Emma Karinsdotter: Lisbet och Sambakungen

Lisbet och Sambakungen (Lisbet and the Samba King)
Illus. by Hanna Gustavsson

Bonnier Carlsen 2017

German edition: Der Sommer, in dem ich meine Oma zähmte. Illustrated by Lilli L’Arronge. 
Translated by Friederike Buchinger. dtv 2023

If Pippi Longstocking had not swallowed the “squiggle pills” to stop herself from becoming a grownup, then she would have become “the Samba King”, aka Lisbet’s grandmother. Everything that smells conventional is a horror for her. She eats raspberry jelly for breakfast and drinks cranberry jam. Even though Lisbet loves her grandmother’s crazy games, she would much rather be left alone to draw and paint. Soon she will be allowed to go to school, but the Samba King is constantly trying to talk her out of it – because she is afraid that Lisbet will discover friends there and then become just like all the others. But Lisbet wants most of all to be “lagom spesiell” – just the right kind of special – a little bit different, but also a little bit like the others. This children’s book bubbles with ideas and word play, while addressing the idea of fluid boundaries between group pressure and group belonging, between self-centredness and individualism. 

Grade 1 + 2
Reading in German

Application:

Elke Rusch
KJR München-Land
e.rusch@kjr-ml.de