Julkalender 1991 - Sunes Jul

Every year Swedish Television (SVT) makes a christmas calendar (julkalender) for TV which tells a story of some children celebrating christmas. They broadcast one episode à day between the 1st and 24th of December (when Swedes celebrate christmas) which are about 15 minutes long. The exception to this was Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter from 1977, which had 28 episodes, starting the first Sunday in Advent and Jul i Kapernaum from 1995, which had a running time of 30 minutes per episode. This year's calendar, Selmas saga (Selma's fairy tale) looks promising, but I will wait with a more thorough review until it is finished.

I have already talked about my issues with the one from last year (2015), 1000 år till julafton (1000 years until christmas) here and one of my favourites Tomtemaskinen from 1993 here, but thought I would present the other three I have every Sunday in December up until Christmas. I have a hard time choosing an order to my four favourites, so the posts will be published chronologically. (Except for Tomtemaskinen, which I have already talked about.)

First out is Sunes Jul (Sune's christmas) from 1991 which was released at about the same time as the book with the same title. The plot is extremely simple: Sune and his family celebrate Christmas. We get to follow them as they prepare for the holidays. The calendar was followed up by a film, Sunes sommar (Sune's summer) in 1993. This film was a success and has become somewhat of a Swedish classic. The three films about Sune that were made in recent years (with the entire cast exchanged) have not been as well recieved. 

If you are in Sweden, the calendar is available on SVT:s Öppet Arkiv webplayer.

Pictures were borrowed here, here and here.

Pettson and Findus

Covers of Pannkakstårtan, Rävjakten, Stackars Pettson,
Pettson får julbesök and Kackel i Grönsakslandet.

Facebook reminded me that I met Swedish children's author Sven Nordqvist at the Göteborg Book Fair this day in 2009. Therefore I thought I would write about his books about Pettson and Findus. I absolutely love those books! Yes, I still love them as an adult. There is nothing wrong with enjoying good children's books as adult and the books about Pettson and Findus belong to the best.

"Du ska inte vara rädd för hönsen Pettson. De är inte så farliga som de ser ut." (Pettson, you don't have to be scared of the hens. They aren't as dangerous as they look.)

~ Gumman Andersson, Pettson tältar

The books (generally picture books, but there are some exceptions) tell shorter tales about Pettson. He lives alone with his cat Findus and a couple of hens. There are also some mucklor that live underneath the floor and only Findus can see, but they steal things from Pettson.

Covers of Tomtemaskinen, Pettson tältar, Tuppens minut,
När Findus var liten och försvann and Findus flyttar ut.

The books are beautifully illustrated and there are so much details in every picture that you can look at them all the time and still find new things you have never seen before. The first book Pannkakstårtan (Translated as Birthday Cake in English apparently.) was published in 1984 and the latest picture book, Findus flyttar ut (Findus moves out) in 2012. There have been some other picture books for younger children published later: Känner du Pettson och Findus? (Do you know Pettson and Findus?) from 2014 and Var är Pettson? (Where is Pettson?) from 2015. In later years, there has also been some cartoons made of the stories. This might be a little because I do not belong to the intended audience (being an adult when they were made), but I do not think they are as good. Not least since the drawings are not as detailed as the ones in the books. The only screen adaptation of any of the books I do like is the Christmas calender, Tomtemaskinen (The mechanical Santa) from 1993 made by SVT.

"Pettson, du säger så konstiga saker. Har du inte fått i dig något kaffe idag?" (Pettson, you say such weird things. Haven't you drank any coffee today?)

~ Findus, Tomtemaskinen

Ingvar Hirdwall played Pettson and Ika Nord played Findus. I thought I should save talking about my favourite Christmas calenders until December, but I might as well tell you about it now. I think it is one of the more underrated and forgotten about SVT:s christmas calenders I think. Mostly since Mysteriet på Greveholm was shown only a couple of years later (1996). That calender is generally the one people remember from "the era", but there were some other great ones made during the 1990's.

Tomtemaskinen tells the story of how Pettson promises Findus that Santa Claus will come to them this year, so he starts building a mechanical Santa in secret.

The book was published at about the same time as the christmas calender was shown on TV and is the only multi-chapter books in the series. There is no real action in it, but it is still very funny and imaginative and both Hirdwall and Nord are doing a really good job. I still think it holds up, over twenty years later.

Sven Nordqvist's signature in one of my books

Pictures were borrowed from Opal Bokförlag and from here.