The Summer Book

By Tove Jansson

Recommended By Philip Pullman & Elizabeth Gilbert

The author of the wonderful Moomin stories tells an apparently simple story of a little girl and her grandmother as they pass the summer on a little island in the Baltic. They talk, they play, they explore, they come to understand things; it’s almost a book about nothing, except that this nothing is filled with discoveries. It’s a little miracle, and it gets even better each time I read it.

~ Philip Pullman

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Publish Date: 1972

An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter Sophia spend their summer together on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland. As they explore the nature on the island, they talk about their life and feelings, yet never mentioning the death of Sophia’s mother or their love for one another. Their mutual affection grows to encompass the island and its inhabitants.

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