Sven Nordqvist creates his works entirely by himself, both illustrations and text. This is not a unique phenomenon in children's literature. Tove Jansson, Susanne Rotraut Berner, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry drew illustrations with which the heroes of their fairy tales are exclusively associated. But it is Nordqvist's pictures that amaze with the precision of images and emotions, dynamics, wit, and abundance of interesting details.
Nordqvist conveys the characters' facial expressions amazingly, the expression on Pettson's face as he ponders the drawing of his latest invention is incomparable. Or, for example, Pettson, reading at breakfast, stretches his neck, squints his eyes and tilts his face towards the book so that there is no doubt that he is very engrossed in reading. And here is Pettson, looking for a rooster, jumping out into the yard and anxiously looking around, while we see his face from several angles at once - brilliant! "Look, Mom, here I am on the right, here I am on the left!" - my child laughs and quickly turns his head, trying to depict what he sees in the picture. Findus loves to jump on the bed "dryn-kryas, dryn-kryas, dryn-kryas!"; and his pirouettes, and speed, and the pleasure of jumping, and even that “bang-bang”, everything, everything is present not only in the text, but also in the pictures.
The stories about Findus and Pettson feature tiny characters - mykles, they live side by side with the main characters in their own lives, about which we know little from the text, but we look at the pictures with them, giggling with delight: here is an angry granny-cleaner shaking her fist at Findus, who left a legacy, here are mykles-reindeer with luxurious branched antlers, and here are mykles dressed up as Christmas gnomes and dragging sacks of gifts for their myklets.
It is interesting to study the life of the old man and the cat, all their numerous boxes with a million little things, cow pastorals on the walls, potato lanterns in the yard and firewood-carrots. Petson will probably remind many of old men he knows with his thriftiness: in his house, like many handy grandfathers, there is a place for all sorts of iron things, wheels, ropes, devices that perhaps no one has used for twenty years, but you can’t throw them away, suddenly they will come in handy.
In the Findus books there are several illustrations that differ in colour from the bright sunlit pictures – these are night landscapes. Here Nordqvist works mainly with one color, but the monochrome looks so attractive that you want to find yourself inside these scenes. Climb into a tree house decorated with a crystal chandelier with your kitten and admire a quiet evening in the countryside: silence, coolness, carved lace of branches and leaves, against the backdrop of the fading sky. Admire and protect the peace of this cozy world from uninvited guests.
In general, in my opinion, it's time for the Swedes to build a theme park named after Pettson and Findus, because their world is so real that it should finally have a physical embodiment. Something like Santa Claus's village or Moomindale, where anyone can assemble some useful thing for the household according to Pettson's drawings, cook and try Findus's favorite pancakes, and in the evening take part in a fox hunt with fireworks and a ghost.
Books - here
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