My second grade teacher introduced this story to me when she read it aloud to our class. I think it's appealing to children because Mio is rescued from an unhappy life and restored to his real home where his father is not only king, but also an amazing and loving father. How many children wish that kind of a rescue for themselves? The book may be a bit old-fashioned compared to more modern stories, but it's like a good fairy tale. The Swedish author Astrid Lindgren also wrote the Pippi Longstocking books. This book was the basis for the movie The Land of Faraway.