Hedvig! Im Pferdefieber

Hedvig #2

by Frida Nilsson, Anke Kuhl (Illustrator)

Hedvig gehört nicht mehr zu den Kleinen - jetzt geht sie schon in die 2. Klasse! Aber über die Sommerferien ist etwas mit ihr und fast allen anderen Mädchen aus der Klasse passiert - das Pferdefieber ist ausgebrochen! Nichts wünscht Hedvig sich sehnlicher als ein Pferd. doch was ihr tierlieber Vater schließlich anschleppt, ist Max-Olov, ein struppiger, magerer, jähzorniger Esel! Unmöglich kann Hedvig den anderen Mädchen in der Klasse davon erzählen und so wird aus dem Esel in Hedvigs Fantasie im handumdrehen ein Pferd. Trotz Pferdefieber bleibt die eigensinnige, fantasievolle Hedvig sich treu - und aus der Notlüge entspringen lauter kleine Abenteuer, die Hedvig und ihre Freundin Linda das 2. Schuljahr hindurch auf Trab halten. Höchst vergnüglich und ebenso warm erzählt wie der erste Band!

Genres: International, Humor, Animals, Childrens

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Frida Nilsson (born 1979) is a Swedish children’s writer whose first book was published in 2004. She has won numerous international shortlistings and prizes, including the August Prize, the German Youth Literature Prize, Expressens Heffaklump and the Astrid Lindgren Prize. She was chosen as one of the best emerging writers in Europe under 39. Nilsson’s writing is characterised by playfulness and sincerity. She has been compared to Roald Dahl and Barbro Lindgren.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Hattie + Olaf is an endearingly and warmly written tale of an 8 year old girl and an irascible donkey she gets instead of the horse she's been dreaming of. Originally published in Swedish in 2006, this English language translation was released 5th Oct 2021. It's 182 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

This is the second English language translation book featuring Frida Nilsson's mischievous and rebellious 8 year old, Hattie. She begs for a horse and winds up with grumpy Olaf, a broken down maltreated donkey with a fearful and angry attitude instead. She finds it impossible to tell the truth to her classmates and her fabrications become more and more fantastic as the days pass. Inevitably, it all comes crashing down and Hattie has to try to clean up the mess.

The book deals with quite a number of somber issues and has central plot themes revolving around bullying, friendship, family, death, relationships, trust, and the meaning of home. The book is set in Sweden and the relationships and settings in the book are very much Scandinavian in flavor. English language readers will probably find it curious that catechism is taught in secular schools, leading up to confirmation around age 15. This is normal for Scandinavia and is still the standard, however now the focus is comparative religion and students learn about other faiths and beliefs, not just Lutheranism (and not just with the intention to lead to confirmation at age 15). There's also mention of snuff use which was rampant among young people of both sexes in Scandinavia.

The simple pen and ink drawings by Stina Wirsén are whimsical and fluid, and add a lot to the story. The book is generously illustrated and there are numerous small drawings throughout. Despite being very simply rendered, many of them are full of small subtle details which invite a closer look.

Four stars. This is a well done young reader chapter book and would make a good choice for public or school library acquisition, gift giving, school reading circle, or home library use.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book feels very relatable with how ones imagination, lies, and desires can run away from you. It touches on a lot of heavier subjects but is very approachable. The illustrations are whimsical and not too frequent.

I received an advanced reader from Net Galley

[Agnieszka Kalus · Rating 4 out of 5]

To nie jest tak, że Hedwigę się lubi. Ja jej nie znoszę: jest rozpuszczoną egoistką, która kłamie jak z nut. Ale opowieść o jej przygodach ma walory edukacyjne.

[Fromsouth 8 · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://vendi13.blogspot.com/2020/08/k...

[Fromsouth 8 · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://vendi13.blogspot.com/2020/08/k...

[ninabomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Podobnie jak z pierwszym tomem również tą książkę wspominam bardzo dobrze z bardzo wczesnego dziećinstwaa nawet lepiej niż pierwszy tom.

[Isidora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Još jedna knjiga koja mi je u divnom sećanju!

[Petra Lazárková · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pokulhává za 1 dílem ale pořád zábavné i vážné dětské čtení co baví i dospělé.

[Nena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein Hedvigteil, in dem man viel über Gruppenzwang, Mobbing und Feindseligkeiten im Schulalltag lernt. Und das mit der typischen Nilsson-Leichtigkeit und viel Humor.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌾Rural life with its pleasures and problems: entertaining rapscallion of a girl👧!

This story, which seems to be set in the past, maybe the 1960's, in a rural Sweden a bit like a later version of Astrid Lindgren's Emil of Lonneberg series, features Hattie, a young girl who is all too real for her weaknesses and troubles. She does things she knows are wrong and sometimes rages and does and says hurtful things she later regrets but the word "sorry" sticks in her throat. She wants the popular kids in her class to like her, dreams of being admired, but takes a slippery path to achieve her dreams and ends up smarting with the consequences. Her parents are pretty forebearing, her teacher is totally oblivious of the not so subtle bullying in his classroom and on the playground. Hattie the heroine is naughty and sometimes gets away with it. I think children will see a lot of realism in the issues the story highlights despite the old-fashioned, rural setting.

The story comes with some artwork: nothing fancy and not too frequent. I think it was just the appropriate amount for the target readership which would be maybe 7 to 9 or ten years of age.

As to Olaf: he's a thorn in Hattie's side, an embarrassment she attempts to hide, until one day she realizes that he's become an important part of her life on the farm. I liked this part of the storyline but it's just one of several parts of the plot that totally held my interest. For me, the real emotional book is in Hattie's relationship with her friend Linda.

I really liked the realism of a book that describes a normal child's desires and fears without sugar-coating it. Hattie is no paragon, just an adventurous girl whose exploits make for an entertaining story.

Thanks to Gecko Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Merged review:

🌾Rural life with its pleasures and problems: entertaining rapscallion of a girl👧!

This story, which seems to be set in the past, maybe the 1960's, in a rural Sweden a bit like a later version of Astrid Lindgren's Emil of Lonneberg series, features Hattie, a young girl who is all too real for her weaknesses and troubles. She does things she knows are wrong and sometimes rages and does and says hurtful things she later regrets but the word "sorry" sticks in her throat. She wants the popular kids in her class to like her, dreams of being admired, but takes a slippery path to achieve her dreams and ends up smarting with the consequences. Her parents are pretty forebearing, her teacher is totally oblivious of the not so subtle bullying in his classroom and on the playground. Hattie the heroine is naughty and sometimes gets away with it. I think children will see a lot of realism in the issues the story highlights despite the old-fashioned, rural setting.

The story comes with some artwork: nothing fancy and not too frequent. I think it was just the appropriate amount for the target readership which would be maybe 7 to 9 or ten years of age.

As to Olaf: he's a thorn in Hattie's side, an embarrassment she attempts to hide, until one day she realizes that he's become an important part of her life on the farm. I liked this part of the storyline but it's just one of several parts of the plot that totally held my interest. For me, the real emotional hook is in Hattie's relationship with her friend Linda.

I really liked the realism of a book that describes a normal child's desires and fears without sugar-coating it. Hattie is no paragon, just an adventurous girl whose exploits make for an entertaining story.

Thanks to Gecko Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this continuation of a Swedish series, best friends Hattie and Linda have a falling out over Hattie's lies about her neighbor and his horses. As often happens in schools, all the girls in Hattie's class except for Linda go horse-crazy and begin prancing around the playground like horses. Hattie desperately wants a horse of her own, but she also knows that horses are expensive. When her father purchases Olaf, an abused and neglected donkey, she is embarrassed but doesn't want to hurt her father's feelings. Olaf is hard to love since he's mean, noisy, and annoying, braying at all hours, and certainly nothing like the graceful horses Hattie has imagined. Eventually, her lies catch up with her, and Hattie has a hard time at school as the result of her words and actions. To add to her miseries, as the temperatures begin to drop, Olaf disappears, and Hattie feels guilty for taking her frustrations out on him and telling him she hates him. When he finally returns after many weeks away, readers will be just as surprised as Hattie to learn how he managed to survive. The black-and-white illustrations and text capture what it is like to be an elementary age girl dealing with the small and large challenges of school, life, and friendship as well as a measure of peer pressure. I'm grateful that Gecko Press has provided this translated version of this literary treasure. While I didn't necessarily like Hattie or approve of many of her actions, I found her quite relatable, and the scenes in school showing her poor teacher's frustrated efforts to teach anything at all are pitch perfect.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in this series, about a young girl growing up in rural Sweden, where the is a sheep field, and room for a horse, but her parents are too poor to get her one.

Hattie desperately wants one, because all the other girls do nothing but talk about riding or being horses, and she wants to fit in. This despite having a best friend that she hangs out with.

Olaf is the donkey her father gets her, because, well, aren't they like horses?

The usual thing happens when Hattie lies about what Olaf is, and things go haywire.

One thing that seems odd, is religion is taught in the schools. Perhaps that is common in public schools in Sweden, but I got thrown off by that.



Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Katey Flowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hattie wants a horse more than anything in the world… so when her father buys a grumpy old donkey instead, she’s not very happy about it. Hattie is impulsive, hot headed, and finds it almost impossible to say ‘sorry’. She gets herself into plenty of trouble, big and small, which was honestly a mix of funny and frustrating to read. But the ending was sweet.

[Aleksandar Gubaš · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has definitely made me interested in children's books again. It was the dearest present I got for my 49th birthday. Frida Nilsson is a magician.

[Cole · Rating 1 out of 5]

Knjiga je baš baš loša i ta spisateljica je skroz pokvarila priču o Hedvizi i ne preporučujem da je čitate možda samo ako morate.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute sequel to Hattie, this time involving a donkey and lots of shenanigans at school and home. Entertaining and heart-warming.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The big feelings, big desires, and big imaginations of youth. Hattie must negotiate all of them as she tries to manage a social life with similar peers. Entirely relatable and realistic.