Now he doesn’t drive like a tough guy at racing speed. Now he has to creep along like a snail while Hattie looks right and left for Snoopy’s shorts.
Mama takes off her sunglasses. She doesn’t look at all chic any more. She just looks bored.
Papa sighs. “Can you see them?” he asks.
“No! Don’t drive so fast!” Hattie shrieks back.
The whole day they putter along in the rugged rental jeep looking for Snoopy’s shorts. Except Papa calls them Snoopy’s “underpants.” Hattie feels offended. Snoopy does too. Papa suggests Snoopy could borrow Mama’s bikini bottoms instead of his lost shorts. Mama is offended.
They never find the shorts. Night comes and the jeep has to go back to the rental company. They don’t rent another car on the holiday. They go to the beach instead and Papa sits under the umbrella and pants in the heat. The map of Rhodes’ dangerous rocky terrain is left rolled up in the hotel room.
A NEW YEAR
When they get back to Sweden, Papa races up to his room. He writes a funny article for the newspaper about how crazy it was when Hattie made them spend a whole day on Rhodes looking for underpants. Hattie thinks she’ll die and has to go secretly to her room and say a prayer: “Dear God, please let no one at school read the newspaper.”
But God has more important things to think about than Hattie. When school begins the whole class thinks it’s hilarious that she’s so interested in underpants. Underpants fanatic!
Now the apples are hanging off the tree in the school yard. There are pears too. Everyone eats them and gets a sore stomach. Hattie included.
The teacher seems to be well again. “Welcome,” he says, “to a new year at Hardemo.”
Then they have to write about what they’ve done in the summer. Hattie writes so much her pen is on fire. She skips over the bit about the underpants, but it still ends up being several pages long.
The teacher smiles as she reads it aloud up at the blackboard.
“Clever,” he says. “Rich in content.”
Linda hasn’t been anywhere, Hattie knows. But when it’s time for her to read aloud, she scampers up to the blackboard and squints at Hattie with glittering eyes.
Then she reads two pages about how she’s been to Africa chasing elephants this summer. Hattie laughs so hard she thinks her head will fall off. And suddenly the teacher looks a little, just a little bit, tired again.
It’s the first day of school. Just like one year ago. Except not really. Everything is actually completely different.
HELLO FRIDA NILSSON
Describe yourself in three words.
Funny, stubborn, brown-haired.
Best animal, food, book?
Basset hound, fresh crayfish, Pelle Holm’s Bevingade Ord (a book of classic quotes).
Describe a really good day.
I write half a chapter I’m really pleased with, sit for a while on the steps, cook, drink a little wine.
What makes you happy?
The woods.
What makes you sad?
Stories about people and animals in the world who are mistreated.
Why do you write books?
To think about something else for a while, and to find out if it has a happy ending.
How do you get ideas for your books? Sources of inspiration?
When my mother and father talk about how things were in the past.
Describe a typical writing day.
I start early before breakfast, drink five cups of coffee up to lunch, then I finish at two or three.
What is the most fun thing about writing books?
When you think of something that makes the story much better.
And the hardest?
When you write a paragraph five times without it turning out the way it should.
Which character from one of your own books would you choose to take with you on a long journey?
Probably Siri from The Ice Sea Pirates—she is used to travelling and can handle most things.
Photo © Ellinor Collin
This edition first published in 2020 by Gecko Press
PO Box 9335, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
[email protected]
English-language edition © Gecko Press Ltd 2020
Translation © Julia Marshall 2020
Original title: Hedvig!
Text © Frida Nilsson and Natur & Kultur, Stockholm 2005
Illustrations © Stina Wirsén and Natur & Kultur, Sotckholm 2005
English edition published in agreement with Koja Agency
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted or utilized in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Distributed in the United States and Canada by Lerner Publishing Group
lernerbooks.com
Distributed in the United Kingdom by Bounce Sales and Marketing
bouncemarketing.co.uk
Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Walker Books Australia
walkerbooks.com.au
The cost of this translation was defrayed by a subsidy from the Swedish Arts Council, gratefully acknowledged.
Edited by Penelope Todd
Design and typesetting by Vida & Luke Kelly
Printed in China by Everbest Printing Co. Ltd,
an accredited ISO 14001 & FSC-certified printer
ISBN hardback: 978-1-776572-70-0 (USA)
ISBN paperback: 978-1-776572-71-7
Ebook ISBNs: 978-1-776572-72-4 (epub); 978-1-776573-03-5 (mobi); 978-1-776573-04-2 (pdf); 978-1-776573-05-9 (S & L pdf)
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