Astrid Lindgren, the most famous children's book author in the world, was born in 1907 in Näs, in the Swedish province of Småland, where she enjoyed an incredibly happy childhood surrounded by her siblings. For her more than seventy picture books, children's books, and young adult novels, which have been translated into over seventy languages, she received numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Alternative Nobel Prize, the International Children's Book Award, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Great Gold Medal of the Swedish Academy, the Swedish State Prize for Literature, the German Youth Literature Prize, and more.

First Chapter: Pippi Moves into Villa Kunterbunt

On the edge of the small town, there was an old, neglected garden. In that garden stood an old house, and in that house lived Pippi Longstocking. She was nine years old and lived there all by herself. She had no mother and no father, and that was actually very nice because there was no one to tell her to go to bed just when she was in the middle of the most wonderful game, and no one to force her to take cod liver oil when she would rather eat candy. Pippi had once had a father, whom she loved dearly. Yes, she had of course also had a mother, but that was so long ago that she could hardly remember. Her mother had died when Pippi was just a tiny thing lying in the cradle, crying so terribly that no one could stand to be near her. Pippi believed that her mother was now up in heaven, looking down at her child through a small hole, and Pippi often waved up to her and said, "Don't worry about me! I'll be just fine!" Pippi had not forgotten her father. He was a captain and sailed across the great seas.