Astrid Lindgren's
Karlsson on the Roof. Oh boy, where do I start when I began to talk about this marvelous
book. To start off, Karlsson is a rather
mischievous boy or maybe he is a pest. It depends on what you think of little boys who live on the roof and
fly, stomach down with a
propeller on their back, to a
windowsill to steal freshly baked sweet
rolls.
Kalrsson is the friend you don't want your child to have. The main character of the book is a little boy, and his name is also literally "Little Boy." Little Boy always blames the times he gets in
trouble on his
friend Karlsson.
When his sister brings home her
boyfriend, Karlsson and Little Boy pose as a
tent by holding up comforters and standing hidden beneath them. Whenever Sister Betan moves with her boyfriend, they follow slightly behind, being careful not to move when she turns in their direciton. Finally, when she
kisses her boyfriend, the two snicker rudely to her annoyance.
Outraged, Betan later slaps her younger
brother. But it's not his
fault is it, after all it his friend Karlsson who came up with the whole idea.
Oh that fat flying boy with an appetite for sweet rolls always gets his young innocent friend in trouble... He even once gets the idea to to put on a white
bedsheet with cut out eyelids and fly around in it pretending to be a
ghost so that he can get the housekeeper to chase him out of the kitchen with a
broom. Little Boy is told, in the meantime, to remain in the kitchen, steal the plate of freshly baked sweet rolls and run up with them to Karlsson's apartment on the roof.
Little Boy is amply rewarded for going along with his fat friend's schemes. Karlsson lets his friend sit on his back, on which the flying man transports him to the little apartment on the roof via the power of his propeller.
Note: Though I have read this book at least 25 times as a child, as an adult I am beginning to forget many of its specific details. Due to that weakness of memory, I am unable to share many many things I love about this book. However, I hope I have given my fellow noders enough of a taste of it, so that they may be tempted to seek it out for their own reading pleasure. As for me, my pleasant recollections may prompt me to reread it myself. In that case, I might update this node with a more vivid sketch of the peculiar quirks and character traits of this fat little flying creature with a taste for sweet rolls.
Also, forgive if I am imprecise with the names of the characters. I base them on my reading of this book in the Russian translation.