Active Audience Guide: Pippi Longstocking

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Table of Contents
Synopsis .....................................................................................................................................................
Washington State Learning Standards .........................................................................................
Astrid Lindgren – Author and Activist ..........................................................................................
A Chat with Elizabeth A. Friedrich, Prop Manager ..................................................................
About the Set ...........................................................................................................................................
About the Costumes .............................................................................................................................
A Short Pippi History – On Page, Screen and Stage .................................................................
How do you say “Långstrump?” – Pippi’s Name around the World ................................
Peter, Huck, Anne and Pippi: Pippi Longstocking’s Place in Child-Rebel Fiction .......
Learning about Learning ....................................................................................................................
That Can Be a Pet? .................................................................................................................................
Talk to the Animals ...............................................................................................................................
Words & Phrases That Might Be New to You .............................................................................
Jump Start – Give This a Try ..............................................................................................................
Drama in Action – Learn by Doing .................................................................................................
Activity Pages ..........................................................................................................................................
Booklist ......................................................................................................................................................
Share Your Thoughts ............................................................................................................................
2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
11-12
13-14
15-16
17
18-20
21
22-23
24
25-26
27
28
29-31
32
33
SYNOPSIS
Pippi, a boisterous young girl with freckles and pigtails, has just moved into her
new home, the dilapidated Villa Villekulla. Fresh from her father’s pirate ship, she has
brought along a big bag of gold coins; her only companions are a horse and
a monkey named Mr. Nilsson. Climbing up on her roof to have a look around the
neighborhood she sees a group of very prim and proper school children on an outing.
Two students, Tommy and Annika, catch sight of Pippi’s horse inside the house, and
go to investigate. As soon as they meet the irrepressible Pippi, the children realize
they will all be the best of friends. Pippi proudly tells them about her father, a pirate king who went
overboard and is presently lost at sea but is sure to come back to her soon. Pippi also lets them know
that her mother keeps an eye on her from heaven. She introduces them to Mr. Nilsson, boasting that
he once worked as a meatball chef in Shanghai. Tommy and Annika tell Pippi it’s not right to lie. While
Pippi insists she is telling the truth about her father and mother, she admits that sometimes her stories
get away from her. She promises to do her best to stop telling tall tales.
Mrs. Prysselius from the Social Welfare Office, having heard that there is a child living alone in the house,
arrives to check on Pippi’s situation. Pippi informs her that Mr. Nilsson is living there with her, so Mrs.
Prysselius asks to meet him. She is alarmed to be introduced to a monkey and insists that Pippi will
need to attend school and go live in an orphanage. Unperturbed and insisting that she is just fine where
she is, Pippi engages Mrs. Prysselius in a wild dance and the poor woman retreats, exhausted.
Tommy and Annika ask Pippi to go to the circus with them. At the circus, Pippi enrages the Ringmaster
but wows the crowd by besting the trick rider Miss Carmencita in equestrian skills. She even defeats the
Mighty Adolf in weight lifting and a wrestling match, proving herself to be the strongest
girl in the world. Pippi turns down the paper money award for defeating the wrestler,
offering to share her “real money” with Mighty Adolf and generously tossing some of the
gold coins to the circus patrons as well.
A thief, Bloom, sees her distributing the gold coins and that night brings along Thunder
Karlson to break into Pippi’s house in search of the loot. They are surprised to find Pippi awake,
counting her coins and completely unafraid of them. They leave with plans to return once she is
asleep. But when they come back Pippi wakes and readily tells them where to find the gold—then she
overpowers and outmaneuvers them, leaving them in a heap on the floor. Telling them they must learn
to be sweeter she gives them each a gold coin to buy a sweet and they depart, rubbing their bruises.
Left alone, Pippi wishes upon a falling star for the return of her father, Captain Longstocking. She hears
his voice as she relives seeing him fall overboard and sings to the winds to blow him home to her again.
The following day, under orders from Mrs. Prysselius, Constables Cling and Clang arrive at
Pippi’s house to take her to the orphanage. Tommy and Annika try unsuccessfully to convince
them that Pippi can manage by herself. Always eager to play a game, Pippi leads the two
policemen in a merry chase that ends with them stranded on her rooftop. Pippi rescues them
with a ladder and they give up their attempts to corral her.
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Pippi decides to go to school with Tommy and Annika, as she is jealous that they get holidays off and
intrigued by the prospect of learning “pluttification tables.” She tries her best, but simply does not know
how to behave or to properly answer questions in the classroom, and her infectious energy brings the
room to chaos. Finally, School Mistress and Pippi agree that for the time being it would
be best for her not to attend school.
Tommy and Annika invite Pippi over to a tea party their mother is giving for guests
who include Mrs. Prysselius and Mrs. Granberg, who believes in the strictest of rules
for children. Pippi arrives with the friendliest of intentions.
However, her playful forwardness and ignorance of even
rudimentary manners manages to turn the tea party into a disaster. Even Tommy
and Annika’s mother, who likes Pippi, suggests she leave, and she does so—after
swinging from the chandelier and smearing cake onto Mrs. Prysselius’ cheeks.
A few months later, as the three children play together outside Pippi’s house,
Mrs. Prysselius appears to tell Pippi that she has not given up on her. She offers
to take her into her own home where she will love her, spoil her and, incidentally,
have lots of good, manual labor for her to do. Pippi declares she prefers to stay in her own house and
Mrs. Prysselius leaves, promising that Constables Cling and Clang will soon return to take her away.
Pippi brushes away Tommy and Annika’s fear that Pippi might be taken away by showing them how to
“snuff stuff”—how to find ordinary stuff they can use for imaginative play. With a discarded cake tin she
creates a marvelous percussive dance which is interrupted by someone blowing a horn. It is Captain
Longstocking, returned from the far seas! The captain announces that he will soon be sailing off on his
good ship Hoptoad, taking Pippi with him.
Tommy shouts that Mrs. Prysselius and Cling and Clang are coming. To have some fun, Pippi convinces
her father to hide. Pippi amuses herself by proving too flexible and dexterous for Cling and Clang to
handcuff. The constables once again end up exhausted and helpless. When Mrs. Prysselius accuses
Pippi of lying about the existence of her father, Pippi gleefully points to her father’s hiding place, and he
triumphantly emerges to end the debate.
As the Hoptoad prepares to sail away, Tommy and Annika are
devastated. Pippi gives them her horse and gold coins as they
take their leave, but this doesn’t console them. Pippi realizes how
important their friendship is and tells her father that she is going
to stay at Villa Villekula. Sad to leave Pippi, but knowing he will see
his independent daughter again soon, Captain Longstocking takes
the Hoptoad to sea along with his fearsome and hearty crew. When
Tommy and Annika return home they are thrilled to find Pippi back
at Villa Villekulla, ready for more adventures ahead.
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WASHINGTON STATE LEARNING STANDARDS
Pippi Longstocking touches on many themes and ideas. Here are a few we believe would make
good Discussion Topics: Authority, Independence, Confidence, Friendship.
We believe that seeing the show and using our Active Audience Guide can help you meet the
following Washington State Standards and address these 21st Century Skills:
• Growth Mindset (Belief that your intelligence and ability can increase with effort.)
• Perseverance
• Creative Thinking
• Critical Thinking
• Communication
• Collaboration
In our 2014-15 season guides we will transition to Common Core Standards along with
Washington State schools.
Washington State K-12 Learning Standards
Theatre
Reading
1. The student understands and applies arts knowledge and skills.
1.1 Understand arts concepts and vocabulary.
1.2 Develops theatre skills and techniques.
1.4 Understands and applies audience conventions in a variety of settings and performances of theatre.
3. Theatre: The student communicates through the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts).
3.1 Uses theatre to express feelings and present ideas.
3.2 Uses theatre to communicate for a specific purpose.
4. The student makes connections with and across the arts to other disciplines, life, cultures, and work.
4.4 Understand that the arts shape and reflect culture and history.
4.5 Demonstrates the knowledge of arts careers and the knowledge of arts skills in the world of work.
1. The student understands and uses different skills and strategies to read.
1.1 Use word recognition skills and strategies to read and comprehend text.
1.2 Use vocabulary (word meaning) strategies to comprehend text.
1.3 Build vocabulary through wide reading.
1.4 Apply word recognition skills and strategies to read fluently.
2. The student understands the meaning of what is read.
2.1 Demonstrate evidence of reading comprehension.
2.2 Understand and apply knowledge of text components to comprehend text.
2.3 Expand comprehension by analyzing, interpreting, and synthesizing information and ideas in
literary and informational text.
2.4 Think critically and analyze author’s use of language, style, purpose, and perspective in literary
and informational text.
3. The student reads different materials for a variety of purposes.
3.1 Read to learn new information.
3.2 Read to perform a task
3.3 Read for career applications
1. The student uses listening and observation skills and strategies to gain understanding.
1.1 Uses listening and observation skills and strategies to focus attention and interpret information.
Communication
1.2 Understands, analyzes, synthesizes, or evaluates information from a variety of sources.
Writing
1. The student understands and uses a writing process.
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WHAT IS ARTS INTEGRATION?
A definition and checklist from The Kennedy Center’s
Changing Education Through the Arts program.
Arts integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate
understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an
art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.
Some educators confuse any effort to include the arts in their classroom with arts integration.
While all types of arts-based instruction are encouraged, it is helpful for educators to know when
they are engaged in arts integration. To achieve this awareness, an Arts Integration Checklist
is provided. Educators answering “yes” to the items in the Checklist can be assured that their
approach to teaching is indeed integrated.
Approach to Teaching
• Are learning principles of Constructivism (actively built, experiential, evolving,
collaborative, problem-solving, and reflective) evident in my lesson?
Understanding
• Are the students engaged in constructing and demonstrating understanding as opposed to
just memorizing and reciting knowledge?
Art Form
• Are the students constructing and demonstrating their understandings through an art form?
Creative Process
• Are the students engaged in a process of creating something original as opposed to
copying or parroting?
• Will the students revise their products?
Connects
• Does the art form connect to another part of the curriculum or a concern/need?
• Is the connection mutually reinforcing?
Evolving Objectives
• Are there objectives in both the art form and another part of the curriculum or a concern/need?
• Have the objectives evolved since the last time the students engaged with this subject matter?
For more thoughts about this subject and a wealth of useful information
(including lesson plans) go to:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators.aspx
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ASTRID LINDGREN – AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST
“The best thing about my childhood was that we enjoyed just the
right amount of safety and freedom.” - Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Lindgren is one of Sweden’s most important authors. She wrote
plays, film scripts and published over 100 books, which have sold tens
of millions of copies and been translated into more than 90 languages.
She revitalized children’s literature and combined artistic integrity with
commitment to the rights of children and young people.
Astrid Lindgren was born Astrid Anna Emilia Ericsson on November 14, 1907. She grew up on Näs farm
near Vimmerby, in the county of Småland in southern Sweden. Her parents created a loving and secure
home for their children, and she had a happy childhood on the farm. Lindgren and her siblings helped
the maids and farmhands. But the children also enjoyed a great deal of freedom. In the kitchen of one
of the farmhands Astrid heard fairytales and stories which ignited her
love of books.
Astrid Lindgren and her family. Astrid
is standing in the back row.
Astrid was inspired to write her Pippi Longstocking books when her
daughter Karin was lying sick in bed. Karin wanted to hear a story and
asked her mother to tell her about “Pippi Longstocking.” Astrid used
the name, pulled out of thin air by her daughter, to make up stories to
entertain her. She never thought of writing down Pippi’s tales until she
twisted her ankle, slipping on the ice in a Stockholm park. Unable to do
the things she usually did, she filled the time by writing.
She sent a copy of the stories to the publisher Albert Bonniers Förlag, who rejected the manuscript. But
Astrid discovered her love of writing books and wrote Confidences of Britt-Mari. This book won second
prize in publisher Rabén & Sjögren’s writing competition for girls’ fiction. Rabén & Sjögren published
Britt-Mari in 1944 and Pippi Longstocking in 1945.
The publication of Pippi Longstocking changed Astrid Lindgren’s life. The book’s enormous success
made her a world-famous author. However it also caused an outcry in Sweden. The free-spirited and
unruly Pippi Longstocking worried teachers and parents, and some critics warned of the collapse of
public morals. Lindgren, however, believed her books could be a good influence, saying, “All I dare hope
for is that they may contribute a little bit towards a humane and democratic view of the world in the
children who read them.”
In 1946, Lindgren began a career that lasted 24 years as an editor for her publisher, Rabén & Sjögren.
During this time, Lindgren also continued to write children’s books. In order to fit writing into her busy
schedule, she used shorthand to write her stories in bed in the mornings before going to work in the
afternoon. She would later type out her manuscripts on a typewriter at home. She introduced a number
of new and interesting characters—such as Emil, Kalle Blomquist, the Brothers Lionheart and the
Bullerby children—but none achieved the overwhelming popularity of Pippi.
While Lindgren was best known in Sweden for her books, she also became known for her support for
the rights of people and animals. She participated in social debate, shaping public opinion in speeches
and newspaper articles. She expressed her concern for the welfare of children and supported legislation
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to protect animals against abuses by factory farms. She argued in
favor of peace and democracy and against all forms of violence. She
also pointed out the disastrous effect of Sweden’s high tax rate in a
satirical story called Pomperipossa in Monismania which she wrote
when the government began taxing her income at a rate of 102%.
Because of the high regard in which Lindgren was held, her words
made an impact on legislators and spurred changes in many areas.
During her life, Astrid Lindgren received numerous awards and
honors, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal (1958), the
Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1973) and UNESCO Book Award (1993).
In 2005 the collection of her original manuscripts in Stockholm’s
Royal Library was placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
Surrounded by her fans, 1969
In 1967, the Astrid Lindgren Prize was instituted by Rabén & Sjögren.
The prize is awarded every year on her
birthday in November for meritorious
authorship in Swedish children’s and
young adult literature.
The center of attention during the filming of
The Brothers Lionheart, 1977
In 1996, The Russian Academy of
Science requested the asteroid No. 3204 be named after Astrid Lindgren.
Astrid said that maybe people should start calling her Asteroid Lindgren
instead.
She founded Astrid Lindgren’s Children’s Hospital in 1998.
She died in Stockholm on January 28, 2002. Lindgren’s burial ceremony was televised in Sweden, and
her death was headline news internationally. One obituary, in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet,
referred to Astrid Lindgren as “...the whole world’s queen of fairy tales.”
After her death, the Swedish government founded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world’s
largest monetary award for children’s and youth literature, in the amount of five million Swedish
crowns ($700,000).
In April 2011 the Bank of Sweden announced that the new twenty-kronor bank notes planned for
2014-15 will bear a portrait of Astrid Lindgren.
Excerpted and adapted from:
Astrid Lindgren Official Website - http://www.astridlindgren.se/en/
Floris Books - http://www.florisbooks.co.uk/authors/astrid-lindgren.html
About.com - http://childrensbooks.about.com/cs/authorsillustrato/a/astridlindgren.htm
THE BOOKS
Astrid Lindgren wrote over 100 books. These are a few of her most popular.
• Pippi Longstocking (series)
• Bill Bergson (series)
• The Brothers Lionheart
• Emil (series)
• Karlson on the Roof (series)
• Lotta (series)
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• Mio, My Son
• Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter
• The Six Bullerby Children (series)
A CHAT WITH ELIZABETH A. FRIEDRICH, PROP MANAGER
Please tell us a little bit about your working process.
As a prop manager, my job is to work with directors, designers and
my fellow employees to produce the properties needed for SCT’s
plays. Think of properties as things you can move. If you imagine
your house or apartment as the set, everything you move with
you to a new house is a prop. That includes furniture, pictures,
throw rugs, food and even your pets! Although some theaters treat
animals as actors, some put the prop department in charge of them.
My daily jobs include: reading and understanding the scripts;
creating prop lists for each show and deciding which props will
be built and which purchased; shopping for props and materials;
reading rehearsal and performance reports and then forwarding information to my staff if there
are notes about props that need to be taken care of; hiring and supervising staff; attending design
and production meetings; collaborating with other production departments on “crossover” props
(props that may be partly built by the scene shop, need to use costume elements on them or
that need the lighting department’s help for electricity run to them, for example); creating show
archives (records) after the shows have closed; and maintaining the shop in good working order.
What is a particularly interesting or unusual challenge on this project and how are you
setting out to solve it?
Pippi Longstocking presents us with two interesting challenges: a
gramophone (an old-fashioned record player) and consumable food.
The gramophone will be a built prop because it needs to be light enough
to be carried by an actress but sturdy enough to take some abuse—as
part of the action of the show it gets kicked. Real gramophones are heavy
and delicate, so that won’t do. In addition, because we want the record
to spin we’ll have to engineer the box to protect the motor while it gets
A gramophone
tossed around. Since the gramophone does not have to be “practical” (in
prop language that means it doesn’t have to work—it doesn’t have to actually
play records or produce sound) we will make the bell out of some lightweight and durable
material: maybe plastic or foam. We might build two gramophones in case one breaks during the
run of the show.
Real food on stage can be trickier than it seems. During the play, Pippi needs to eat part of a cream
cake. To produce this prop we’ll need to find out if the actress has any allergies or food preferences:
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9
she may be vegan or lactose intolerant. We will have to make
something that she can eat that 1) will look like cream cake, 2)
won’t spoil under hot stage lights before she eats it and 3) she
likes to eat and can stand to eat for 11 shows a week. Cream
will not work for this—it would spoil. So we will have to use
something else, maybe mashed potatoes or frosting.
What in your childhood got you to where you are today?
We had a piano at home and music and art were all around
Even prop food that is not eaten onstage
me while I was growing up. I have a long history in theater
often gets special treatment. These
sandwiches
were used in A Year with Frog
stretching back to a 6th grade play of Charlotte’s Web (when I
and Toad. In the action of the play they had
understudied Charlotte) to high school musicals where I played
to get soaking wet then squeezed to show
oboe in the orchestra for Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific, Annie
water coming out of them. They are made
using sponges instead of bread. Fabric
Get Your Gun and Brigadoon. I got my Bachelor’s degree in Fine
trim is sewn onto a piece of felt and glued
Arts in Design at Buffalo State College and have spent 17 years
between the two sponges to look like lettuce.
working in professional theaters. I love the collaborative part of
theater and music. I love that in lyrics and in a play we can explore our lives and the lives of people
very different from us. I think we can learn from stories and
become more empathetic and generous people as a result.
The pizza was made by creating a mold of
the pizza, and then “casting” the prop out of
liquid vinyl (a kind of plastic) that hardens
but stays flexible. Anyone who has made ice
cubes has made a casting: the mold is the ice
cube tray and the ice cubes are the cast item.
I also love that I use a little bit from all the classes I took in school.
I use history to learn when something was invented (matches and
pencils are good ones to know). Math is used in the shop all the
time to calculate lumber needs and to engineer projects. We use
science to decide which glue will hold different things together
(plastic to rubber, for example) or which dye or paint to color
different materials with. And I use my English writing skills every
day to communicate clearly with my co-workers about what we’re
building and how. Art class? We couldn’t do without art!
Elizabeth A. Friedrich was previously prop manager at Intiman and La Jolla Playhouse and has built
props all over Seattle, Southern California and Buffalo, NY. She built props for SCT for several years
before she became prop manager here. She built Harold’s boat and crayons for Harold and the Purple
Crayon and carved Morla’s shell for The Neverending Story.
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ABOUT THE SET
From Jennifer Lupton, Set Designer
Believe it or not, somehow I managed to miss reading the Pippi Longstocking books when I
was a kid, so it’s been great fun getting to know her during this design process. Since Astrid
Lindgren, the author, is from Sweden, I wanted to research folk art in her country and I found
that their traditional woodcarving had great, simple, fun shapes I thought Pippi would love.
For example, I used these carvings in the frame around the stage (the proscenium), the wall at
the back of the stage (the crossover wall), and on Pippi’s bed.
The most important set piece in the show is Pippi’s house.
It needs to be big enough to hold a horse, sturdy enough
to climb on and we need to be able to show the inside and
the outside of it. It will be a big piece of scenery taking up a
lot of room on stage. My big challenge was what to do with
it during the scenes that don’t take place there, like the
circus, school and the ship scenes. All those places are part
of Pippi’s world, so I decided not to hide the house in those
scenes but to use it to become part of the other places. The
next question was how to make that happen. By spinning the
house, we get to use the different sides of it to be different
places. A house this big would be too difficult to just push
around, so the plan is to use a track cut into the floor that
hides a cable attached to a motor and computer to spin the
house and move it where we need it to be—with additional
help from our stage crew. See how you think this idea works.
Side view of Pippi’s bed showing carving detail
Continued on the next page...
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Technical drawing for one of the panels that
frames the stage, based on traditional
Swedish woodcarving
These ground plans show
an overhead outline view
of the placement of Pippi’s
house in different scenes.
The shaded area is the
position of the house
in the photo of the set
model next to it. This first
position is used for scenes
at Pippi’s house.
Photograph of the set model of Pippi’s house, Villa Villekulla
The house is rotated so
that the back of the house
becomes the circus wall.
The back wall is painted
with stripes that match
the curtain lowered in
front of it. The curtain has
a section cut out of it to
make an entrance.
Circus
This side of the house is
used for the school
School
Ship
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On the pirate ship,
Hoptoad. You can just
see part of Pippi’s house
under the sail farthest to
the right.
ABOUT THE COSTUMES
From Catherine Hunt, Costume Designer
Pippi Longstocking is brave, strong,
not afraid to be who she is and lots
of fun to be around. When we first
started talking about the way our
Pippi should look, we knew that she
had to have red hair, braids and long
stockings (of course!), but that she
also had to have a way of dressing
that was all her own. We decided
to make her a collector of sorts—a
girl who has many clothes from her
past adventures and wears them in
fun, interesting and artful ways. We
wanted the clothes to have a sense
of charm and innocence, so for color,
texture and shape, I am using the look
of the 1950s. It was also important to
me to keep in mind that this story has
its origins in Sweden, so in places I’m
using fabrics and patterns that remind
us of Swedish folk designs.
Sketch of Pippi’s costume
Pippi puts on
a fun hat and
vest to go to
the circus
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Example of Swedish folk art
embroidery (designs sewn on fabric).
Pippi has some embroidery on her
pockets and the top of her dress.
Dressed up for
the tea party
Oh, and I forgot to mention Pippi gets to dress like a pirate!
Pirate research image, Howard
Pyle’s illustration from his book
The Ruby of Kishmoor, 1908
Ready to get back on board the good
ship Hoptoad in her pirate gear
Captain Longstocking
Because some of the women in the
cast (besides Pippi) are playing
pirates, we used research inspiration
like this image from The Ballad of
the Pirate Queens by Jane Yolen,
illustrated by David Shannon. The
women are Anne Bonney and Mary
Reade, two of the most famous
pirates of all time.
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A member of the Hoptoad crew
A SHORT PIPPI HISTORY – ON PAGE, SCREEN AND STAGE
In 1945 Astrid Lindgren created Pippi Långstrump, the strongest girl in the world who lives
with her horse and monkey on the outskirts of a small Swedish town. Pippi has come a long
way since then. She quickly became very popular in Sweden, and Lindgren
followed up Pippi Långstrump with two more chapter books: Pippi Långstrump
går ombord (Pippi Goes on Board), published in 1946 and Pippi Långstrump i
Söderhavet (Pippi in the South Seas), published in 1948. Lindgren also wrote
several Pippi picture books, beginning in 1950 with Pippi har julgransplundring,
literally “Pippi’s Christmas-tree plundering,” published in English as Pippi
Longstocking’s After-Christmas Party.
Pippi first made the jump to movies in 1949, but her landing was a little rocky.
Per Gunvall, the writer/director, took many liberties with the plot of the books,
Pippi was played by a 26-year-old actress and Lindgren did not like the film.
Viveca Serlachius
as Pippi in Per
Gunvall’s 1949 film
But that didn’t keep Pippi down for long. In 1954 Pippi Långstrump, was
translated into English and published as Pippi Longstocking—and when
the stories appeared in English, Pippi quickly became popular all over
the world. Her books have been translated into more than 90 languages.
Gina Gillepsie as Pippi in Shirley
Temple’s Storybook–Pippi
Longstocking, 1961
International popularity led to Pippi’s small-screen debut in 1961. The
American TV series Shirley Temple’s Storybook (hosted by Shirley Temple)
included a 14-episode adaptation of Pippi Longstocking—the first American
adaptation, first in color and first to feature a child actor playing Pippi.
But Pippi made her most successful leap to the screen in the Swedish
Pippi Longstocking television series, which aired in 1969. Because Astrid
Lindgren was unhappy with the 1949 adaptation, she
wrote the script herself for this version. Nine-yearold actor Inger Nilsson managed to capture Pippi’s
spirit and the series was re-broadcast many times
all over Europe. The series was re-edited (crudely
hacked up, really), poorly dubbed into English, but
still retained enough of the original magic to become
Inger Nilsson as Pippi in the
successful as two feature films in the United States—
Swedish television series
written by
Pippi Longstocking and Pippi Goes on Board. The cast
Astrid Lindgren
reunited to make more feature films, which were also
successful in the U.S.—Pippi in the South Seas (Pippi Långstrump på de sju
Poster for the film made
haven) and Pippi on the Run (På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump).
from the TV series
In versions by a variety of different playwrights, Pippi has also been popular on stage, but
she’s never played Broadway and, so far, no definitive stage version of the story has emerged.
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Astrid Lindgren herself authored a Swedish adaptation, which served
as the basis for a version by Thomas Olson and Roberta Carlson,
developed by The Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis in
1982. The Children’s Theatre Company took that version on a national
tour in 1990. SCT’s production uses the script Pippi
Staffan Götestam
Longstocking: The Family Musical which premiered
in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the Danske Theater in 1999. It was developed
by the Danish one-name folk-rock musician Sebastian and Staffan Götestam,
a Swedish actor, playwright, director and chef who rose to fame in Sweden
playing Jonatan in an acclaimed Swedish feature film adaptation of another
Astrid Lindgren book, The Brothers Lionheart (Bröderna Lejonhjärta).
Sebastian and Staffan’s musical has had productions all over the world,
Sebastian
including Israel, Spain and, in 2013, Taiwan.
Pippi has survived countless other adaptations,
repackagings, cartoons, etc. and powered a longrunning industry of Pippi products all over
the world. One example of the affection people
have for her is Pika’s Festival, the most popular
children’s festival in Slovenia (Pippi is known as
“Pika Nogavička” in Slovenia) which has been held
every year since 1990. The festival features a wide
variety of performances and events, most of
which are not directly related to Pippi but all of
which are inspired by the strength, originality,
independence, tolerance and imagination that
Pippi embodies.
Information compiled from:
Pippi-related
merchandise includes
everything from dolls,
toys and clothing (socks
are no surprise), to
puzzles, video games
and apps.
The Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/15/featuresreviews.
guardianreview30
Sebastian – http://www.sebastian.info/
Junibacken – http://www.junibacken.se/om-junibacken/personerna-bakom-junibacken/
staffan-gotestam
Pika’s Festival – http://www.culture.si/en/Pika%27s_Festival
Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippi_Longstocking
16
HOW DO YOU SAY “LÅNGSTRUMP?”
One of the many fun things about Pippi Longstocking is saying her name, something Pippi
herself enjoys. Here are some of the ways people say her name around the world.
Chinese – 长袜子皮皮 (Changwazi Pipi)
Czech – Pipi Dlouhá Punčocha
Esperanto – Pipi Ŝtrumpolonga
Estonian
– Pipi
Pikksukk
Greek – Πίπη
Φακιδομύτη
Faroese –– Pippi
Langsokkur
Chinese
长袜子皮皮
Filipino – Potpot Habangmedyas
Swedish
Chinese
长袜子皮皮
Hebrew–– Peppi
‫בת בילבי‬-‫גרב‬
Finnish
Pitkätossu
French – Fifi Brindacier (literally “Fifi Steelwisp”)
Greek
– Πίπη
Φακιδομύτη
Chinese
– 长袜子皮皮
Chinese
German
Langstrumpf
Japanese––Pippi
長靴下のピッピ
Greek – Πίπη Φακιδομύτη (Pipe Phakidomyte, literally “Pippi the freckle-nosed girl”)
Hebrew – ‫בת בילבי‬-‫( גרב‬Bilbi Bat-Gerev)
Hindi
–– Pippi
Lambemoze
Greek
Φακιδομύτη
Korean
–Πίπη
소녀 삐삐
Hebrew
–말괄량이
‫בת בילבי‬-‫גרב‬
Hungarian – Harisnyás Pippi
Japanese – 長靴下のピッピ
Icelandic – Lína Langsokkur
Hebrew – ‫בת בילבי‬-‫גרב‬
Indonesian
– Pippi Si Kaus Kaki Panjang
Japanese
– 長靴下のピッピ
Persian – ‫جوراب ب ل نده پ ی پی‬
Italian – Pippi Calzelunghe
Korean
– 말괄량이 소녀 삐삐
Japanese – 長靴下のピッピ (Nagakutsushita no Pippi)
Korean
말괄량이and
소녀
삐삐 (Malgwallyang’i
Sonyŏ Ppippi)
Serbian,–Croatian
Bosnian:
Пипи Дуга Чарапа
Kurdish – Pippi-Ya Goredirey
Persian
‫ پ ی پی‬Garzeķe
‫ل نده‬소녀
‫جوراب ب‬
Korean
삐삐
Latvian –– 말괄량이
Pepija
Lithuanian
French
Persian
– ‫ی –پی‬Pepė
‫نده پ‬Ilgakojinė
‫جوراب ب ل‬
Norwegian
–
Pippi
Langstrømpe
Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian: Пипи Дуга Чарапа
Persian –– Pipi
Persian
‫ ی پی‬Joorab-Bolandeh
‫جوراب ب ل نده پ‬
Italian
Serbian,
Croatian
and Bosnian:
Пипи
Дуга Чарапа
Polish – Pippi Pończoszanka,
or Fizia
Pończoszanka
Portuguese – Píppi Meialonga (Brazil), Pipi das Meias Altas (Portugal)
Serbian,
Croatian
and Bosnian: Пипи Дуга Чарапа
Romanian
– Pippi Şoseţica
Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian: Pipi Duga Čarapa / Пипи Дуга Чарапа
Slovak – Pipi Dlhá Pančucha
Slovene – Pika Nogavička
Spanish – Pipi Calzaslargas (Spain), Pepita Mediaslargas (Latin America)
Sinhalese – Digamasedaanalaagee Pippi
Swedish – Pippi Långstrump
Thai – Pippi Thung-Taow Yaow
Turkish – Pippi Uzunçorap
Vietnamese – Pippi Tất Dài
Japanese
Welsh – Pippi Hosan-hir
17
PETER, HUCK, ANNE AND PIPPI:
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING’S PLACE IN CHILD-REBEL FICTION
Pippi Långstrump, published in 1945, continued a great tradition of rebellious child protagonists
in literature. Pippi does things that children are not supposed to do. She tells outrageous lies
and refuses to accept the authority of adults, including policemen and teachers. She is eccentric
on principle. She sleeps with her head under the covers and her feet on the pillows. She shares
her house with a monkey and a horse. However, our enjoyment of Pippi’s adventures is less
complicated than our reaction to many of the great earlier child-rebel stories because, unlike
other fictional child rebels, her cheerful nature, more positive social environment, unlimited
wealth, superhuman strength, ability to make friends and common sense keep her insulated
from the traumas that those protagonists undergo.
What sort of society is Pippi rebelling against? In 1945 Sweden was on the brink of an
extraordinarily rapid transition from a backward, impoverished, agrarian country into one of the
richest places on earth. That transformation was made possible by the strictest social consensus
in the democratic world. Sweden valued cooperation over originality and created a vast cradleto-grave welfare state, supported by very high taxes, where it was almost impossible to be either
very rich or very poor. The Swedish sociologist, Ake Daun, in a study published in 1989, stated
that the Swedish “national self-stereotype is a peaceful person who dislikes unruliness and
disorder and prefers calm…clean, quiet, industrious and modern.” Pippi, of course, embodies a
fantasy version of the exact opposite of that stereotype. Here she is making pancakes:
And then she got out three eggs and tossed them high in the air. One of the eggs landed on
her head and cracked open, making the yolk run into her eyes. But the other two she easily
caught with a saucepan.
“I’ve always heard that egg yolks are good for your hair,” said
Pippi, wiping her eyes. “Just wait and see, my hair is going to start
growing like mad.”
Another great child-rebel protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, is like Pippi in
many ways. He, too, acquires an enormous fortune in gold that allows
him to live as he pleases and he, too, rebels against society for some of
the same reasons as Pippi:
The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she
would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the
time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was
in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out.
I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free
and satisfied.
Continued on the next page...
18
Huck Finn, illustrated by E.W.
Kemble for The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn by
Mark Twain, 1884
Dialect aside, that sounds like something Pippi might say. However, the evils of the society which
surrounds Huck go far deeper and transform his rebellion into something far more serious when
he decides to rescue his friend Jim from slavery:
I […] says to myself: “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” […]
It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and
never thought no more about reforming. I […] said I would take up wickedness again,
which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn’t. And for a starter I would
go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I
would do that, too.
Like Huck Finn and Peter Pan and many another child protagonist,
Pippi has absent parents. She has no practical need for them. Neither
does Peter Pan. His magical abilities provide the same freedom that her
money, common sense and super-strength do. Peter claims to prefer
freedom to family so much that he ran away on the day he was born to
live with the fairies. But he is clearly haunted by the absence of a mother
in his life. He takes Wendy to Neverland to be a mother to the lost boys,
and tells her:
I thought […] that my mother would always keep the window open
for me, so I stayed away for moons and moons and moons, and then
flew back; but the window was barred, for mother had forgotten all
about me, and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed.
Peter Pan, illustrated by F.D.
Bedford for Peter and Wendy by
J.M. Barrie, 1911
By contrast, Pippi suffers no serious trauma from her parents’ absence, although her mother
is dead and her father washed overboard in a storm at sea. She misses both, but is consoled by
the thought of her mother looking down on her as an angel from heaven and remains eternally
confident that her father will return. She never doubts that her parents love her, and when her
father does return, she chooses to stay with her friends rather than to rejoin him.
Pippi keeps her innocence—she stays always happy and free. Peter Pan always seems on the
verge of losing his, and Huck does lose his innocence as he learns about the world and himself.
But for better or worse, Pippi never comes close to learning any lessons from her experiences.
Why should she? She’s happy, healthy and safe. She doesn’t need to flee to Neverland or down
the Mississippi on a raft. She lives the completely carefree, adventure-filled existence that Huck
and Peter Pan strive for and only partly achieve.
Although Pippi lacks the depth and complexity of Huckleberry Finn and Peter Pan, her rebellion
against society is, in some ways, even more radical. For unlike Huck and Peter, Pippi is a girl. The
first Pippi Longstocking book came out in 1948 when the social pressure on girls to conform to
social standards was intense. Pippi shares a great deal with another famous rebellious fictional
heroine: red hair, freckles, charismatic high spirits, absent parents, resilience, imagination,
difficulty following rules and a love for fantastic stories. Anne of Green Gables also succeeds
Continued on the next page...
19
in making close friends when she moves to a new house. But where
Anne’s personality and appearance often make it difficult for her to fit
into a society she longs to join, Pippi is perfectly happy with herself
just the way she is. Here is Anne on red hair, for instance:
“...what color would you call this?”
[Anne] twitched one of her long glossy braids over her thin
shoulder and held it up before Matthew’s eyes. [...]
“It’s red, ain’t it?” he said.
The girl let the braid drop back with a sigh that seemed to come
from her very toes and to exhale forth all the sorrows of the
ages.
“Yes, it’s red,” she said resignedly. “Now you see why I can’t be
Anne Shirley, illustrated by M.A.
perfectly happy. Nobody could who has red hair. I don’t mind
Claus and W.A.J. Claus for Anne
the other things so much—the freckles and the green eyes and
of Green Gables by Lucy Maud
Montgomery, 1908
my skinniness. I can imagine them away. I can imagine that I
have a beautiful rose-leaf complexion and lovely starry violet eyes. But I CANNOT imagine
that red hair away. I do my best. I think to myself, ‘Now my hair is a glorious black, black as
the raven’s wing.’ But all the time I KNOW it is just plain red and it breaks my heart. It will
be my lifelong sorrow.”
By contrast, in addition to feeding them an egg, Pippi braids her
own fiery red pigtails so tight they stick straight out from her head,
drawing as much attention as possible. She always wears pigtails,
though. Pippi has some traits more typically associated with boys,
such as physical strength and a tendency to resolve her problems
through action, but she is perfectly happy being a girl. She is not a
tomboy. She is something far more threatening to the society around
her—a girl who does whatever she wants rather than what is
expected of her. She is a release valve from the pressures of society,
able to share her enjoyment of life with her friends and readers
Pippi, illustrated by Ingrid Vang
without the darkness and difficulties that fall in the way of more
Nyman for Pippi Longstocking’s
serious child rebels like Anne, Peter and Huck.
After Christmas Party, 1950
Sources:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), by Mark Twain
Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904), by J.M. Barrie
Anne of Green Gables (1908), by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Pippi Långstrump (1948), by Astrid Lindgren; Quote from Pippi Longstocking (2007), translated
by Tiina Nunnally
The Guardian –http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/15/featuresreviews.
guardianreview30
20
LEARNING ABOUT LEARNING
In Pippi Longstocking, Mrs. Prysellius from the Social Welfare Office comes to check on Pippi at home
because she’s been hearing rumors of a child living alone. When she meets Pippi, she insists that
Pippi go to school because she has a lot of things to learn.
MRS. PRYSELLIUS: Suppose someone asked you what the capital of Portugal was. You wouldn’t
know the answer, would you?
PIPPI: Of course I would. I’d just say, “If you really want to know what the capital of Portugal is,
then just write a letter to Portugal and ask them.” Anyway, I’ve been to Lisbon with my dad.
Mrs. Prysellius is right that school is an important part of children’s lives. But Pippi is right, too.
There are other ways to learn. Pippi knows that if you don’t know the answer to something, you can
ask. And she knows that you learn things by doing—she didn’t have to read that Lisbon is Portugal’s
capital; she learned that by going there.
Learning is what happens when your brain gets new information and you figure out what it means
or you find a new way to think about something you already know. That information could be about
multiplication, dancing, playing baseball, poison ivy, outer space or a million other things.
We all learn things in our own way. You and your sister or brother or your best friend may be a lot
alike, but one of you might like to read about things and have them explained to you before trying
something new, and one of you might like to start the something new right away. (Pippi sure seems
like a start-right-away person.) It depends on what works best for you, but also on what you are
learning. I think we can agree that it would be a better idea to see pictures of poison ivy and read
about it instead of just touching a lot of plants to see which one made you itch. But if you want to
learn to dance, you can start by putting on some music and dancing however you want.
Most of the time we use a combination of ways to learn. If you want to play baseball, someone
needs to teach you the rules, but until you grab a bat and try to hit a ball you can’t play the game.
After you’ve started to dance on your own, you might start taking classes or watch videos of people
dancing to see what you can learn from them. And we also can mix unexpected things together to
help us learn. Maybe you are someone who can memorize 3 x 7 = 21 more easily if you sing it as a
little tune while you do your multiplication tables. Or can understand outer space better if you write a
poem about it.
The whole world is a classroom. We learn things every day
of our lives. School is great because it’s all about learning,
with teachers there to help you figure things out including
what is the best way for you to learn. But sometimes, you
just have to dance.
21
THAT CAN BE A PET?
TOMMY: Why is there a horse in the kitchen?
PIPPI: Because the hall is very small and he doesn’t like the living room.
- from Pippi Longstocking
When Tommy and Annika first meet Pippi, they know right away that
there is something unusual about her. Not only does she have a horse
living in her house, she has a pet monkey named Mr. Nilsson! Who
wouldn’t want to be her friend?
Pets have a strong effect on us. We don’t know for sure when people
Pippi and her animal
started taming animals, but we do know it was a long, long time ago.
friends depicted on a
Around the world, dogs were used for hunting or protection. Cats were
Swedish stamp
in charge of getting rid of mice and rats. Ancient Egyptians kept cats; the
Romans had dogs and birds, too. These animals could
live a healthy life in captivity and could be trained.
While animals still guard us and chase away the rodents,
over the years they have become part of the family. In
return for their companionship, it is our responsibility to
treat these animals with love and respect and to care for
their needs.
There are many wonderful
and varied animals in
Pet crickets in bamboo cages in Beijing, China
the world, but not all of
them make good pets. Many are too dangerous, and many others
would not be able to live a healthy life away from their natural
habitat. But beyond dogs, cats, birds, fish, lizards and guinea pigs,
there are animals that, under the right conditions, might fit well
with a family. Just remember that no animal, no matter how cute
or interesting, should be brought into a place where it cannot be
cared for properly or get the kind of attention it needs.
In China and Japan, people do keep dogs and cats, but crickets
are also a very popular pet. They are usually kept in wooden or
bamboo cages in bedrooms so that they can sing their owners
to sleep. They are considered good luck and they act as a kind of
reverse alarm bell—they stop singing when someone approaches.
Continued on the next page...
22
Bird cages hanging on trees in a
Beijing park
Songbirds are also very common pets in China, and it is not unusual to see
people taking their birds for walks in the park. They keep them in their
cages as they walk, so maybe they are taking the cage for a walk and the
bird just happens to come along for the ride.
Children of families who work with and are surrounded by animals,
like farmers, sometimes adopt goats, chickens or lambs as pets. In the
deserts of northern Africa a child might adopt a baby camel as her or his
companion.
In the Arignar Anna Zoo in southern India, orphaned elephant calves that
A girl and her pet chicken in have been rescued from the forest are cared
Afghanistan
for by local families. The elephants carry the
children home from school on their backs, play soccer and even
sleep curled up with them.
The Yanomami Indians of the Amazon rain forest hunt for their
food, but they have such respect for the animals that feed their
families that they adopt any orphans that are left behind. These
new family pets—monkeys, sloths, opossums, birds, and others—
are fed and cared for the rest of their lives.
And what about Pippi’s horse and monkey? Pippi may be able to
keep a horse in her kitchen, but that’s not the best idea for anyone
else to try. However, some horses do much of their work indoors.
Scout, a miniature horse, leading his
You probably know something about service animals—seeing-eye
blind companion
dogs that help guide the blind, for example. But did you know that
miniature horses are being used as guides, too? Like dogs, they are also used as therapy animals
in hospitals and to help people who are mobility impaired.
It’s not only horses and dogs that are helpers. There are a variety of animals that make life
better for their owners: parrots that help the hearing impaired, ferrets that can sense when
their owner is about to have a seizure, pot-bellied pigs
that guide the blind or can open and close doors. And
yes, monkeys can help people, too. Some Capuchin
monkeys are trained to assist individuals who are
paralyzed or unable to perform certain physical
actions. They become that person’s hands, opening
doors, turning on light switches and picking up objects.
All these animals go through a great deal of training to
be calm, reliable and able to do their work well—so Mr.
Nilsson will not be taking on this job. But these animals
don’t only help their owners with tasks. They provide
Children sleeping with the young elephant in their the same love, companionship and joy that pets bring
to all of us who care for them.
care at the Arignar Anna Zoo in India
23
TALK TO THE ANIMALS
A cat meowing in Seattle sounds just like a cat meowing in Japan. But the way people imitate the
sound of the meow can change in different languages.
Take a look at some of these examples from different countries. They are all awfully fun to say out
loud. And if you practice them, you’ll be ready to say hello to a pig in Sweden or a rooster in Italy.
Cat
English: Meow
French: Miaou (myou)
Japanese: Nyā (nyaa)
Korean: Yaong (yawng)
Spanish: Miau (mee-ou)
Dog
English: Woof
Chinese: Wāng (wang)
French: Ouaf (woof)
Korean: Meong (mung)
Spanish: Guau (wou)
Duck
English: Quack
Chinese: Gāgā (koo-koo)
French: Coin Coin (kwe kwe)
Italian: Qua Qua (kwa kwa)
Spanish: Cuac Cuac (kwak kwak)
Rooster
English: Cock-a-doodle-doo
French: Cocorico (koh-koh-ree-ko)
Italian: Chicchirichì (kee-keeree-kee)
Japanese: Kokekokkō (ko-kay-ke-koh)
Spanish: Quiquiriquí (kee-keery-kee)
Sheep
English: Baa
German: Mäh (meh)
Japanese: Mē (may)
Korean: Maemae (may-may)
Swedish: Bä (bah)
Pig
English: Oink
Danish: Øf (oof)
Japanese: Būbū (boo boo)
Russian: Khryu (heh-roo)
Swedish: Nöff Nöff (nuhf nuhf)
24
WORDS & PHRASES THAT MIGHT BE NEW TO YOU
Pippilotta, Pantry-cleaner, Pepperminta, Gaberdina, Ephraim’s
Daughter, Longstocking – small room where food is stored
I can spell “insipidness” – boringness
I can spell “obsequiousness” – over eagerness to obey
Hello, Mrs. Priss! Prysselius – Pippi is using the sound of Mrs.
Prysselius’s name to make a comment about her. “Priss” is
short for “prissy” which means too proper and fussy.
I’m from the Social Welfare Office and... – office in charge of
helping people in need
MRS. PRYSSELIUS: You know, you need a special permit to keep monkeys as pets.
PIPPI: Not for Mr. Nilsson. He permits anything and everything.
Mrs. Prysselius uses the word as a noun to mean “official written permission.”
Pippi uses it as a verb meaning “allow.”
No, we want to know what you’ve done with all that lolly you had before. – money. A British
slang word.
Back on the job, no longer linger – take your time
We’re your friendly constables, so happy that you rang! – police officers
Can you imagine anyone wanting to live in a hovel like this? – small, dirty house
In the name of the law and statues concerning juveniles and young people...
statues – Constable Clang is confusing words and really means “statutes,” written laws.
juveniles – young persons
Oh, they’re just a couple of busybodies who want to know all about me. – people who are too nosey
Your imagination is unbounded. – unlimited
And when he ate his liverwurst sandwiches, the pigeons had every other bite. – liver sausage
Harboring a runaway?
harboring – giving shelter to
runaway – person who runs away from home
Continued on the next page...
25
Eh, Clang, don’t you think we ought to get some reinforcements? – extra
people to help
We don’t really need to catch this whelp – young dog or wolf. The word
can be used to describe a rude child.
Actually, I think a child should be silent when it’s with its elders – people who are older than the child
They really ought to be taboo – forbidden
I just can’t stand insolent children. – rude
She’s absolutely lethal! – deadly
Quite frankly, I don’t care at all. – honestly
I promise I won’t throttle you
I’ll really mollycoddle you
throttle – choke
mollycoddle – spoil
Do you really want to share a house with a horse on the verandah, a monkey in my hair and cream
cake all over me? – porch
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
woodchuck – groundhog
chuck – throw
rusty sabers – swords
The best helmsman on the seven seas! – person who steers a ship
We weigh anchor tomorrow morning at ten. – raise. A ship
“weighs anchor” before sailing away.
I’ve had to acknowledge that doing the impossible is
impossible. – admit the truth
Yeah, they sang ‘til their tankards they rang – large
drinking cup with a handle
26
JUMP START
Ideas for things to do, wonder about, talk about or write about before or after you see
Pippi Longstocking.
What happened to Pippi’s father between the time he fell overboard from his pirate ship and the
time he came back to Pippi?
Think of some names for Pippi’s horse.
What would you tell Pippi is the best part of going to school? What is the hardest?
Draw a costume for Pippi’s monkey, Mr. Nilsson.
What are different ways that people are strong?
What animal is the perfect pet for you? Why?
Invent a game for Pippi to play with you. Try it out with your friends.
Would you like to live in a house by yourself? What would it be like?
Dance like a pirate.
Make up a story about an adventure Mr. Nilsson had in a foreign country.
What circus act would you want to be part of?
Why is Pippi’s name so long? Make up a long name for yourself.
Have you ever broken a rule without knowing it was a rule?
What would it be like having Pippi for a neighbor?
Why is it good for friends to be different from each other?
Make a map of Pippi’s neighborhood.
Why does Pippi dress the way she does?
If you were moving into a house by yourself, what’s the first thing you would do?
Do some poses like Miss Carmencita and Pippi do on top of
the circus horse.
How do you think Pippi spent her time when she was living
on the pirate ship?
If you had a sack of gold coins, what would you do with it?
Did Pippi’s choice at the end of the play surprise you? What
choice would you have made?
Mrs. Prysselius, Constables Cling and Clang, and Pippi’s teacher
all have a lot of trouble with her. Are there ways they could have
dealt with her more effectively while still doing their jobs?
27
DRAMA IN ACTION
This is a customized Pippi Longstocking Dramashop* exercise for you to try.
EXERCISE: It Is What It Isn’t
GRADES: First and up ­
TIME: 10 minutes
SET-UP: This exercise can be done sitting at desks or in a circle
SUPPLIES: Wooden spoon; a ruler would also do
INSTRUCTIONS:
Pippi Longstocking doesn’t do things the traditional way. She keeps her horse in the kitchen and
sleeps with her feet on the pillow! Inspired by Pippi’s way of doing things in unexpected ways, we
will use our imaginations to turn an ordinary object into something else entirely.
Present the wooden spoon to the class. Ask for a volunteer to come up to the front of the room
and demonstrate how the object is usually used. Ask the observing students to put their hand on
their head if that is how they use that object.
Mime using the spoon as a hairbrush. Rub your hands together if you can guess what I have turned
it into. Call on a student to guess.
Once the new object is identified, invite a student up to the front to turn the spoon into
something else by miming how it is used. Remind the students to use actions, but no sound.
Encourage them to be specific about the object they are imagining and the way they use it.
State aloud the facial expressions you see incorporated into the action. Ask the students if the
facial expressions help make it clear what the object is.
Repeat with more students. Or challenge the students with a new object of a different shape, like
a roll of masking tape.
*A Dramashop is an interactive drama-workshop that Seattle Children’s Theatre offers to schools and community groups
through our Education Outreach Program. Dramashops explore the themes, characters, historical context and production
elements of SCT Mainstage productions. Professional SCT teaching artists work with students for an hour, fleshing out
themes and ideas through dynamic theater exercises. Dramashops can occur either before or after seeing the play and can
be held at SCT or at your location. Students get on their feet in these participatory workshops, stretching their imaginations
while learning about the play.
For information about bringing a Dramashop to your classroom or community group, email educationoutreach@sct.org.
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Dear Dad,
Complete Pippi’s letter by filling in the blanks with the appropriate type of word to create a brand new story.
Once you have made your story, ask your friends to select words without showing them the story and see
what they create!
Today was ____________ (adjective)! Tommy and Annika invited me to a ____________ (noun).
You know how I love ____________ (previous noun plural). Especially the ones where they ____________
(verb) ____________ (plural noun)!
I decided to wear my ____________ (color) ____________ (article of clothing) with my
____________ (adjective) ____________ (article of clothing). I was ready to go, so I ____________
(adverb) ____________ (verb ending in -ed) onto my ____________ (animal) and off I went! When I got
there, Tommy and Annika’s ____________ (type of relative) was ____________ (verb ending in -ing) with a
few people. I said hello, but my ____________ (body part) was ____________ (verb ending in -ing) so I
went to see if they had any ____________ (noun). I found a large ____________ (noun) filled with lots of
different ____________ (noun plural). There were ____________ (noun) ____________ (plural noun) that
were ____________ (adjective) and almost as big as my ____________ (body part). There was even a
____________ (noun) that was ____________ (color) and shaped like a ____________ (adjective)
____________ (noun). It was ____________ (adjective)!
I was feeling pretty ____________ (adjective) so I decided to teach everyone that game we learned
in ____________ (exotic location) when you and I were visiting ____________ (important person). You
know, the one where everyone gets a ____________ (noun) and you sit in a ____________ (shape) and have
to figure out who has the ____________ (adjective ending in -est or -er) one. Then you take
turns____________ (verb ending in -ing) your____________ (previous noun) around the room. Tommy and
Annika loved it, but everyone else left before it was over. Too bad. They missed the ____________
(adjective) part!
I wish you were here dad so that we could ____________ (verb) together every day, like we used to.
I love you and I miss you.
Pippilotta Pantry-cleaner Pepperminta Gaberdina Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking
Unscramble each word and write it correctly on the line below it.
Write each circled letter in order at the bottom of the page to
complete the sentence.
How is each word part of Pippi Longstocking’s story?
NROWG-PSU
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ — ___ ___ ___
SDNFRIE
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
RHOSE
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
DTUREVENA
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
NGSTRO
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
KEYMON
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
ESRUL
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Pippi grew up on a ship full of ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ .
SCRAMBLE HINTS
All the words used in the scramble are in the box below.
Check it if you need hints.
STRONG
RULES
FRIENDS
GROWN-UPS
ADVENTURE
HORSE
MONKEY
BOOKLIST
For Children & Young Adults:
Gooney Bird Greene
Lois Lowry
Clementine
Sara Pennypacker
Armed with attitude, individuality and a
penchant for disaster, Clementine, a wonderfully
wacky girl who is the heroine of a great series of
books, and the inventor of the world’s first pair
of bologna glasses, makes her first appearance.
A Little Princess
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Braiding Hair: Beyond the Basics
Jen Jones
Finn Family Moomintroll
Tove Jansson
Harriet the Spy
Louise Fitzhugh
For Adults Working With Children
& Young Adults:
Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism
Georgia Byng
Manners Mash-up: A Goofy Guide to
Good Behavior
Tedd Arnold and many others
Peter and the Starcatchers
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around the World
Jane Yolen
Pippi Moves In
Astrid Lindgren, comic book illustrated by Ingrid
Vang Nyman
Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales
for Strong Girls
Jane Yolen
Drawing from stories around the world,
renowned author Jane Yolen celebrates the
smart, strong and sassy heroines of legend and
lore in a collection that will encourage bravery in
every child.
Scandinavian Mythology
Jason Porterfield
Snipp, Snapp, Snurr series
Maj Lindman
Booklist prepared by Sara Jensen and Julie Miller
King County Library System
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SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Engaging young people with the arts is what we are all about at SCT. We hope that the Active
Audience Guide has helped enhance and extend the theater experience for your family or your
students beyond seeing the show.
Send us your comments
We’d love to hear your feedback about the guide. You can email us at info@sct.org.
Educators
We need your help. Please take a moment to go online and answer this brief survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SFQ2DCK
Thank you for your support.
Seattle Children’s Theatre, which celebrates its 39th season in 2013-2014, performs
September through June in the Charlotte Martin and Eve Alvord Theatres at Seattle Center. SCT
has gained acclaim as a leading producer of professional theatre, educational programs and new
scripts for young people. By the end of its 2012-2013 season, SCT had presented over 230 plays,
including 110 world premieres, entertaining over 4 million children.
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