\New Swedish Books, spring 2019 1
New Swedish Books 22 Sara Olausson b. 1972 The St
rawberry-Children Chapter book, 6–9 years, 128 p. Publisher Rabén & Sjögren www.rabensjogren.se Rights Rabén & Sjögren Agency Åsa Bergman asa.bergman@rabensjogren.se Works Hjälp! (together with Nina Hemmingsson), graphic novel, 2004 Loranga 1 – 3, graphic novels, 2012 – 16 Det kunde varit jag, graphic novel, 2015 The Strawberry-Children The word strawberries is suggestive of a Swedish idyll, and very cleverly Olausson begins her story precisely by describing the two children Maria and Gabriel’s house in words that evoke the charm of a cosy but slightly ramshackle little summer home. However, in this book the children live permanently in imperfection. Their dad has built the house from things he has found and the outside loo is used all year round. The book shows the house being continuously patched up and how money is earned by selling scrap metal somewhere in Eastern Europe. The strawberries are not growing at the back of their house but in a distant Sweden. ‘Strawberry-children’ are those kids left to come and go as they please when their parents leave to pick these berries. Maria dares to ask if their family is poor. We’re all right, her mum replies, but warns about the unexpected. One day her brother falls from the roof he is fixing and the medical bill becomes an expense that results in the two siblings also becoming ‘Strawberry-children’. Olausson provides a background to why people from Eastern Europe might find themselves in a richer European country. She doesn’t start with the obvious – what children in the west see first: the beggar by the shop or the strawberry seller on the square, but with the reason for them being there. She turns the adults into secondary characters and puts the children, who the readers identify with, front and centre. And the children are fascinating, depicted with a humorous tone that makes it easy to engage with their wishes and desires, not for money, time off during the summer or even for strawberries – but for their parents. Photo: Caroline Andersson