The wild world of Pippi Longstocking

Mrs. Lindgren won many awards during her lifetime. In 1958, she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, one of the highest distinctions for a children's book writer. In 1967, the Rabén & Sjögren publishing company created the Astrid Lindgren Prize in her honor. It's awarded to a children's author every year on her birthday.

After Mrs. Lindgren passed away in 2002, the Swedish government founded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). The ALMA is given not only to authors, but to illustrators, narrators, and promoters of reading.

In 2006, the ALMA winner was an American, Katherine Paterson. She is the author of "Bridge to Terabithia" and "The Great Gilly Hopkins," among others. In a lecture she gave after accepting the prize, she said she was amused to find that she had something in common with Mrs. Lind­gren. Both of them had been uncertain about becoming writers because they didn't want to add bad books to the world. That worry turned out to unfounded in both cases!

What really impresses Ms. Paterson about the people of Sweden is that they have made a national hero of Mrs. Lindgren – someone who is not a movie star, a sports figure, a rock musician, or a victor in battle, but who became famous simply for writing books that kids love to read.

When it came time for the 2007 ALMA winner to be announced, Ms. Paterson waited by her computer, hoping the award would go to Banco del Libro. Her wish came true. Banco del Libro won. It's a Venezuelan organization that brings books and reading to children and teens.

Banco del Libro's work is truly in the spirit of Astrid Lindgren. She believed that "all the great things that have happened in the world first took place in a person's imagination, and it will largely depend on the imagination of those who are just learning to read right now what tomorrow's world will be like."

The 2008 ALMA winner is Australian author Sonya Hartnett. She had her first book published when she was 15, and since then, she’s written 18 novels for kids, young people, and adults. [Editor's note: The original version misidentified when her first book was written.]

Mrs. Lindgren made a big difference in Sweden and the world because she got children excited about reading by writing books they adored. One day a stranger pressed a note into her hand that read, "Thanks for brightening up a gloomy childhood."

She said later, "That's enough for me. If I've been able to brighten a single gloomy childhood, then I'm satisfied."

A look at Astrid Lindgren's world

Astrid Lindgren was born in Vimmerby, Sweden, on Nov. 14, 1907. Her parents, Samuel and Hanna Ericsson, ran a farm. Astrid, and her brother and two sisters had chores, but they played a lot, too.

Mrs. Lindgren remembered those times when she was writing her books. When she was asked later what child inspired her books, she answered that it was the child she once was.

Her childhood also encouraged her to champion farm-animal rights. At age 78, she started a campaign on behalf of farm animals that resulted in "Lindgren's Law," which had guidelines for their treatment.

More fun facts

• Pippi's full name is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking.

• When she was a child, Astrid Lindgren loved the book "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

• Mrs. Lindgren's first job was as a proofreader and reporter for her local newspaper.

• When Mrs. Lindgren worked for the publisher Rabén & Sjögren, she translated a couple of H.A. and Margret Rey's "Curious George" books into Swedish.

• In Sweden, there is a theme park called "Astrid Lindgren's World."www.astridlindgrensworld.com

• SOS Children's Villages, which provide homes for orphaned and abandoned children, named Astrid Lindgren the 2007 "Childhood Visionary."

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