M. Farag
Lit. For Children
Naomi Wood
2-1-01

Connector Role for Pippi Longstocking
1. One connection that I made was PippiLongstocking to the McDonald's commercial that says, "Hey, it could happen." Even though many of Pippi's stories and adventures seem too extreme to be real, for all we know they could happen. Pippi enables Tommy and Annika to use their imagination and think of all the things that "could happen." I think this helps adults remember to take on the mind of a child in considering all of the possibilities that exist.
2. Another connection I made was between Pippi during the coffee party and Ramona the Pest At the coffee party Pippi was trying her best to behave and she did not realize that the way she was acting was rude or offensive to the ladies there. It is the same way in Ramona the Pest. Ramona never realizes that the things she does are seen as annoying by those around her. In both of these books we see girls who are trying to behave and who think that they are doing a good job, but in reality are offending those around them.
3. A third connection that I came up with was between Pippi Longstocking and the movie Dennis the Menace. In both of these the main child is able to outsmart the burglar or kidnapper. Pippi knew what the burglars wanted to do, but she outsmarted them and made them want to leave. In Dennis the Menace he knew what the kidnapper was doing and so Dennis tricked him into tying himself up with the ropes. In both instances not only did the children outsmart the burglars but they made them not want to come back again.
4. The final connection I made was between Pippi and the girl that I never liked all throughout school. They do not have to pay attention to any of the rules and yet things seem to always work out for them. They ignore everything that our society defines as "normal" and for that very reason people are attracted to them. They defy the rules, authority, and anything conventional and do things simply to please themselves. I think that this is the way many children would like to live and that is why Pippi is so appealing.

Summary:
I think this book is really written with kids in mind. Through all of Pippi's stories about foreign lands and her experiences (i.e. lifting the strongest man in the world) we see the theme that anything can happen and the possibilities of what people can do are endless. It reminds us that children are often smarter than we give them credit for and often know what is going on even if we do not think they do. Pippi also shows us the struggle of children living in an adults world. They would really like to just throw off the rules and defy the conventional way of doing things, yet adults expect them to act a certain way. So while they are trying to act the way adults want them to, they dream of what it would be like to have no rules and live purely for enjoyment.