The charming prankster Carlson, who diluted the gray everyday life of the Kid with adventures, appeared thanks to the imagination of the Swedish storyteller Astrid Lindgren. The writer created a legend that a fat man with a propeller once flew into her house and asked for the address of the boy Svante Svanteson. But Lindgren gave the character a much deeper meaning: Carlson can be considered the imaginary friend of a lonely child - a common phenomenon in the psychology of young children.
Carlson's debut entry into the literary arena is associated with a funny situation. The author noted in the fairy tale that she personally met the flying character and even told him the address of the Kid, which she will keep secret from readers. Naturally, the children were interested in the place where the “moderately well-fed” merry fellow and prankster lived. Local journalists decided to support the hype about the release of the fairy tale and joked by placing an advertisement in the newspaper that the person who found Carlson's roof would receive 10 thousand crowns.
Astrid Lindgren, frightened by the consequences of such a rash action (after all, the children will immediately rush to search, conquering the tops of Stockholm buildings), hastened to publish the Kid’s address:
“Carlson lives very close to my house, on the other side of the park, which is under my windows. This is Vulcanus Gatan Street, 12. My family life began there.”
The first book about Carlson and Malysh reached Russia in 1957, translated by Lilianna Lungina. The world saw the characters through the eyes of the artist Ilon Wikland, and later she was accompanied by illustrator Anatoly Savchenko.
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