Mio, My Son

Mio, My Son

File:MioMinMio.jpg First edition
Author	Astrid Lindgren
Original title	Mio, min Mio
Illustrator	Ilon Wikland
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish
Genre	Children's literature Fantasy
Publisher	Rabén & Sjögren
Publication date	1954
Awards	Deutschen Jugendbuchpreis of 1956

This article is about the novel. For other uses, see Mio min Mio (disambiguation).

Mio, My Son is a children's book by Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. It was first published in 1954 in Sweden, with the Swedish title Mio, min Mio. The writing is stylised and the story strongly reminiscent of traditional fairy tales and folklore. It received a German Youth Literature Prize (Deutschen Jugendbuchpreis) in 1956. The book is 258 pages long.

Plot

Mio, My Son starts by introducing Bo Vilhelm Olsson ("Bosse"), a young boy who has been adopted by an elderly couple who dislike boys. They harass him, and tell him to stay out of their way. One day he receives an apple from the kindly shopkeeper, Mrs. Lundin, who asks him to mail a postcard for her. He mails the postcard, but not before he has thrown a glance at it. It is addressed to a king, and it says that his son will soon be coming home, recognized by his possession of a golden apple. Bosse looks at his apple and suddenly it turns into gold.

Soon after, Bosse finds a bottle with a genie trapped inside. Upon freeing it, the genie recognises the apple and takes Bosse to another world, far, far away.

Upon arriving, Bosse is told that his real name is Mio, and that he is son of the king and thus prince of the land. He finds a new best friend, Jum-Jum, and receives the horse Miramis from his father. However, he soon learns that not everything in this world is as wonderful as it first seemed. In the lands beyond that of the king lives an evil knight named Kato, whose hatred is so strong that the land around his castle is barren and singed. He has kidnapped several children from the nearby villages, and he poses a constant threat to the people living there.

Mio is told that his destiny is to fight Kato, even though he is only a child. Together with Jum-Jum and Miramis, Mio sets out on a perilous journey into the land of Kato, as the stories have foreseen for thousands and thousands of years.

In the American version, Mio is first called Karl Anders Nilsson, nicknamed Andy, and Jum-Jum's name is Pompoo.

Themes

Central themes in the story focus on friendship granting strength to endure hardships, that it is sometimes necessary to leave a safe situation and put oneself at risk for a greater cause, and that evil often coincides with unhappiness.

Literary significance and reception

Mio, My Son is Lindgren's first high fantasy novel. Her subsequent contributions to this genre include The Brothers Lionheart (1973) and Ronia the Robber's Daughter (1981).

Film version

Main article: Mio min Mio (film)

In 1987, the book was adapted for film as Mio in the Land of Faraway. Filmed in English and dubbed in Swedish and Russian, the film starred Nicholas Pickard as Mio, Christian Bale as Jum-Jum, Christopher Lee as Kato, and Timothy Bottoms as the King.

See also

• Tegnérlunden