I LOVE THE MOOMINS!

 

Well, I finally read one the Moomin books in its entirety! 

My history with the Moomins has been interesting up until this point: I remember in elementary school one of my teachers read one of the chapters of one the books out loud to us (can't remember which chapter and what book 🤷), then I didn't encounter them again until years later when I unexpectedly came across some clips of the anime adaptation on YouTube, and then saw some candy of it at an Asian food store and bought it (pictured above next to the book--yes I kept the tin after eating all the candy!). I also found out there is a theme park of it in Finland, which is where the franchise is originally from (Finland is the author's native country). I finally got around to reading one of the books just now! 

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson follows the Moomins and their friends in a series of loosely connected chapters over the course of one year. Each chapter is it's own story, but they all have one thing in common: they involve a magical hat that belongs to the Hobgoblin that the characters find in the first chapter. When someone puts something into the hat, it turns into something else. For example, when they put water in the hat, the hat will turns raspberry juice. The hat is both a source of whimsy and trouble for the Moomins and their friends. 

This was just such a sweet and cute book! Snufkin is one of my favorite characters. And also Thingumy and Bob. And Snork Maiden.

The Moomin franchise also happens to have a huge LGBT fanbase. A lot of people like to ship Snufkin and Moomin due to a lot of the interactions they have, and the character of Hemulen is male and wears a dress and his gender noncomformity is portrayed very positively in the story. Creator Tove Jansson herself was also bisexual. 

I am going to find the rest of the books and watch the animated adaptations soon! 

I did give it 4.5 stars though just because of some slightly outdated language on a few pages (like on one page when it is described the characters were crawling like Indians) and some old fashioned methods of punishment (very few and but very brief, luckily there is no violence at all). Other than that, it was such a whimsical and heartwarming book I highly recommend.

Do you like any fictional characters originally from Europe?