Sunday 30 March 2014

Sailing to the South Seas with Pippi Longstocking

I always like to think that I'm a bit like Joanna Lumley: it was a childhood book about a little penguin who wanted to see the Northern Lights that made her long to visit Norway and see them for herself.
For me, it was reading Pippi Longstocking in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren one rainy day in the school library that made me wish I could sail south to those mysterious islands in the sun.
Of course, I took the book with me, and found the world of friendly people, white coral beaches, black pearls, and tropical rainstorms that I had longed for: the endless Pacific Ocean, tiny green islands surrounded by impossible blue coral reefs, hermit crabs in miniscule red-spotted shells and fish of all shapes and sizes.
All because of a book in the library on a rainy afternoon.
Have you ever been drawn to a place by a favourite childhood book?