New Swedish Books, Autumn 2017 1
New Swedish Books 42 Jonna Björnstjerna (b. 1983)
The Tale of the Wonderful Rabbit Family and Mr Grumpy Publisher Bonnier Carlsen www.bonniercarlsen.se Rights Bonnier Rights mathilde.coffy@bonnierrights.se Selected Works Fru Skräck 2009 Picture book Godistrollet 2010 Picture book Djupsjöns hemlighet 2016 Picture book The Tale of the Wonderful Rabbit Family and Mr Grumpy Jonna Björnstjerna’s humorous horror stories for picture book readers can’t be compared to anything else published in Sweden. She’s the master of giving it all and then some! Nowhere else but in Björnstjerna’s picture book universe is the wondrous part of the fairytale forest so fantastically wondrous, and the horrendous part of the forest so dreadfully horrendous. In this story the timid little brother Rabbit and his younger sister are not only confronted by Mr Grumpy, a fearsome troll, but also a terrifying cauldron into which rabbits are thrown to become troll stew. It’s really scary! But the tension is always undercut with humour, and after four previous books about the terrific Rabbit family, the reader can be (more or less) sure of a happy ending. It’s in the richly detailed images that you find much of the power and humour of The Tale of the Wonderful Rabbit Family and Mr Grumpy, just as in the previous books. Each reading reveals another layer. And those taking their time to stop and consider all the horrendous and wondrous things that populate Björnstjerna’s fairytale forest will discover tiny stories within the story. Photo: Stefan Tell