright red bird, singing a particularly melodious song, a few lines from a sweet poem, a century-old legend, the painting of a mysterious, faraway castle, are enough to keep reality at bay and unfold new landscapes. Indeed, the young protagonists of L'Uccellino rosso never lose heart and through courage, willpower and resourcefulness always succeed in changing their fate. Accompanying the greyness and sadness that seem to taint everything are the illustrations by Anna Pirolli, renowned illustrator from Milan who, for years, has been working with children's books and is adept in delicately creating small worlds full of imagination, creativity and magic.  

L’uccellino rosso (The red bird)
Astrid Lindgren
Iperborea, 2019