Why a Booktrail?
Have you ever met a tomten? Would you like to?
The Tomten
What you need to know before your trail
The Tomten is a traditional Swedish character of folklore and charm..no one seems to know where he came from or what he really looks like as his face is covered with a beard and hair and his hat falls down over his face. But in the night he comes and wanders around the farm to talk to the animals and keep them company. Shivering in the snow, he tells them about the coming of Spring
Travel Guide
A classic character and a classic tale from perhaps Sweden’s most famous children’s author. The farm is asleep and the cows are dreaming and the sheep are slumbering. In the farmhouse nearby, the children are fast asleep in their beds. The landscape is almost like a fairytale, with a warm dreaming feeling to it, whispers in your ear as you dream, like a lullaby. The dreamy illustrations convey the atmosphere of the whole tale, warming, serene and as calming as the tomten whispering in your ear.
The story comes from a poem Tomten (gnome) by Viktor Ryberg.
Booktrailer Review
Susan
I love this book. There are many tomten characters sold in Sweden at Christmas and they are so charming so when I found this book and was actually given it as a present by my Swedish landlady I could have hugged her. This book told me more about the Swedish culture and taught me the sound of the language more than anything else. The tomten is so cute and so much a part of Swedish culture that you just have to read it. This such an iconic figure in Swedish folklore and I even learned the poem when I found out it was inspired by one. I love it when books have a story behind them and this is a magical one indeed!
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