Dossier Annika Thor
Dossier Annika Thor
Dossier Annika Thor
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Nomination
Dear Jury Members and IBBY Secretariat
When the Board of IBBY Sweden decided to nominate the writer Annika Thor
for the H C Andersen Award 2020, the principal argument was her strong
advocacy for the human rights of children and young adults to be treated with
dignity and respect. In her authorship, Thor centres on what it means to be human
in relation to identity and belonging. The individual's struggle to find a place in
existence is a motif, and the quests for love and community as well as loneliness
are central concerns. Thor's texts draw attention to how migrants and refugee
children are treated in their new context and social environments, in which
identity and belonging are created in interaction with others. With gripping
realism and insight into children's way of approaching reality, she depicts not least
how refugees perceive themselves and are perceived by others as well as the
experience of being viewed as an object or reduced to being part of a group
without individuality.
In the historical novel sequel about the Steiner girls, En ö i havet [A faraway island,]
(1996), Näckrosdammen [The Lily Pond] (1997), Havets Djup [Deep Sea] (1998)
and Öppet hav [Open Sea] (1999), Thor deals with themes that are as central today
as during the pogroms in World War II. In an historical context she portrays how
young people's identity, social and cultural belonging can develop. The sequel is
about two young Jewish sisters who arrive to an island in the Gothenburg
archipelago with a refugee transportation from Vienna. They stay in Sweden till
the spring of 1946, facing the challenges of encountering a new country and
culture with little understanding of their cultural background, while they are
developing from childhood, through adolescence to young womanhood. At the
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same time, war is raging in Europe and around Vienna where their parents are.
Despite the bleak situation, the girls still have hope.
The story of the girls' daily lives as non-accompanied refugee children takes place
against the background of and in dialogue with the drama of history. As the
refugee girls seek security in unknown space, their inner journey is portrayed as
a flow between childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In other words, the sequel
concerns the inner journey of the soul and the spatial journey from one place to
another as well as the temporal journey from child to adult that we all make. The
girls journey through cultures and religious spheres between, as well as within,
countries. Thor does not shied away from representing the complexity of life:
class, religion, and majority cultural expressions of tolerance and intolerance. All
aspects invade their stories, interweave and interact.
This novel sequel was the start of a twenty-year long authorship of literature for
all ages. In the novel Om inte nu så när [If Not Now, When] (2011), Thor returns
to World War II as history. In the picturebook Flickan från långt ifrån [The Girl
from Far Away] (2014), every word makes its mark and tells a story that cuts to
the bones and stays there. Again, Thor addresses the issue of daring to open the
door to the unknown and letting in whoever needs a safe harbour.
Since the publication of the Steiner sequel, the novels have been translated into
around twenty languages. There are adaptations for film, the stage and radio and
also audiobook editions. Thor's texts have made lasting impressions, and she has
received a number of awards for her works in Sweden and abroad. Sadly, her
central themes are increasingly topical in the world today and her novels call for
renewed attention.
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Biography
Annika Thor was born in 1950 and grew up in a Jewish home in Gothenburg. She
has been a librarian and an arts director, as well as a freelance writer in film, media
and children’s culture. Annika also writes drama and film manuscripts, often for
children and young people. Since her debut Annika Thor has become one of the
most successful authors of books for children and young adults. Annika Thor’s
first book, An Island in the Sea (En ö i havet) was published in 1996. The story is
set in the 1940s and is about two Jewish refugee sisters who come from Vienna,
Austria, to live on an island in the Gothenburg archipelago. It met with great
critical acclaim and was nominated for the prestigious August Prize. The book
was followed by: Lily Pond (Näckrosdammen,1997), Sea Deep (Havets djup,
1998), and the concluding volume, Open Sea (Öppet hav, 1999). The entire
tetralogy has been widely appreciated by both critics and readers alike in many
countries.
In all she has published more than twenty books for children and adults of all ages.
Often they portray people in dire situations, struggling to find a place in this life,
with psychological and existential conflicts strongly affected by the society in
which they live. In her novel "If not now, when" (Om inte nu så när, 2011) she
returns to the time before and during World War II that she depicted in her first
book.
She is widely praised both in Sweden and abroad and has received numerous
prizes such as the August Prize and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. So far, her
books have been translated into 18 different languages.
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Awards
1996 – BMF-Barnboksplaketten för En ö i havet
1997 – Bokjuryn (kategori 10–13 år)
1997 – Augustpriset för Sanning eller konsekvens
1997 – Guldbagge för manuset till filmen Sanning eller konsekvens
1997 – BMF-Barnboksplaketten för Sanning eller konsekvens
1998 – Bokjuryn (kategori: barnens eget val 13–19 år)
1998 – Wettergrens barnbokollon
1999 – Nils Holgersson-plaketten för Havets djup
1999 – Nordiske Börnebogspris
1999 – Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis för En ö i havet
2000 – Astrid Lindgren-priset
2000 – Bokjuryn (kategori 13–19 år)
2004 – Schullströmska priset för barn- och ungdomslitteratur
2005 – Maria Gripe-priset
2015 - Elsa Beskow-plaketten,[2] tillsammans med Maria Jönsson
Interview
Interview: https://littlebookroom.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/an-interview-
with-annika-thor-author-of-the-2010-sydney-taylor-honor-book-a-faraway-
island/
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Annika Thor grew up in a Jewish family in Gothenburg, Sweden in the 1950s and
60s. She started work as a librarian, and then went on to work as a film and
television critic, and finally dedicated herself to writing books, plays and
screenplays for young people. She is one of Sweden’s best known authors for
young people. Her books have been translated into many languages, and have won
many prizes.
“A Faraway Island,” about Austrian refugee sisters, Stephie and Nellie, is the first
in a series of four, and so far the only one to be translated into English. It has won
awards in Europe, and has been made into a television series in Sweden. It
received two United States honors this year; not only was it chosen as one of two
Sydney Taylor Honor Books for Older Readers, but it won the Mildred L.
Batchelder Award for best book in translation.
Hello Annika,
Since many young people may not know much about the role of Sweden during
World War II, I have a some questions about that, as well as questions about your
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book, and Jewish life in Sweden during the war, and immediate post-war period,
as well as now.
The principle that guided more or less all decisions taken by the Swedish
government during the war was that of neutrality: of keeping out of the war at any
cost. During the first years of the war, until the German defeat at Stalingrad in
early 1943, this meant making concessions to various demands from the Germans,
who were seen as the stronger party, such as permitting soldiers and materials
(though in principle not weapons) to be transported through Sweden, and
continuing exportation of iron ore and other goods (which, of course, was also in
the interest of Swedish industry). After [the Battle of] Stalingrad [in which the
Germans were soundly defeated], fear of the Germans became less dominant and
the transportation of soldiers ceased in the summer of 1943. As it became
increasingly clear that the Allies would eventually win the war, the Swedish
government gradually changed its orientation.
However, this is not the full explanation for the efforts that were made in order to
rescue Jews. As for the Danish Jews (and also those of the Norwegian Jews who
were not already deported in the fall of 1942), the feeling of Nordic solidarity was
an important factor, and when the “White Buses” started rolling towards the end
of the war, the primary goal was to rescue Norwegian and Danish citizens –
Jewish and non-Jewish – from the concentration camps; although in the end many
other nationalities were also brought to Sweden on the buses. Finally, a few
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individuals played an important part. Without Raul Wallenberg himself, the
Jewish businessman Gilel Storch, the Swedish count Lennart Bernadotte and
many others, most of the rescue actions would probably not have taken place at
all.
Can you explain what the “White Buses” were? What comes to my mind are the
vans the Germans used to gas small groups of Jews before they began to use the
gas chambers.
No, on the contrary! In the spring of 1945, the Swedish Red Cross, led by the
Swedish count Lennart Bernadotte, drove buses (painted white with a red cross)
to the concentration camps in Germany to bring prisoners back to Scandinavia.
Permission to do this was negotiated with German authorities. Originally, the aim
was to rescue Danish and Norwegian citizens only, but in the end at least 15,000
people (many of them women) of different nationalities were rescued. You can
read more on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Buses.
I find it interesting that you say that Nordic solidarity led to the concern for the
Jewish populations of those countries, which was very much in contrast to the
attitudes of other European countries who were only too glad to see the Jews as
other, and to strip them of the protections of citizenship.
Yes, I think there was a difference in the way that Norwegian and Danish Jews
could be regarded as “Norwegians” and “Danes” and therefore worthy of more
concern than for example German or Polish Jews. Still, there was a lot of
xenophobia and racism in Sweden as well, and some newspapers described the
Danish Jews in a way that drew strongly on antisemitic stereotypes (for instance
describing them as expensively dressed, in fur coats and with expensive jewelry
…) A very interesting doctoral thesis which was published a few years ago (“A
brother, guest, and parasite”) deals with the interplay between antisemitism and
“the Nordic idea” during and immediately after the war (unfortunately, it is
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written in Swedish with only a brief English summary). On the whole, there is has
been a strong interest in this period among younger historians for the past fifteen
years or so!
Of the many stories you could have written about the Swedish rescue of Jews
during the war, what inspired you to write this particular story?
Quite a few of the Jews who were rescued from the concentration camps have
written down their own memories, in the form of autobiographies or fictional
stories. I feel that these stories should be told by the people who experienced them,
because they are beyond the imagination of us who did not. In contrast, very little
had been written by or about the children who came with the Kindertransport
before the war until I started to work on this theme (a doctoral theses on the
subject was published in the same year as my first book, 1996), and I felt that the
experiences that they went through are in a sense more universal and more suitable
to interpret for someone with a different background.
Also, in the early 1990’s, there was an increase in the number of children and
teenagers coming alone as refugees from countries like Iran and Somalia, and I
felt that writing about the child refugees of WWII could also have some bearing
on the current situation. Finally, the theme gave me the chance of contrasting
Central European Jewish culture with Swedish ways of life, something which I
myself experienced a generation later.
What was it like for you to grow up as a Jew in the immediate post-war years?
I was born in 1950, so by the time I became aware that I was Jewish and started
to have some sense of what that meant, it was already the early 1960’s and fifteen
years had passed since the war. Unlike many in my generation, I was not the child
of survivors – my paternal grandparents had come to Sweden from Belarus at the
turn of the century, and my mother came to Sweden in 1933, at the age of six,
with her parents and younger brother. But the experience of the Holocaust was
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still very present in the minds of my parents, their friends and our relatives, so
there was a kind of fear that was transmitted to me and other children. At one
point in the early 60’s there was a brief outbreak of anti-Semitism in the form of
graffiti on the doors of the synagogue and so on, and I remember being frightened
that worse things would follow.
I was never explicitly told [about the Holocaust], but I knew anyway (and I did
read a children’s book by a Dutch author called “Star Children” which made such
a strong impression on me that I never allowed my own children to read it …) But
I remember nightmares about Nazis coming to get me.
Also, in those days Sweden was not yet an immigrant country. I was the only one
(or at least that is how it felt) in my class with brown eyes and black hair, and I
felt different, which is a feeling that children usually do not like. I wanted to be
like everybody else, and I hated it when strangers would ask me: “Where do you
come from?” (I used to answer with the part of the city of Gothenburg where I
grew up). But I think that this feeling of being different, of being an outsider, is
very useful for someone who is to become a writer!
What is it like for Jewish children to grow up in Sweden today?
I am not really the right person to answer that question. My two daughters are
now 33 and 28 years old, and their father is not Jewish, so they have not had the
kind of Jewish upbringing that I myself had. But one negative thing that they did
not have to experience is the feeling of being different that I just described. Today,
there are many children and young people with brown eyes and dark hair in
Sweden: some of them are Jewish, some are Kurdish or Turkish or Palestinian, or
from Bosnia, Iran or Iraq – and my daughters have friends from most of these
places. It is for this multicultural society that I write!
Were you surprised that your books about Stephie and Nellie are so popular in
Sweden, and now in the rest of the world?
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I was not so surprised that they became popular in Sweden – though neither I, nor
my publisher could have foreseen the extent of their popularity, with still new
editions being published after almost fifteen years and an even more popular TV-
series which has now been broadcast for the third time. The books tell a story that
has not been told before and that was not at all well known in Sweden when they
were first published. At the same time, they depict events and emotions that are
easy to identify with, even if you were born in Sweden and lived here all your life.
And for many immigrant children in Sweden, they have become a way of
processing their own situation “at a distance”, which is sometimes easier than
through a story that is closer to their own lives.
What really surprised me was that the books also became so popular abroad, not
only in Germany (which is, after all, not so surprising), or in the Nordic and other
European countries, but also in countries like Japan and South Korea, where there
is no Jewish population at all. This spring, I am going first to Japan, then to Russia,
in connection with the appearance of the fourth and final book in the series, and I
am really looking forward to discussing the books with readers in those countries.
The scene where Stephie and Nellie are taken to the revival meeting is very
disturbing. Was it common for host families to take their Jewish children to
Church, and did they often try to convert them?
According to Ingrid Lomfors, the Swedish historian who wrote her thesis on the
children of the Kindertransport, only a minority of the children could be taken in
by Jewish families (there were not that many Jews in Sweden at the time). Most
came to ordinary Swedish families, which meant that it was very difficult for them
to maintain Jewish traditions (but of course, quite a few of the children, like
Stephie and Nellie, came from more or less secular Jewish homes). The majority
of the Swedish families were probably only conventionally Christian, and did not
try to convert the children, though they probably took them to church on
Christmas and other special occasions. However, a minority of the host families
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belonged to different evangelistic movements, and for them saving the children
from the Nazis and “saving” them by converting them were more or less the same
thing. The chapter about the revival meeting is based on a true story.
Actually, this scene is so shocking that I don’t think I would have dared to include
it had it not been based on facts! I have had several interesting discussions with
people belonging to evangelistic movements about conversions of the children;
of course, nowadays even they agree that this was wrong.
I understand that you are the author of a great number of books besides the books
about Stephie and Nellie. Do you often write about Jewish themes for children?
No, I do not consider myself a “Jewish writer” in that sense, though I believe that
growing up in a Jewish family has affected my choice of themes and my manner
of treating them profoundly. My father, a secular Jew who still identified strongly
with the Jewish people, taught me that the essence of Judaism was to always
support the weak against the strong. This is at the heart of my writing, along with
moral questions and choices, and the feeling of being an outsider, but the books
about Stephie and Nellie are the only ones so far where I have treated these themes
in a Jewish context.
Annika, thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions
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Some Short Reviews
A Faraway Island
Book review by
Matt Berman, Common Sense Media
Parents need to know that this story can help kids start learning about World War II,
Nazis, and child refugees. Stephie is a relatable character who fights with her sister,
worries about her parents (whom she is separated from), and discovers her inner
courage. While the war is kept at a distance, there are moments when Stephanie
remembers her life before she left Germany, including the beating of a couple and the
killing of a dog.
In 1939, Viennese Jewish sisters Stephanie and Nellie are sent by their parents as refugees
to Sweden. They're placed with different families on a small, windswept island, where
they hope that their parents will join them later. Nellie learns Swedish quickly, makes
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friends, and lives with a kind family. But older sister Stephanie picks up Swedish more
slowly, lives with a cold old woman, and is bullied at school. She longs for the day that
she's reunited with her parents, but that's looking more and more unlikely. Includes
Author's Note.
IS IT ANY GOOD?
This seamless translation from Swedish, based on an event little-known in that country,
will help kids begin to learn about tough topics like World War II, Nazis, and child
refugees. It takes place outside of the more extreme crimes of the war, but kids will still
be moved by this realistic tale of children torn apart from their parents and learning to
live in a foreign place.
See our discussion guide for ideas for delving into the themes here and our list of other
recommended books for kids who are ready to delve more deeply into the stories of
Jewish children in WWII.
• Families can talk about WWII and its impact on kids and families. What did kids know
about the war before reading this book? How can they find out more?
• The author wrote this book based, in part, on interviews with 500 Jews who, like Stephie,
spent WWII in Sweden as child refugees. Do you feel differently about the book knowing
that real kids went through what Stephie did?
KIRKUS REVIEW
At the onset of World War II, Jewish Stephanie and her younger sister, Nellie, are
sent to a Swedish island to live with separate host families while they await their
parents’ visas to America. Even after the turmoil of Vienna, Stephie struggles
with separation from her sister and living with strict Aunt Marta in lonely
isolation, while Nellie quickly finds friends and comfort. As time passes and her
Swedish improves, Stephie learns more about why her circumstances are more
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difficult than Nellie’s. While the parents encounter multiple barriers to reuniting
the family, some small adjustments are made in the girls’ daily lives to ease their
situation. The increasing involvement of Sweden in the war provides a
commonality between the girls and the villagers, allowing Stephie to look outside
her pain to find an inner strength and determination that she never knew she had.
Straightforwardly told in the present tense and easier for tender hearts than the
brutal stories of concentration camps, this still conveys the reality of war and the
suffering of those displaced by it. (Historical fiction. 9-14)
Parents need to know that The Lily Pond continues the story of Stephie and Nellie,
characters that author Annika Thor introduced in her novel A Faraway Island. To
protect their daughters from the dangers and poor living conditions for Jews in
Austria during World War II, the girls' parents have sent them to live in Sweden
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with foster parents. The book informs readers about the deteriorating situation in
Austria through letters from Stephie's parents. In Sweden, Stephie also encounters
adults who sympathize with the Nazis, and must navigate some challenging
interactions with authority figures as a result. Parents may wish to explain some
things about World War II and anti-Semitism. Also, the girls' foster parents are
Pentecostal Christians, whose code of behavior is extremely strict: For example,
they believe that attending concerts or seeing movies is sinful, and this might be
confusing to readers unfamiliar with such beliefs. Stephie also develops a crush
on a boy she's friends with, and believes she's in love, which could warrant some
family discussion, as the novel is written at a fourth-grade reading level.
Stephie and her sister Nellie's parents have sent their daughters away from their
home in Nazi-occupied Vienna to live with foster parents on an island off the
coast of Sweden. Stephie, who is 13, has just completed the equivalent of
elementary school, and her foster parents have arranged for her to go to grammar
school (high school) in Goteborg on the mainland, where she will rent a room
from acquaintances. In Goteborg, Stephanie falls in love for the first time and she
makes close friends, but she also struggles with anti-Semitism, peer pressure, and
concern for her parents back home in Vienna.
IS IT ANY GOOD?
THE LILY POND is a very nice, age-appropriate book about World War II for
middle graders. Because the hardships Stephie's parents endure in Vienna are
related by her parents, they're tempered in just the way a parent would break news
to a child. Stephie is an intelligent, sensitive character with a rich inner world, and
any preteen who's felt like a fish out of water will relate to her feelings of
insecurity and longing for her parents.
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TALK TO YOUR KIDS ABOUT ...
• Families can talk about what Stephie's life is like away from her parents. Do you
think her mom and dad did the right thing by sending Stephie and Nellie to
Sweden?
• What do you think about the way Sven's parents treat Stephie, and why do you
think it makes her so angry?
• Why does Stephie keep Alice's secrets? What would you do if you were in her
situation?
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/deep-sea
Book-reviews/deep-sea.
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living in Sweden during World War II while her parents are in a concentration
camp. A girl she knows tells her that some Jews are sent to death camps where
lethal gas is used. Stephie's foster father worries about hitting a mine while
fishing. Men are found dead in a submarine after they hit a mine. Germans shoot
other boats down. A major character discovers her mother is dead and learns that
her father has been transported to a worse camp. Stephie kisses a boy, who quickly
gets overly physical with her, pushing her beyond what she wants to do. She
overhears her friend having sex in the next room. A 16-year-old girl is pressured
into taking racy photos and into having sex with the photographer. A teen girl gets
pregnant. A boy calls Stephie a "Jewish slut," telling her to "go to hell";
a shopkeeper calls Stephie's younger sister a "little Jew brat." Stephie takes a sip
of alcohol when she and Vera are with some boys; the boys drink more than one
drink. Parents and teachers can use Deep Sea and the other series installments to
talk about the Holocaust and World War II and what happened to Jewish children
and families in Europe.
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Even readers who have not read the other two installments in this
compelling series will have no trouble following Stephie's story here. Author
Annika Thor mixes in details many teens face growing up -- fighting with
siblings, helping friends through tough situations, figuring out how to pay for
school -- with Stephie's stressful family situation, being separated from her
parents during the Holocaust.
Readers will definitely learn a lot about what it was like to be a Jewish child
refugee during World War II, but they also will find a tender coming-of-
age story and a strong, smart, loving protagonist who's easy to root for.
Deep Sea
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/annika-thor/deep-sea/
KIRKUS REVIEW
Now Stephie is 16, and her world has become increasingly complex; even her 10-
year-old sister, Nellie, finds that it isn’t easy to negotiate two worlds. The contrast
between their Jewish heritage and faith with the Pentecostal Christianity of their
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hosts is challenging, as is finding funds for high school. Meeting other Jewish
refugees awakens Stephie to the broader ethical aspects of the war, and messages
from her parents in Theresienstadt help her understand the horrors of the
Holocaust. Her friend Vera’s sexual entanglements make her uneasy, and Stephie
is frighteningly vulnerable. Her friend May’s family and Miss Björk, her teacher,
come to the island for the summer, allowing readers to meet Miss Björk’s partner,
Janice, an Englishwoman with a frivolous bent. The intricacy of the issues
examined here are all built on events and characters introduced in the previous
books, making for a rich blend of emotional truths presented in relatively few
pages—but readers need to be familiar with those earlier titles to appreciate them.
Readers who have come to love Stephie will be glad to see her world
expand. (Historical fiction. 12-16)
A cold winter night it knocks on the door. It’s a lonely girl who wants to come in.
The Gray thinks she can go somewhere else but still opens the door. She prefers
to be alone, it’s the most beautiful time. Or? She gives the girl a cup of warm milk
and lets her stay overnight. First on a mattress but after a while she let her sleep
in the bed. The girl thinks she can stay, but The Gray tells her to leave, to find
someone else who wants to take care of her. The girl leaves the house, out into
the cold. Nice to be alone, The Gray thinks. But everywhere in the house there are
things and scents that remains of the girl ...
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"The girl from far away" is a beautiful book about different kinds of loneliness,
about finding something you didn't know you were missing, about the desire for
affinity and not knowing how to get there. You quickly understand how the book
is build; the stranger who wants to be alone, the conflicting feelings, the eviction.
Then you think you know how it will end up, the long-awaited happy ending. But
not in any sugar-sweet way at all, it is a melancholy and atmospheric tale in both
text and image and the feeling remains all the way to the end. The book is merged
with relief and confidence. There is hope for humanity.
Annika Thor is Sweden's most beloved writer, especially acclaimed for her youth
books "Truth or Consequence" and "An Island in the Sea". This is her first book
with illustrations, created together with illustrator Maria Jönsson, and what a
fantastic debut it is. Although much is left untouched, there are no loose threads,
the reader is always there, caught and engaged. What first hurts in the heart,
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changes to a heat, then cools down and then heats up again. It’s a roller-coaster
ride with emotions.
The simple, sleepy pictures, the stripped but subtle text, the symbolism of the
small details - I think we will look back at "The girl from far away" as one of this
year's best children's books.
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“What’s our responsibility towards our fellow humans? Do we have to participate
in a social community? Grey lives alone in a house in the forest. There’s food in
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the cellar, are burning in the stove, electricity for the hot plates and curtains for
the windows. That’s enough for Grey. Still, when on a dark night a girl shows up
having walked through the snow, Grey reluctantly opens the door. The girl says
she has no one to take care of her. Grey gives her a cup of hot milk and makes up
a bed in the kitchen. In the morning the girl has to leave. She can’t stay with Grey,
because she wants to be on her own. But a smell lingers, piercing through the
solitude. A forgotten hairband. Tiny details that nonetheless bind them together,
regardless whether Grey likes it or not. Maria Jönsson’s illustrations lend the story
a striking fragility where Grey’s subtle gestures and colours stand in direct
contrast to the owing lines of the conclusion and the rich tones dominating the
climax. The girl from far away is a touching portrayal of our shared and uncondi-
tional responsibility towards our neighbour.”
BARNOCHUNGDOMSBOKSBLOGGEN -
HTTP://BARNOCHUNGDOMSBOK.BLOGSPOT.COM/2014/04/FLIC
KAN-FRAN-LANGT-BORTA.HTML
A lonely girl in a big forest. It is dark and cold and she is tired but she sees a small
house. Where it shines.
But ... no one ever opens the girl knocking several times. Through the window
she sees that Den Grå sits alone by a fire and has it warm and comfortable. She
doesn't want to be disturbed.
But not even The Gray can steel itself against the little girl on the stairs and open
the door in the end.
Can I come in? asks the girl. You get to warm yourself by the fire, said The Gray.
Then you get to go. I'm not used to visiting. But the little girl is so small and Den
Grå actually has a little milk to heat and a mattress that you can make.
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You get to sleep in the kitchen but only tonight she says. The girl falls asleep
immediately. But it seems a bit hard and a little cold. Barefoot sneaks up Gray
and lifts it to his bed.
In the morning, the gray already boiled coffee and warmed milk and sits waiting
for the girl at the kitchen table.
Can I stay now? asks the girl. "No, you can't," said the Gray. This is my house
and no one else should live ...
The girl from far away is a heartbreaking story of loneliness and wanting to
belong, but not knowing how. A “Who Will Comfort Toffle? “, "The Root
Child" or the Lord of the Little Uncle "story. A story that makes one warm in the
heart and soft in the stomach. You don't know where and how the girl is alone
and not the gray one either is the longing for affinity and fellowship that is the
central theme and which goes straight into the body.”
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Bibliography
ISBN Title Author Illustrator Translator Publ.date Publ.
House
9789163895463 Bokbarnet Winston, Jeffers, Thor, 2018-04- Bonnier
Sam Oliver Annika 09 Carlsen
27
9789163845857 En ö i havet : Thor, 2005-02- Bonnier
samlingsutgåva Annika 14 Carlsen
28
9789178031016 Mirabell och Thor, Jönsson, 2019-12- Bonnier
Astrakan Annika Maria 30 Carlsen
29
9789163826344 Sanning eller Thor, 2002-09- Bonnier
konsekvens Annika 18 Carlsen
30
Short story
En plats är tom, published on the website www.urskola.se
Part of the radio program Between the lines
Dutch
Chinese
English
Thor, Annika, The lily pond, 1st American ed., Delacorte Press, New York, 2011
Thor, Annika, The lily pond, Yearling, [s.l], 2012
Thor, Annika, A faraway island, 1st American ed., Delacorte Press, New York, 2009
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Thor, Annika, A faraway island, 1st Yearling ed., Yearling, New York, 2011[2009]
Thor, Annika, Deep sea, 1. American ed., Delacorte Press, New York, 2015
Finnish
French
Thor, Annika, Une île trop loin, Thierry Magnier, Paris, 2012
Thor, Annika, Une île trop loin: roman, Thierry Magnier, Paris, 2003
Thor, Annika, L'étang aux nénuphars: roman, Thierry Magnier, Paris, 2005
Thor, Annika, Les profondeurs de la mer: roman, Thierry Magnier, Paris, 2006
Thor, Annika, Si ce n'est pas maintenant, alors quand?, Thierry Magnier, Mayenne, 2012
Thor, Annika, Le jeu de la vérité, Casterman, Paris, 1999
Thor, Annika, Action ou vérité, Casterman, Paris, 2013
Thor, Annika, Vers le large: roman, Thierry Magnier, Paris, 2006
Faroese
German
32
Thor, Annika, Offenes Meer, 1. Aufl., Carlsen, Hamburg, 2000
Thor, Annika, Offenes Meer, [Neue Aufl.], Carlsen, Hamburg, 2003
Thor, Annika, Ich hätte nein sagen können: Roman, Beltz und Gelberg, Weinheim, 2006
Thor, Annika, Ich hätte nein sagen können: Roman, [Nachdr.].], Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim,
2009
Thor, Annika, Entscheide dich!, Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim, 2010
Thor, Annika, Entscheide dich!, Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim, 2012
Thor, Annika & Kutsch, Angelika, Wie ein brennender Vogel, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2002
Thor, Annika, Eine Insel im Meer, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2017
Thor, Annika, Eine Insel im Meer, Süddt. Zeitung Junge Bibl., München, 2006
Thor, Annika, Offenes Meer, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2008
Thor, Annika, Das Mädchen von weit Weg, Oetinger, Hamburg, 2016
Thor, Annika, Ein Kaninchen für Alva, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2005
Thor, Annika, Ein rotes Herz, ein blauer Schmetterling, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2003
Thor, Annika, Ein rotes Herz, ein blauer Schmetterling, Carlsen, Hamburg, 2006
Hungarian
Icelandic
Italian
Japanese
Korean
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Thor, Annika, Ddo tarŭn sesangŭro, Sigongsa, Sǒul, 2006
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Thor, Annika, Uma ilha no oceano, Galera Record, Rio de Janeiro, 2011[????]
Russian
Thor, Annika, Ostrov v more, tom 1: kniga 1 ; Prud belych lilij, tom 1: kniga 2, Samokat,
Moskva, 2016
Thor, Annika, Glubina mojra, tom 2: kniga 3 ; Oktrytoe more, tom 2: kniga 4, Samokat,
Moskva, 2016
Thor, Annika, Glubina morja, Samokat, Moskva, 2009
Thor, Annika, Glubina morja, Samokat, Moskva, 2012
Thor, Annika, Ostrov v more, 3. izd., Samokat, Moskva, 2009
Thor, Annika, Otkrytoe more, Samokat, Moskva, 2013
Thor, Annika, Prud belych lilij, Samokat, Moskva, 2008
Thor, Annika, Prud belych lilij, 3. izd., Samokat, Moskva, 2013
Thor, Annika, Pravda ili posledstvija, Samokat, Moskva, 2011
Thor, Annika, Ostrov v more, Samokat, Moskva, 2006
Thor, Annika, Ostrov v more, Samokat, Moskva, 2014
Thor, Annika, Ostrov v more, Samokat, Moskva, 2013
Thor, Annika, Otkrytoe more, Samokat, Moskva, 2011
Spanish
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Thor, Annika, En una isla remota, Pearson, Madrid, 2012
Thor, Annika, El estanque de los nenúfares, Pearson, Madrid, 2013
Thor, Annika, La niña de muy lejos, Gato Sueco, Madrid, 2016
Thor, Annika, El juego de la verdad, SM Ed., Madrid, 2000
Thor, Annika, Egiaren jokoa, Elkar, San Sebastián, 2002
Ukrainian
Vietnamese
Publishers
Författare Illustratör Titel Förlag Land Utländska rättigheter
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Kor Sigongsa
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Rys Samokat
Thor, A En ö i havet BC USA Random House
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Port/Bra Record
Thor, A En ö i havet BV Spa Pearson
Thor, A En ö i havet BC JP Shinjuku Shobo
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Viet Tranan/
Thor, A En ö i havet BC HU Grafoproduct
Thor, A En ö i havet serien 4 titlar pocket BC No Omnipax
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Fra Thierry Magnier
Thor, A En ö i havet BC IT Feltrinelli
Thor, A En ö i havet BC NL Lemniscaat
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Tys Carlsen Verlag
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Fin Tammi
Thor, A En ö i havet BC Ukr Novyi Samokat Publishing House L
Thor, A Havets djup BC Fin Tammi
Thor, A Havets djup BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Havets djup BC Kor Sigongsa
Thor, A Havets djup BC Fra Thierry Magnier
Thor, A Havets djup BC Rys Samokat
Thor, A Havets djup BC JP Shinjuku Shobo
Thor, A Havets djup BC US Delacorte/Random House
Thor, A Havets djup BC IT Feltrinelli
Thor, A Havets djup BC Ty Carlsen
35
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC Fra Thierry Magnier
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC Kor Sigongsa
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC Rys Samokat
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC USA Random House
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC Ukr Novyi Samokat Publishing House L
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC IT Feltrinelli
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC JP Shinjuku Shobo
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC Tys Carlsen Verlag
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC Fin Tammi
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC Spa Pearson
Thor, A Näckrosdammen BC NL Lemniscaat
Thor, A Öppet hav BC Kor Sigongsa
Thor, A Öppet hav BC Fra Thierry Magnier
Thor, A Öppet hav BC Fin Tammi
Thor, A Öppet hav BC Rys Samokat
Thor, A Öppet hav BC IT Feltrinelli
Thor, A Öppet hav BC Tys Carlsen Verlag
Thor, A Öppet hav BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Öppet hav BC JP Shinjuku Shobo(via TM)
Thor, A De nya skorna BC Ty Carlsen
Thor, A Eldfågeln BC Fär Bokadeildin
Thor, A Eldfågeln BC Ty Carlsen
Thor, A Eldfågeln BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Flickan från långt borta BC Ty Oetinger
Thor, A Jönsson, M Flickan från långt borta BC DK Klematis
Thor, A Loves kanin BC Ty Carlsen
Thor, A Nu, imorgon! BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Nu, imorgon! BC Dk GB-forlagene
Thor, A Nu, imorgon! BC Kin JH Publishers
Thor, A Nu, imorgon! BC NL Lemniscaat
Thor, A Torudd, C Pirr i magen klump i halsen BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Pirr i magen klump i halsen BC Dk GB-forlagene
Thor, A Torudd, C Pirr i magen klump i halsen BC Fär Bokadeildin
Thor, A Pirr i magen klump i halsen BC IT Feltrinelli
Thor, A Pirr i magen klump i halsen BC NL Lemniscaat
Thor, A Pirr i magen klump i halsen BC Ty Carlsen
Thor, A Torudd, C Pirr i magen, klump i halsen BC Pol Czarna Owieczka
Thor, A Torudd, C Roliga timmen BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Roliga timmen BC Ty Carlsen
Thor, A Rött hjärta blå fjäril BC Kor Sun & Tree
Thor, A Rött hjärta blå fjäril BC NL Lemniscaat
Thor, A Rött hjärta blå fjäril BC Ty Gerstenberg
Thor, A Rött hjärta blå fjäril BC It Feltrinelli
Thor, A Torudd, C Rött hjärta, blå fjäril BC Pol Czarna Owieczka
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Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC Fra Casterman
Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC Fin Tammi
Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC NL Lemniscaat
Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC Ty Beltz & Gelberg
Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC Rys Samokat
Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC Ty Beltz
Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC Spa Elkarlanean
Thor, A Sanning elelr konsekvens BC JP Komine Shoten
Thor, A Sanning eller konsekvens BC It Feltrinelli
Thor, A Torudd, C Sova över BC No Omnipax
Thor, A Sova över BC Ty Carlsen
Thor, A Vad skulle du ha valt? BC Kin JH Publishers
Thor, A Vad skulle du ha valt? BC Ty Beltz
Thor, A/Thor, P Fyren och stjärnorna BC Ty Carlsen
Thor, A/Thor, P Fyren och stjärnorna BC Rys Samokat
MOVIES
Sanning eller konsekvens, 1997
Hannah med H, 2003
Kattbreven 2001
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