"You haven't read Pippi Longstocking?!" my coworker's disbelief was as tangible as a bludgeon. "But she's you!"

Now, I never read Charlotte's Web as a child either (though reading it as an adult, I cried), so it didn't take much to get me to bury my nose in a copy (that my coworker gifted to me).

I am glad I did. Pippi is every kid's idea of what life without grown-ups might be like. Had I read this at age 8, it might have been my very favorite thing, more than cakes or dancing the shottische; grown as I am, I was most entertained by Pippi's glib tongue, exaggeration, and lies. There seems to be a great deal of word play lost in translation, as given away by Pippi's scene with the burglars, where the translator, Florence Lamborn, had to make direct reference to the fact that "thanks" in Swedish is "tack," in order to make the joke work.

This is one of those books that I am going to read to my niece, my nephew, and any children my friends have, as many time as they like, and will "do the voices" every time, no hesitation.