Emil doesn’t mean any harm really – he just happens to eat fermented cherries and gets drunk together with the rooster and the pig. And afterwards, when he’s about to repent and become a Good Templar, he accidentally sets fire to the vicar’s wife with his magnifying glass … but Emil is a nice boy, deep down, and when he is sitting there in the woodshed having carved his one-hundred-and-thirtieth little wooden figure, he prays earnestly: “Dear God, please make me stop doing mischief. Kind regards, Emil Svensson, Katthult, Lönneberga.”The third book about Emil i Lönneberga, one of the most beloved of all of Astrid Lindgren’s characters, and the one she liked best. The stories of Emil are based on her own father Samuel August and everything he told her about his childhood in Småland during the end of the 19th century.In 2020, the books have been newly illustrated by Mini Grey and published by Oxford University Press in the UK. Previous editions were illustrated by Tony Ross.Translator: Michael Heron