Sonnenau
Sonnenau , also called The Red Bird ( Swedish Sunnanäng ) is a story by Astrid Lindgren .
action
The parents of the little siblings Anna and Mattias have passed away. That is why they live on the myra farmer's farm. The Myrabauer takes advantage of both of them. You have to work hard. They are not allowed to play! Therefore, they are already looking forward to the school that they will be able to attend from the winter. At school, they hope not to feel like two gray mice anymore. But no sooner has school started than they realize that nothing will change in school either. Just as Anna utters this statement on her way home, a red bird appears. The two children follow the bird. This leads you to a warm, beautiful country called Sonnenau. There are lots of children in this one who play with Anna and Mattias. There is also a mother there who is the mother of all children, also the mother of Mattias and Anna. The siblings have a lot of fun in the country but will soon be on their way home. They learn that once the gate to their home country is closed, it can never be opened again. Soon Anna and Mattias keep going to Sonnenau after school. They also go there on their last day of school. You close the gates and decide to stay there forever.
Publications
In 1959, Sonnenau was first published in the Swedish book Sunnanäng (German edition: Klingt Meine Linde ) with several short stories. This book illustrated Ilon Wikland . The book was later published in Sweden as a single picture book, illustrated by Marit Törnqvist . In Germany, the picture book was first published in 2003 by Oetinger Verlag. In 1992 the story was published on cassette by Deutsche Grammophon . The narrator is Manfred Steffen .
interpretation
Astrid Lindgren once wrote: “Surely an adult reader, including myself, will [...] believe that Mattias and Anna will fall victim to the winter cold before they reach their Sonnenau. But all children - including the child in me - know that this is not the case. [...] Mattias and Anna smilingly close the gate that separates the cold and darkness of the winter forest from the sun of eternal spring. ”With this, Lindgren names two possible interpretations, that of adults and children, and at the same time she speaks of the beliefs of adult readers and the knowledge of child readers. Susanne Gascke von der Zeit interprets it to mean that adults “have this illusion of - or the justified hope of? - Redemption ”should not destroy. On the other hand, as “disillusioned and hopeless”, they could learn from their children again how they can believe that there is a happy ending for the children.
Exhibitions, projects and workshops
The book Sonnenau was used for projects in different countries.
The copyright of the book in Iran was given to the Koodaki Institute for Research into the History of Children's Literature by Marit Törnqvist and Astrid Lindgren's family. The institute uses the book for the Read with Me project in areas of Iran where children have less access to education. In the Read with Me project , for example, siblings are encouraged to read stories to each other or children are instructed to share their books with other children. The aim is to help them learn important skills that they need for school.
Illustrator Marit Törnqvist used the book in workshops for various children's groups in Isfahan and Tehran . These were designed to teach disadvantaged children how to read.
In Sweden, the book, in the Arabic version, was given away to 30,000 refugee children. The project was initiated by Saltkråkan AB , Astrid Lindgren's family company, and the children's book publisher Rabén & Sjögren . It was created in cooperation with the migration agency and Save the Children . The initiative for the project came from Marit Törnqvist. She visited an asylum accommodation complex and brought a copy of the book translated into Arabic. The reactions of adults and children were immediately noticeable - they turned the pages, read, interpreted and laughed. She felt that the book should be given to all Arabic-speaking children in their own language as a welcome gift. She hope that Sweden will also become a kind of Sonnenau for the children.
In Marburg , the book was used by Astrid Lindgren for the event German and Arab children read a fairy tale , in which, among other things, contact between German and Arab children was encouraged.
Törnqvist's illustrations for the book have been exhibited in various museums and libraries. These included the New York Public Library , the Canoon Cultural Center in Iran, the Swedish Museum Näktergalen, the Bibliotheek Rotterdam, the CODA Museum in Apeldoorn, the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam and the City Hall in Aalsmeer.
reception
Sonnenau is the namesake of several German institutions, such as family centers, kindergartens and hospices.
Sonnenau received mostly positive reviews, although critics disagree on the interpretation of the ending. There is also no unanimous opinion about the age at which children should read the stories. For example, Kirikus Reviews recommends the book for children aged eight to ten and Ikvindlezenleuk.nl from six years old, while Kinderbuchlesen.de recommends it for children aged four to six.
Axel Schmitt thinks that Sonnenau is "a very sad story, which is one of the best fairy tales from Astrid Lindgren's pen" and that the "enchanting illustrations by Marit Törnqvist" are the "congenial implementation". He says: “Like the sun, shadow also belongs to life, and to laughing there is also unbearable suffering; Astrid Lindgren tells exactly that so simply and poignantly that it becomes understandable for children and they can learn that imagination makes some bad times more bearable. "
Swantje Thiele thinks that Sonnenau is "written in a typical fairytale, pictorial language". The "motive of death" is treated "in a subtle way, since the events basically allow different interpretations". In addition, death in the fairy tale is “connected with hope and wonder at the same time.” The fairy tale makes it clear that “imagination can help people in difficult times”. The fairy tale is worth reading for both children and adults. It encourages further thinking.
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books praises Törnqvist's illustrations: “Oil illustrations in cold and gray earth tones underline the dryness of the children's lives with the farmer and form a vivid contrast to the light-flooded paintings by Sonnenau, which are soaked in green and gold and by Scarlet be touched. "
literature
- Sten Wistrand: Astrid Lindgren's “mest problematiska bok”. Ontologi, genre och Funktion i Sunnanäng , article from a Swedish literary magazine with a detailed interpretation of the story, published by the University of Uppsala
- Asplund Ingemark, Camilla: The Chronotope of the Legend in Astrid Lindgren's Sunnanäng. In: Genre - Text - Interpretation: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Folklore and Beyond , edited by Kaarina Koski, Ulla Savolainen. BoD - Books on Demand, 2019. pp. 232 - 250, ISBN 9789522227386 limited preview in the Google book search
- Ying Toijer-Nilsson: Sunnanäng Törnqvist's pictures bäst i det grå , Swedish-language review in Svenska Dagbladet
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sunnanäng .
- ↑ Sonnenau .
- ^ Astrid Lindgren (Deutsche Grammophon) .
- ↑ Astrid Lindgren: The woman who always remained a child. .
- ↑ Workshops with children in Tehran and Isfahan by Marit Törnqvist .
- ↑ 30,000 books by Astrid Lindgren and Gunilla Bergström on refugee children in Sweden .
- ↑ Sonnenau - The Red Bird - German and Arab children read a fairy tale by Astrid Lindgren .
- ↑ Marit Törnqvist heeft deelgenomen aan various tentoonstellingen in binnen en buitenland. Here a selectie. .
- ↑ 300 visitors celebrated Sonnenau .
- ↑ Why actually Sonnenau? - Ev. Family center Sonnenau in Erndtebrück .
- ↑ Haus Sonnenau - the sun rises here every day .
- ↑ In the "Sonnenau" the craftsmen cavort .
- ↑ THE RED BIRD by Astrid Lindgren, Marit Törnqvist, Patricia Crampton. Kirkus Reviews .
- ^ Astrid Lindgren - De rode vogel (2e recensie). .
- ↑ Astrid Lindgren - Soft words full of comfort and strength. .
- ↑ The little gate of paradise. Astrid Lindgren's "Sonnenau" with the outstanding illustrations by Marit Törnqvist .
- ^ Lindgren, Astrid: Sonnenau .
- ^ The Red Bird .