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Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson
(Moomin: book 1)
Tove Jansson
(UK: Drawn and Quarterly, @DandQ, 2006; USA: Drawn and Quarterly, @DandQ, 2006)

This collection showcases the enchanting comic strip that introduced adult readers to the wonderful world of Moomin. Tove Jansson is revered around the world as one of the foremost children’s authors of the 20th century for her illustrated chapter books regarding the magical worlds of her creation, the Moomins.

The Moomins saw life in many forms, but debuted to its biggest audience ever on the pages of the world’s largest newspaper, the London Evening News, in 1954. The strip was syndicated in newspapers around the world with millions of readers in forty countries. This book is the first volume of five to reprint the entire strip drawn by Jansson before she handed over the reins to her brother Lars in 1960.

The Moomins are a tight-knit family of hippo-shaped creatures with easygoing and adventurous outlooks. Jansson’s art is pared down and precise, yet able to compose beautiful portraits of ambling creatures in fields of flowers or on rock-strewn beaches that recall Jansson’s Nordic roots.

The comic strip reached out to adults with its gentle and droll sense of humour. Whimsical but with biting undertones, Jansson’s observations of everyday life, including guests who overstay their welcome, modern art, movie stars and high society, easily caught the attention of an international audience and still resonate today.

UK: My Local Bookshop (independents) | Amazon | Blackwells | Foyles | Hive | Waterstones | WHSmith
USA: NewPages (independents) | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Hummingbird (ebooks and audiobooks)
Canada: FindaBookstore.ca (independents) | Amazon | Indigo
India: Bookstores in India (independents) | Amazon | Flipkart | Goodreads | SapnaOnline
Ireland: Bookshop Search (independents) | Amazon | Eason | Kennys
Australia: Bookshops.com.au (independents) | Amazon | Angus & Robertson | Booktopia | Dymocks
New Zealand: Find a Bookshop (independents) | Amazon | Dymocks | Whitcoulls
South Africa: Bookshops (independents) | Amazon | Exclusive Books
Rest of the world: Book Depository | Wordery

Recommended by:
Jarvis Cocker

Jarvis