Comet in Moominland

[Note: Rating increased from 3 to 4 stars after reading the first moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood.]Moomintroll’s quiet life is upended when foreboding images of a star with a tail send him journeying to speak with the Professors at the Observatory. Meeting new friends along the way and forging through perilous adventures together, Moomintroll and his companions arrive at the Observatory where they learn a comet is headed towards earth. Worse yet – the comet is predicted to land [...]

This review has been revised and can now be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

As I've said many times on this site, I dislike translations on principle - but I am trying to do something about my miserable German, and when I saw this book at Foyles last week it immediately seemed like a good idea. I know the Swedish original well, and I figured that it should be easy to read and would improve my sketchy vocabulary. That worked out even better than I had hoped, and I already feel measurably more confident. What surprised me, though, was that for once I experienced the trans [...]

How can it be that, unlike in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, the Moomin sagas never caught on in the United States? Finnish author Tove Jansson's tales of the white, hippo-like Moomintroll and his parents, Moominmamma and Moominpappa, would delight children and parents alike, the latter probably enjoying them even more, as adults can get the sly humor. I simply don't understand how Moominmania could possibly have bypassed the United States when it swept through Europe?Comet in Moomin [...]

A beautiful, ironic parody of the Armageddon-style killer meteorite movie, written before any of them existed. There are so many brilliant little details. I particularly loved the out-of-touch astronomers at the observatory, who have calculated exactly when the comet will strike ("possibly four seconds later," they add scrupulously), but seem completely uninterested by the fact that it will wipe out everyone in Moomin Valley. In case you're worried, though, the Moomin family is more than a match [...]

Najlepsze, co można czytać, kiedy człowiek umiera od sesji! Muminki mnie zaskakują: może odzwyczaiłem się od bajek i dziwi mnie to niemalże "prorocze" poszerzanie drużyny mieszkającej w dolinie? może nie spodziewałem się znaleźć tak dużo smaczków dla starszych czytelników? może nadinterpretuje pewne wzorce osobowe, czy zachowania bohaterów dostrzegając w nich konkretne syndromy psychologiczne? Mimo powyższego moje zdanie o najbardziej znanej serii Tove Jansson wyklaruje si� [...]

Moomin and Sniff explore a path which leads to the beach, they play, look at nature and find a cave, but they feel uneasy as they start to notice patterns carved into trees and objects, even seagulls arranged into the shape of a star with a tail. Moomin and Sniff set off on a journey to the observatory to find out what is happening.We really enjoyed the details in this story, and the ideas. Before reading this for the first time as a child I had never thought what the ocean floor would look like [...]

Just revisited this book for the first time in a long while by reading it aloud to my 6 year-old. Two main thoughts:1. I love Tove Jansson. She always writes with a slightly off-beat charm (one of my favorite bits in this book is the title of the butterfly collecting Hemulin's book,Moths of the Eastern Hemisphere: their Behavior and Misbehavior) and her stories tend to swing uneasily between the surreal (Hattifatteners, anyone?) and the comforting (coffee and cake), a style which I found somewha [...]

Like so many Finnish children of a certain generation, I grew up watching the Moomins tv-series (there are still reruns every once in a while, and the magic has never faded) and visited Moomin World. Now, to honor Tove Jansson's centenary, I started a project of reading all her Moomin books. Maybe the rest of her body of work as well, if I have the time or enthusiasm.I read The Moomins and the Great Flood a while back, so I started from this one, which got things going on a larger scale. When th [...]

The Moomins, a family of trolls, have appeared in my life in various ways; I vaguely remember having read (or having been read) one of the novels as a young child - as an older child I remember the animated series on television. I happened across it by accident and spent much time in enjoyable confusion about the names and natures of the seemingly infinite cast of characters. This year I decided I wanted to find out more than my hazy memories could tell me and in the process stumbled across the [...]

Tove Jansson is a genius! Her humor is always understated and overdone -- a unique absurdist matter of fact emotionally evasive and, of course, refreshingly direct, marshmallowy slapstick. "I can't leave my imperial snorks to the comet!" I so love the ghost in this one, and the dance, the heroic tree-climbing incident, and the moving of things to "safer places." The disappearing ocean, the pisciculturist, his screaming shrimp, and the fantastic finale. Jansson makes terrible fun of dramatic tens [...]

The Moomin books are always deceptively simple. I love how Jansson balances the matter-of-fact and the bizarre, and always constructs her stories with her characters front and centre, with all their flaws and quirks and earnest humanity. I always feel like I've learned some big things after reading these. I was especially interested in checking this one out as I hadn't read it before, and it's the first appearance of Snufkin, who is in a lot of ways my favourite character.

It's been a long time since I've visited the land of the Moomintrolls, and it truly has not dulled with age. Just as beautiful, interesting and odd as I remember!

Muminki są GE-NIAL-NE! A scena w sklepie to po prostu mistrzostwo świata <3 płakałem ze śmiechu z pięć minut :D

I received the first four newly released Special Edition Moomin books for Christmas and firstly I need to comment on how beautiful they are! The covers, illustrations and extra details are just beautiful and a great quality!Comet in Moominland was a very fun, adventurous read which introduced all of the main characters! I loved the whimsical nature of the book, in that even with a Comet looming overhead, the Moomintroll and friends still find time to battle a crocodile, walk on stilts over the s [...]

Ensimmäinen itse lukemani muumikirja! Olin toki kuullut sen lapsena, äiti luki meille melkein ne kaikki. ♥ Jännimmät kohdat muistin sieltä yli kolmen vuosikymmenen takaa.

Jak už jsem zmiňoval ve své recenziTatínek a moře, byla mi v dětství většina muminích příběhů upřena. Tedy i ten nejzásadnější, jak se všechny stěžejní postavy potkaly.Na Muminí údolí se řítí apokalyptická pohroma a Muminek se se svým kamarádem Čenichem vydávají na výpravu do hvězdárny v Opuštěných horách, aby o tom zjistili něco konkrétního. (Je s podivem, s jakou lehkostí je muminkova maminka vypraví na cestu.) Muminek cestou poprvé potkává sv� [...]

Well, well, well. A while back, I was originally wary about starting this book because I thought the idea was weird for a children's book. (A comet about to destroy the world.) Comets destroying the world are on my top ten "Scary" list.Anyway, after months of forgetting about this book and then remembering it, I don't know what made me start it after surving a huge earthquake in real life. (Not very smart of me.) I think that somehow (despite the title) I forgot it was about a comet hurtling tow [...]

A fantastical, whimsical, comical, almost tragical adventure in which Moomintroll is involved in a child's-eye-view of the impending apocalypse. Along the way, he meets strange characters, some of whom will become beloved friends of both the Moomins and the reader (Snufkin, I'm talking about you!).It's no spoiler - there's another seven books in the series - to say that everything turns out OK. The enjoyment is in the journey and the heroic and cowardly antics of the Moomins and friends and, for [...]

These books are big classics here in Finland, but it had been ages since I'd last read them, so I felt like picking them up again. I'd half forgotten what a charming, unique fantasy world Tove Jansson creates here, with her lovely characters and her use of language (though I read these in Finnish translation from the original Swedish). Somehow books like this comfort me and make me believe that life will be all right. At the same time the books subtly say a lot of things about life and people, w [...]

Unha riquiñura de libro, mais a Tove Jansson xa podía ter rebaixado o machismo porque mimadriña

#beatthebacklist

Muumipeikko ja pyrstötähti ei oo koskaan ollu mun lempparein tarina, mutta jotenkin tällä lukukerralla tarina aukesi aivan eri tavalla!

Hooray, my library seems to be getting in the new editions of the Moomin books! So you can expect more reviews of them from me by and by.Comet in Moominland was the first full-length Moomin novel, published nearly 65 years ago. (The very first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood came out in 1945, so the Moomins celebrate their 65th anniversary this year.) The Moomin books in general are self-contained enough that the reader can start with any one of them, however, Comet in Moominland in [...]

I have heard of the Moomins because I keep running across them on blogs. People love the Moomins. It turns out the stories were written in the 40s and 50s by a Finnish author. I discovered a Moomin memorabilia display and a handful of her books for sale at a store in the Twin Cities and I decided I needed to explore. After all, one of my favorite authors is Astrid Lindgren and she was Swedish it turns out that Lindgren and Jansson have something in common. They both have a remarkable wit and won [...]

Second reading of this one, and I still don't love it. Looking back at my comments from 2011 (from a different edition, and GR won't let me combine them), I see "cute but not compelling." This time, perhaps because I've read the whole series now, even the "cute" has worn off. I can see the "social commentary" that people mention, but it has no depth, and I don't like any of the characters except the philosophical muskrat, who is an Eeyore figure, and the Moomin parents, who are only bit players [...]

Descobrir a literatura infanto-juvenil com olhar de pessoa adulta é algo que deveríamos experimentar frequentemente, quanto mais não seja para, de vez em quando, voltarmos a encontrar aquele pequeno ser dentro de nós que sonha acordado e ainda acredita em magia. ‘O Cometa na Terra dos Mumins’ teve esse efeito em mim - de uma prenda de Natal adorável, transformou-se numa verdadeira viagem por histórias e emoções inesquecíveis.emleiturasmarginais/

Well, strike me pink, that was a rollicking delight of fun and charming oddness! (Especially reading it aloud with British accents, because it did seem to call for it, despite the fact it's originally Swedish.)I believe it's quite possible that I'm now thoroughly addicted to the world of the Moomins, and look forward to diving into the next few I have lined up!

A delightful book for children! I'd heard of the moomins, but not read any of the books, and now I can't wait to read the rest! So darling and funny, and the illustrations were charming. And the whole thing was just so darn SCANDINAVIAN, I cannot resist!

Sympaattinen pikku tarina maailmanlopusta. Hahmoille rakennetaan pienessä tilassa toimiva persoonallisuus (vaikka jotkut jäävät vielä taka-alalle), maailma erikoisine paikkoineen ja olentoineen on varsin kiehtova, ja huumori toimii aikuislukijallekin.