Now the German language version of Astrid Lindgren's 1962 Lotta på Bråkmakargatan (titled Lotta zieht um, which could be translated into English as Lotta Moves Out or as Lotta Leaves Home) was and remains one of my absolute favourite childhood reading memories from when I was about eight years old (and would likely, if I were rereading, still be a four and perhaps even a five star read, and yes indeed, it actually has been, as I did in fact quickly peruse Lotta zieht um early this morning and was as charmed now as I had been then, as I had been as a young reader, that I still totally adore the story, Lotta's stuffed pig, the doll Tante Berg lets Lotta play with, even Lotta's naughtiness and temper tantrums). And furthermore and most essentially, importantly, Lotta zieht um was also the very first Astrid Lindgren story I read entirely on my own without having either my mother or my grandmothers read to me (and thus, I have always had a most precious sense of nostalgia with regard to in particular Lotta zieht um, as it not only was a sweetly entertaining and fun reading journey for eight year old me, it also showed both my mother and me that I was indeed now more than ready to approach and tackle Astrid Lindgren on my own from thence on, and come Christmas, I received a huge stack of delightful Astrid Lindgren novels, including ALL of the Emil, the Noisy Village and the Madicken books).
However and frustratingly, this here 2001 British translation (penned by Tom Geddes, with accompanying illustrations by Tony Ross) really has been quite massively and personally disappointing. For one, even the title of this translation, Lotta Makes a Mess! really and truly does not seem to work all that well with the story at hand. As while five year old Lotta indeed misbehaves and makes a bit of a mess when she uses scissors to destroy her woollen jumper, her woollen sweater, and then tosses it into the garbage can in order to cover up her deed, the main storyline presented in Lotta Makes a Mess! is in no way about Lotta being messy or slovenly, but simply an account of how young Lotta has a very bad and moody morning and then poutingly decides to move in with her neighbour Mrs Berg because she both feels ashamed that she cut up her sweater, and well, she also believes that she no longer likes living at the Nymans', with her family (and how both the neighbour and Lotta's parents, how her entire family, including her siblings, play along, how they do not overreact or discipline Lotta heavy-handedly, but that they cater to Lotta's whims for a while and let her have her temper tantrums and such, knowing full well that after a while, come nighttime, Lotta will be both ready and willing to come home from Mrs. Berg's attic and to also apologise for being in a foul mood all day and destroying her woollen jumper).
And for two, it does most definitely narrationally and textually bother me more than a bit that Lotta's siblings (who are called Jonas and Mia-Maria in Lotta zieht um and I believe also in the Swedish original) have been rendered by Tom Geddes into Joe and Mary-Lou in Lotta Makes a Mess!, as this makes the entire story really not appear all that delightfully Swedish (and European) anymore but to me and for me, rather American in scope and feel. And therefore, while I still do believe that thematically and content wise, Tom Geddes has I guess sufficiently enough captured the feel and the scenarios of Astrid Lindgren's original and her intentions, textually, how he has titled the book and especially with regard to some of the word choices used (including having Lotta move into Mrs. Berg's junk loft instead of calling it an attic), he has definitely more than missed the proverbial boat for me personally.
Thus only a low two star rating for this particular translation, for Lotta Makes a Mess! (and please do note that my two star ranking is indeed ONLY for Lotta Makes a Mess!, is ONLY for Tom Geddes' inadequate translation, for his English language rendition of Astrid Lindgren's original Swedish text), as aside from my frustrations with the book title, vocabulary choices and how the names of Lotta's siblings appear as too American sounding for and to me, I also in NO WAY find Tony Ross' accompanying illustrations to my aesthetic tastes, with especially Lotta certainly not appearing as delightfully and as evocatively authentic as she does in Ilon Wikland's images (and I also really do not understand why Ilon Wikland's accompanying pictures of Astrid Lindgren's original Lotta på Bråkmakargatan could not have been used in and for Lotta Makes a Mess!, as they are in my opinion as integral to Astrid Lindgren's oeuvre as the author's own narratives, as her printed words are, and really, Tony Ross' pictures, while not horrible in and of themselves, absolutely do not harness Lotta's moods and in particular her facial expressions in the same way as Ilon Wiklund's drawings do).