Lindenbaum, Pija 1955–

PERSONAL:

Born April 27, 1955, in Sundsvall, Sweden; daughter of Gosta Lindenbaum (a director) and Barbro Kalin Olsson (a teacher); married Mikael Nilsson (an artist), May 18, 1989; children: Alva. Education: Attended Konstfackskolan, 1975-79.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Sulitelmav. 13, 167 35 Bromma, Sweden. Office—Bjurholmsg. 3A, 116 38 Stockholm, Sweden.

CAREER:

Writer and illustrator.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Heffaklumpen Award, 1990, for Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies; New York Times Best Illustrated Books selection, 1992, for Boodil, My Dog; Illustrator of the Year Award, Bologna Children's Book Fair, 1993; Elsa Beskow Award, Swedish Library Association, 1993, for Louie.

WRITINGS:

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Elsi-Marie och småpapporna, translated by Gabrielle Charbonnet as Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies, Holt (New York, NY), 1991.

Boodil, My Dog, translated by Gabrielle Charbonnet, Holt (New York, NY), 1992.

Britten och Prins Benny, 1996.

Starke Arvid, Alfabeta (Stockholm, Sweden), 1997.

Glossas Café, 1998.

Gittan och gråvargarna, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2001, translated by Kjersti Board as Bridget and the Gray Wolves, R & S Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Gittan och fårskallarna, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2001, translated by Kjersti Board as Bridget and the Muttonheads, R & S Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Gittan och älgborsorna, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2003, translated by Kjersti Board as Bridget and the Moose Brothers, R & S Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Boken om Gittan (omnibus), Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2005.

När Åkes mama glömde bort, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2005, translated by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard as When Owen's Mom Breathed Fire, R & S Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Lill-Zlatan oc morboror raring, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2006, translated as Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle, R & S Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Kenta och barbisarna, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2007.

ILLUSTRATOR:

Barbro Lindgren, Louie, translated by Steven T. Murray, R & S Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Moni Nilsson-Brännström, Tsatsiki och Morsan, Natur och Kultur (Stockholm, Sweden), 1995.

Barbro Lindgren, Bra Börje, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 1995.

Annika Holm, Stick, sa Matilda Markström, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 1995.

Moni Nilsson-Brännström, Tsatsiki och Farsan, Natur och Kultur (Stockholm, Sweden), 1996.

Annika Holm, Den stora oredan, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 1997.

Moni Nilsson-Brännström, Bara Tsatsiki, Natur och Kultur (Stockholm, Sweden), 1998.

Astrid Lindgren, Mirabelle, translated by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2003.

Malin Bergman, Halli hallå, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 2005.

ADAPTATIONS:

Elsi-Marie och småpapporna was adapted into a play in Sweden.

SIDELIGHTS:

Swedish author and illustrator Pija Lindenbaum has received international recognition for her small but well-regarded body of work. Winner of an Illustrator of the Year award from the Bologna Children's Book Fair and the Elsa Beskow Award for best illustrated children's book published in Sweden, Lindenbaum caught the attention of reviewers with her first book, Elsi-Marie och småpapporna. As April Spisak noted in her appraisal of the author/illustrator for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books online: "Lindenbaum believes that her child audience can have an ironic sensibility and a sense of humor that can accommodate both the expected and the offbeat; her books reflect this belief, much to the delight of their audiences who see their concerns acknowledged and their imaginative worlds humorously embraced."

In each of Lindenbaum's self-illustrated picture books, which include the English-language translations Boodil, My Dog, Bridget and the Gray Wolves, and When Owen's Mom Breathed Fire, readers "will recognize the winning blend of sweetness and weirdness," remarked Deborah Stevenson in a review of Bridget and the Gray Wolves for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. Dubbed a "shrewd fable" by a Kirkus Reviews contributor, When Owen's Mom Breathed Fire is characteristic Lindenbaum: in the story, a boy's usually grouchy mom crosses the line one morning when she is transformed into a pink dragon and causes all sorts of problems due to her fiery breath and crocodile-like appearance. "Lindenbaum's watercolor-and-ink illustrations and use of playful angles and perspectives give the art a sprightly, kinetic energy," noted School Library Journal reviewer Marge Loch-Wouters, the critic adding that the young narrator's "resourcefulness" in the face of a parent's unusually bad day will engage young readers.

Released in English translation as Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies, Lindenbaum's picture-book debut uses the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a springboard for a tale that some have viewed as a parable about alternative family structures. Else-Marie has seven tiny little fathers who do all the things ordinary fathers do, including going to work, reading the paper, and putting Else-Marie to bed at night. Still, the girl dreads the day when her seven little daddies come to pick her up from her play group, because then all her friends with ordinary-sized, singular fathers will find out about her very different situation. Describing the book as an "offbeat treat," a Kirkus Reviews critic went on to call Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies "a whimsical Swedish import with a unique premise."

Lindenbaum's wry bending of traditional fairy tales is apparent in her more recent picture books, which include Bridget and the Gray Wolves, Bridget and the Muttonheads, and Bridget and the Moose Brothers. In Bridget and the Gray Wolves the author/illustrator draws loosely on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Here, young Bridget goes on a walk into the forest with her day-care group and gets lost. Suddenly, she is surrounded by a pack of gray wolves, but instead of inspiring terror, the wolves bring out the boss in Bridget, and she soon has the whole pack rounded up to play a game of hospital. She eventually puts them to bed and sings them to sleep, and in the morning, finds her way back to her day-care center. Although the author does not offer insight into how Bridget sheds her timidity, young readers "may well enjoy this unexpected turn on the theme of summoning one's courage," contended a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

Bossy Bridget returns in Bridget and the Muttonheads, in which the now-intrepid youngster wanders off from a hotel pool while on vacation with her parents and befriends some sheep that are stranded on a tiny island. Readers will enjoy another view of "Bridget's steadfast march to the beat of her own odd and quirky drummer," concluded GraceAnne A. DeCandido in Booklist. Echoing a familiar childhood dilemma, Bridget and the Moose Brothers follows the girl's efforts to oust a trio of ill-behaved moose after inviting the animals in to her home to play. Bridget fans "will be pleased to see her deal with this uproarious new challenge," concluded a Kirkus Reviews contributor of Bridget and the Moose Brothers, while Kathleen Kelly MacMillan noted that the author/illustrator's "color-washed cartoons capture the wacky tone of the story" and also reflect Bridget's emotional transition from appreciation to frustration.

Lindenbaum once commented: "When my first manuscript with illustrations, Else-Marie and Her Seven Daddies, was completed, wrapped in a parcel, and on its way to being published, I didn't realize that the book would be given such a reception, or that it would arouse such feeling in readers from different countries. I only thought that I had written a fairy tale, an unbelievable story to laugh at.

"But people wanted to know who the author was, and how I really felt. It was quite amusing to me that people talked more about me than about the book. During the Book Fair in Bologna that year, a German publisher asked my publisher for a copy of the book to take to her psychiatrist. Some people didn't think it was possible to publish it. But there were many who dared, and that has made me very happy and grateful." In Lindenbaum's native Sweden, Else-Marie and Her Seven Daddies has been awarded three literary prizes and, due to its popularity, has also been adapted for the stage.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of Bridget and the Gray Wolves, p. 740; August, 2002, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Bridget and the Muttonheads, p. 1973; May 15, 2003, Todd Morning, review of Mirabelle, p. 1672.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September, 2001, Deborah Stevenson, review of Bridget and the Gray Wolves, pp. 25-26; April, 2004, Deborah Stevenson, review of Bridget and the Moose Brothers, p. 335.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 1991, review of Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies; April 1, 2003, review of Mirabelle, p. 536; April 1, 2004, review of Bridget and the Moose Brothers, p. 332; September 1, 2006, review of When Owen's Mom Breathed Fire, p. 907.

Publishers Weekly, November 29, 1991, review of Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies, p. 51; November 9, 1992, review of Boodil, My Dog, p. 82; September 3, 2001, review of Bridget and the Gray Wolves, p. 87.

School Library Journal, March, 1992, Alexandra Marris, review of Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies, p. 216; November, 2001, Maryann H. Owen, review of Bridget and the Gray Wolves, p. 128; January, 2003, Heather E. Miller, review of Bridget and the Muttonheads, p. 105; August, 2003, Sally R. Dow, review of Mirabelle, p. 136; May, 2004, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of Bridget and the Moose Brothers, p. 118; September, 2006, Marge Loch-Wouters, review of When Owen's Mom Breathed Fire, p. 178.

ONLINE

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Online, http://www.bccb.lis.uiuc.edu/ (September 1, 2006), April Spisak, "Rising Star: Pija Lindenbaum."

Rabén & Sjögren Web site, http://www.panorstedt.se/templates/Raben/ (October 27, 2007), "Pija Lindenbaum."