29 Aug Good Night Stories … for Swedish girls

Hei, hei, there’s much going on here. Some really nice jobs are in the making (I cannot show anything about yet, unfortunately) – and I am working hard on my illustration skills. But one other big thing caused much trouble the last few weeks – finally we are going to move …! Out of Berlin into a much more quiet and greener region. Away from this late-night shop around the corner with it’s dubious guys sitting outside all day (and night) long, the noisy tram in front of our balcony and the filthy streets. But also away from schools, friends, the Spree close to our door and the lovely café nearby. It was a very short-term decision and entailed a lot of things to do and further difficult decisions to make. 

Why am I telling you this? – Well, maybe because I noticed once again how thin the line is that’s drawn inside of me between “wow, yay, great” and “oh, no, I don’t no how to manage that all”. Because I felt once again that I am not always the strong person I would like to be …

And I thought that could be a nice transition to the actual topic of this post, that is about strong people. People that went beyond their borders and the society’s expectations. And I think we all sometimes need such role models to get new strength for life, don’t we?

Last year for christmas I gave my children these two books: “Good Night stories for Rebel Girls” (Elena Favilli, Francesca Cavallo) and “Stories for Boys who dare to be different” (Ben Brooks) – and I love them. Every spread contains the story of a boy/man or a girl/woman who reached a special goal in life, either for him-/herself or for the society. And each one is beautiful illustrated by another illustrator.

Now I recently discovered that there’s also a book especially for Sweden called “Svenska Hjältinor” (Swedish Heroines, by Colette van Luik and Anna Nordlund, Max Ström Bokförlaget). A homage to 100 Swedish girls and woman from different centuries who achieved something great in their life – for example princess Cecilia Vasa, the author Selma Lagerlöf, the economist Agneta Stark, the climate activist Gretha Thunberg and many more. All portrayed with lovely illustrations also made by Swedish Illustrators – the perfect piece for my collection!

Illustrations: Elsa Beskow by Helena Frank und Greta Thunberg by Julia Szulc

The book was released only 2 weeks ago and is currently just available in Swedish, I think. But it already has its own Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/svenskahjaltinnor/  and under the hashtag #svenskahjältinnor you can find some of the beautiful illustrations. Have a look! I‘m sure it’s worth it.

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Publisher: Bokförlaget Max Ström

Header background image (wood): Freepik