Mio
Nine-year-old Bo Vilhelm Olsson, ‘Bosse’, lives on Upplandsgatan in Stockholm with his foster parents Aunt Edla and Uncle Sixten. They think he’s difficult and a nuisance. Bosse wishes he had a father just like his friend Benka’s, who builds model airplanes with him. Bosse’s real mother died when he was born and his foster mother believes that his father was probably just a good-for-nothing.
Through Miss Lundin at the fruit-sellers, a magical golden apple, and a genie in an empty bottle, Bosse travels to the Island of Green Meadows and the Land of Faraway. Down by the seashore Bosse discovers his father the King, who has been looking for him for nine years. It turns out his name isn’t Bosse after all - but Mio.
From the Island of Green Meadows there’s a bridge leading to the Land that Lies Beyond where the cruel Sir Kato the Knight resides, where almost everything is black, and where the people are starved and miserable. Mio and his friend Jum-Jum accept the mission to fight against Kato and liberate the Land that Lies Beyond.
A magnificent and beautiful adventure tale about abandonment, about being little and having to shoulder great responsibility, about parenthood, good and evil, and about the power of love.
The story behind Mio, My Son
Astrid Lindgren passed through Tegnérlunden park in Stockholm every day on the way from her home on Dalagatan to her work at Rabén & Sjögren publishers. One evening she noticed a little boy sitting all by himself on a bench in the park.
Astrid recounted how the story came about in a radio interview:
“Mio, My Son, well that was really just a short story that I wrote, and I’m not sure exactly how I came to think of it, it begins of course in Tegnérlunden. I was walking through Tegnérlunden when I saw a little boy on a bench, and so I started thinking, well, perhaps he lives in that building over there. And then I started thinking a bit about that, and the fact that he was sitting there. And how a genie in a bottle appeared and how they flew away to the Land of Faraway. But I didn’t set out to write about it any more than that. The story was published in a newspaper at the time. Then, several years later, I began wondering how he was doing over there. If he had someone to play with now that he didn’t have Benka, whom he’d left behind back home on Tegnérgatan.”
FILMS
Mio in the Land of Faraway
A fantasy film about the lonely boy who is transferred from his dull life with his adoptive parents to the land where his real father is the king. Starring Christopher Lee and Christian Bale, among others.
About the film
BOOKS
Mio's Kingdom
Astrid Lindgren recounted how she got the idea for the book when she walked through the Tegnérlunden park in Stockholm and saw a boy sitting alone on a bench. It was a dark autumn evening and he looked so lonely and sad.
About the book
New edition of Mio, My Son receives praise
Mio, My Son (also known as Mio's Kingdom) is one of Astrid Lindgren’s most beloved stories. A new Swedish edition has now been given fresh illustrations by Johan Egerkrans which are both highly evocative and wonderfully captivating. Johan Egerkrans (born 1978) had his big breakthrough with the epic Vaesen: spirits and monsters of Scandinavian folklore, and three years later also published Norse Gods. Since then Egerkrans has written and illustrated several books about dinosaurs and monsters. His work has been translated into ten different languages.
“Egerkrans works with colour and depth, and the few images that are bright are the ones I like the best. They are monumental, in a brilliantly grand, almost utopian style /…/.
Expressen
“Johan Egerkrans’ colour illustrations capture the fairytale mood and reinforce in powerful illustrations the contrasts between the heroes' smallness and the strong power of evil. In addition to a very attractive cover, the book contains 22 full-page illustrations and several smaller ones. The artwork is varied and expressive, bright or uncannily exciting. Astrid Lindgren's lyrical fairytale language captivates and makes Mio, My Son a wonderful book to read or read aloud. The new illustrations make a significant contribution to the reading adventure."
Swedish Library Service, BTJ
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