Georg Johansson series “Mulle Mek - a skilled person”. "Mulle Mek is building a house." Mulli Mek assembles a vehicle Mulli Mek Company
My 3 year old son's favorite toy is a screwdriver. Small, childish, but completely real. Semyon walks around the house, thoughtfully glancing around at his toys, and periodically asks: "Mom, what else can I make out?"
At first, my husband and I resisted this desire to dismember everything into parts, cleaned and hid what we thought were “valuable” battery-powered cars, a starry sky projector lamp, a music book, a clockwork carousel and other treasures. Then they stopped. Since this child needs to unscrew everything for happiness, let it be. This is his way of understanding the world order. This is probably typical of boys.
But at the same time, I thought, there are surely safer and more economical ways to learn how things work. Maybe an encyclopedia about different things "in the context", or some children's atlas about machines and mechanisms. It is not for nothing that Semyon loves to watch videos on YouTube where serious adults take apart an old gramophone or demonstrate the work of a screwdriver and a drill. Well, not the instructions for electrical appliances to read to my son at lunch ?! Should there be children's books "about this"?
What a skilled person can do
And such books were found. We sampled two stories from the Mulla Meck series, written by the Swedish children's writer Georg Johansson. And now I am terribly sorry. I regret not taking ALL of his books at once. Because this is one hundred percent hitting the target, these are such correct "boy" books that you want to buy a ticket to Stockholm and shake Georg Johansson's firm calloused hand. Why calloused? It just seems to me that a person who is so cool and simple explaining to children how a car, a house, a boat, an airplane is structured, necessarily understands all this "from and to" and loves to tinker.
So, Mulle Mek is a skillful person. A funny young man in an old-fashioned bowler hat and blue overalls. He has Buffa's dog, and he has a workshop full of various pieces of iron (very much like my son's nursery, also littered almost to the ceiling with spare parts from toys). And Mulla Mek also has a head on his shoulders, and in this head there is a mass interesting information about how you can build anything.
Mulle Mek assembles a car.
Of course, we started reading with this book. The other day, Semyon had just dismantled half of his vehicle fleet and was wandering with the rear wheels from a fire engine in his hand. Therefore, a book about how someone assembles a car, he was very interested. I was so interested that he ate the soup without uttering a sound, while I slowly and with expression read to him about all these bridges, springs, gearboxes and brakes. What to hide, for me this book is no less informative, I have learned many new words. And what can we say about Semyon!
The story about assembling the car is told in a very light, simple language. With humor. And at the same time, it has good meticulousness, attention to detail, and there is no simplification, sugaryness and indulgence towards "cute kids" that sometimes come out so much from low-quality children's books.
No, in "Mulla Meck" the author talks about mechanisms simply, but very seriously, without losing sight of anything, without oversimplifying or distorting words and concepts. This is a real school for a young auto mechanic. Brake pads, ignition key, cylinders, candles. Such seriousness is captivating. After all, children love very much when they are spoken to as with adults. Semyon listened to this story with utmost attention, even if he still did not fully understand passages like this:
"The spark plugs spark, the spark ignites the fuel, the fuel vapors push the pistons, and the pistons push and twist the crankshaft."
So that's what you are, crankshaft!
Separately, I would like to praise the illustrations by Jens Album. As far as I understand, they are original, also Swedish, and it is in this form that the books were published in their historical homeland. In general, I really like it when foreign books are published in this way, without changing the names of the characters, without making new illustrations.
The pictures in Mulla Mek Builds a Car showcase all the parts beautifully. Oh, my son looks at them endlessly. And I must confess that I cannot always answer his questions. In general, if mom is not a motorist, then it is advisable to read this book with a child to dad. Because the pope will tell much more than, in fact, is contained in the text.
Here, for example, Mulla Mek is holding a mysterious crooked thing in his hands. Mom, of course, has no idea what it is. And the dad passing by immediately calls it “crankshaft”. Yeah, we've already read about him somewhere! So that's what he is!
Illustrations with a smile
Text and illustrations interact very harmoniously. For example, it says: “The paint is dry. ... Only Buffa is unhappy with something. " Looking at the picture, we immediately understand why Buffa is unhappy: along with the car, they accidentally painted Buffin's tail in yellow paint.
And besides the technical precision, illustrations captivate with humor. Mulla Mek's workshop alone is worth something. It looks more like a dump or a cluttered closet, where moose antlers, an old bathtub, a piggy bank, and a gas welding cylinder have very large and surprised eyes, mixed with spare parts.
Must have!
Semyon really likes the picture where Mulle Mek and Buffa are already driving the assembled car. The entire internal structure of the car is drawn in detail, and in the trunk, in addition to the suitcases, there is a dog bowl. These details, this artist's smile - they win over.
I remembered Sven Nordqvist with his muckles, portraits of cows and other cute and absurd little things. Jens Album's illustrations are more realistic (the content of the books itself obliges), but he, in tandem with Georg Johansson, is very good at making such a book not boring assembly instructions, but a cute and funny story that will amuse both parents and the child. ...
I think such a book - must have for little boys. At least those who are passionate about technology and cars (and not enthusiastic, it seems, does not exist).
A series of children's books about mechanics by Mulla Meke (by G. Johansson, Sweden) will be of interest to children who are keen on technology and inventions. The hero of these books has long been known in Sweden and loved no less than Carlson or Pippi Longstocking.
A skilful jack of all trades, Mulla Mek, with his faithful companion and assistant dog Buffa, can assemble a car, build a house, and tell little readers a lot about different inventions.
About technology - simple and interesting
Even if a child from childhood willingly disassembles toy cars and reaches out for his father's tools, parents are not always in a hurry to introduce him to the course of some technical subtleties. All the more, they do not give special literature - he is still too small, he will not understand. But if you offer such a kid a book about Mulla Meck, you can be sure that very soon he will amaze you with his knowledge in one or another area of technology.
Georg Johansson put so much useful information into the lips of an absent-minded mechanic and presented it so clearly that one can only be surprised. That is why it is difficult to tear away not only little boys, but also quite adult dads from books about Mulla Meck.
Mechanic Mulle Mek lives in a cozy house on the edge of the forest with his faithful assistant, Buffa, a dog. Mulle is a jack of all trades! From a pile of rusty pieces of iron, he can assemble anything, even a real car - with wheels, a gearbox, a dashboard, an engine and everything, everything, without which no car can do anything. On such a car, you can go on the road for a long time and drive far, far, where everything else is!
And Mulle can easily build a boat, a house and even an airplane - but you can read about this in the next books of the Mulla Mek - A Skillful Man series. This series will be of interest to the smallest readers who are just beginning their acquaintance with technology, are keenly interested in the device of various mechanisms and will certainly want to know how what works.
The stories about the master Mulla Mecca and his dog Buffa have been very popular among Swedish children for two decades, and Mulla himself is loved no less than the famous heroes of Astrid Lindgren's fairy tales - for his resourcefulness, ingenuity and constant optimism.
Press about the book
Site "Papmambuk", 15.04.2015, "Buffa, my faithful friend, do you know these words? ..", Marina Aromshtam
It is very important for kids that what is happening in the book is somehow connected with his personal experience- with what he did, what he saw and what he experienced. And cars and various mechanisms are the most important realities for a city child. ... Therefore, Mulla Mek, of course, is very clear to the child. And he wants to imitate - in his own games, armed with a toy (or real) screwdriver. And Mulle also has a dog. The kid also has many points of contact with the dog.
- Jens, do you remember being small? Did you love tinkering as a child?
Yes, I did. And he loved to build very much. From cones, twigs, sticks.
- Did you have any books about cars, about mechanisms?
Yes. There were books. I loved books about cars, but those where all the details were carefully traced. It was the small details that I liked to look at. And I also liked it when it was not just about cars, but that there was also an invention in it. It was more interesting that way.
Our neighbor had a lot of old trucks - his business had something to do with old cars. They often lacked half of the important details. But my friends and I loved to play in his yard, among these trucks. Something smelled like that from them ...
- Adventures?
Adventure. You could have come up with something unusual about them.
- For example, that the driver of one of the trucks had a dog?
Well, I didn't think about the dog then. But I like the dog Mulle Meka. This is a smart dog. And not evil at all. She looks a little like a child. And she tries so hard to help Mulla Mek: when he builds something, she brings him necessary details... And sometimes he even prompts if Mulla Mek has forgotten something. - And this dog is also very honest. When asked: "Buffa, do you know these words?" ("Crankshaft", for example) - she honestly admits: no, I don't know. Just like my grandson. He answered Mulla Mek's question: "Buffa, do you know these words?" - always honestly answers: "No, I don't know!"
- Jens, how did you come up with these books? Did you create them with Georg Johansson? Or did the text appear first?
First came the text. Georg worked in the publishing house as a translator, translated children's books. And, they say, he muttered all the time: this is not that, and that is not that. And it is not so, and it is not so. The editor-in-chief could not resist and said: if you don’t like anything, write it yourself. Maybe he said jokingly, I don't know. But Georg took and wrote the first book about Mulla Mek - about how he builds a car. They showed me the text. And I really liked the text. And the heroes liked him. But then Georg and I were not yet personally acquainted. We met later, when I had already drawn sketches for the book.
- That is, you invented the images of the heroes yourself? The text doesn't contain their portrait characteristics, right?
Yes. And I worked for a long time. I drew many sketches. Such a stack is thick ( shows on the fingers the thickness of the stack - 15 centimeters).
- That is, the image of Mulla Mek was somehow transformed?
Yes. First I drew him with a beard. But so he immediately became very much like Petson, and that was wrong. Then I drew him without a beard. He has grown much younger.
- And how old do you think he is?
Thirty years, I think. Maybe a little more. But without a beard, he lacked something. I decided that I needed a headdress. I drew a cap. But in Mulla's cap, Mek looked too much like a mechanic.
"Isn't he a mechanic?"
- Inventor?
Not just an inventor ... Here I live in the north of Sweden, in a city called Hudiksvall. There are mountains there. Forests and mountains. What's around the corner? What kind of world? As a child, it was a mystery to me. I really wanted to know. Mulla Mek lives in the same place. It is very similar to my native place. And he decides to build a car, not just for the sake of the car itself, but to travel. To find out where the road leads, to which parts. And then he builds a plane to fly over the mountain ...
That is, Mulle Mek is also a romantic. A person who comes up with adventures. And that makes it especially interesting. So, you gave up the cap ...
Refused. But he decided that Mulla Mek needed some kind of headdress.
- Headgear is not mandatory for Swedish mechanics and even for inventors, is it?
No, the hat Mulla Mek wears is his personal feature.
And it is so convenient to shift it on your head in different ways, depending on your mood! In general, hats and caps are often important features of literary characters: Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Buratino, Dunno - these are characters in headdresses that Russian children know.
Also Petson. Petson has a hat too. Such, memorable.
Certainly! For some time now Petson has also been firmly inscribed in this series. And now here comes Mulla Mek. Mulla Mek has many admirers in Russia.
In general, this is surprising to me. After all, Russia is a very different country from Sweden. It always seemed to me that Mulle Mek is a very “Swedish” character.
Well, what is so "Swedish" about him that could prevent Russian children from falling in love with him? A man in a blue overalls, who knows how to make different things and clearly explains how he makes them. Who knows a lot and wants to know even more. In fact, in Mulla Mek's life, everything happens as it usually happens in a child's play: a child heard something, saw something, picked it up - and turned it into material for play. The books about Mulla Meka are very playful.
Thank you for understanding this. Mulla Meck has many readers in Sweden. The project has existed for twenty-five years. The Mulle Meka children's playground was recently built in Stockholm. There are hills in the form of rockets and planes, Mulle Mek's car, his house. You can do housework in the house.
- To be the boss? Do something?
For example, make soup.
- By some special recipe from Mulla Meck? I didn't know that he also knows how to cook.
Well no. The recipe is simple: a little water, add sand, herbs ...
A! And you say a special mentality. I would say it is universal traditional recipe... True, we also add the heads of flowering dandelions to such a soup for beauty ...
But twenty-five years is a lot. And don't new books keep coming out and coming out? Is this a demand from readers or are the characters haunted by the author, do they appear in a dream?
Georg is a very collected and organized person - unlike me. We with him are in a sense complete opposites, although we have got a wonderful creative union. But he said that everyone: "Mulle Mek and Buffa" is the last book in the series. Everything has to end someday.
But if you have been painting Mulla Meka, Buffa and the world around them for twenty-five years, how will you do without them?
Well, I don't just paint them. I illustrate various children's books. And these heroes are already living their lives.
Interviewed by Marina Aromshtam
Translated by Maria Ludkovskaya
Photos from the site: mulle meck lekpark solna
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The story about the house is the fourth. Books are good because they are not particularly related to each other, and you can read them in absolutely any order.
Returning from a trip, Mulla Mek and Buffa found that a tree had fallen on their old house and now they will temporarily have to live in a workshop. Buffa was upset, and Mulla Mek, a skilled person, rejoiced. After all, he had dreamed for so long to build a house himself.
Find a mouse
In general, I am very impressed by this type of "skillful people" - both in books and in life. Maybe because I myself can work only with words, but not with my hands. I remember with what pleasure I read and re-read "Robinson Crusoe", all these details of the arrangement on desert island, building a cave and a manor, taming goats, weaving baskets, making dishes. I think that Mulla Mek, if he were on a deserted island, would also not be at a loss and would start tinkering something, and Buffa's dog would, as always, help him diligently in this.
Yes, to the delight of the children, a new character appears in the book "Mulla Mek Builds a House", a little mouse. He flew in his little airplane, and now he will live with Mulla Mek and Buffa. This little mouse is very businesslike. Either he designs the entrance to his future mink, then he carries something on a trolley, in general, he also settles himself. Semyon really likes to find a mouse on every page.
Why does a construction site need an iron?
The story of building a house is described simply and clearly. We read it once or twice, and Semyon has already learned the basic concepts and new words: foundation, attic, insulation, beams, plumb line, building materials. Yes, and I learned a lot of interesting things. For example, the fact that you can use old mattresses as a heater, and an iron on a string as a plumb line.
I will sing the praises of illustrations again. We consider them endlessly. If Seeds are carried away by such things as a windmill on the roof of a workshop, an old gramophone, a hammer and a saw, and a kerosene lamp, then I admire the rocking chair on the veranda, a cast-iron wood stove, colorful rugs, a striped hammock, a checkered tablecloth, all these small, but such important things for comfort, here and there books scattered around the interiors.
Look at what a cozy little house came out. It's even a pity that there is no book "Mulla Mek Marries" in the series. How many new build ideas household appliances his wife would have thought of it!
Read with dad!
Among other things, books about Mulla Mek are valuable because they can be read with mom, but best of all with dad. And this is the very case when dad doesn’t have to, yawning, in a sad voice talk about three pigs or a sleeping princess. No, here dads are at ease and in their field. How many interesting things they can tell!
For example, I was completely out of my head, what is the name of the device with which Mulla Mek measures the verticality of the walls. And the child is interested. Yes, and in our basement somewhere there is such an irreplaceable thing for renovation. My husband came and immediately said that this instrument is called “level”. And he told a lot of interesting things about the foundation, about cement, and about spatulas ...
My love for Scandinavian children's writers has grown even hotter and more immense. A “smiling” outlook on life, the ability to speak simply about serious things and to captivate children and adults with their stories - no, definitely, there is some special air in Sweden, and children's writers grow there by leaps and bounds. It's great that these books have reached us.
And now on my wishlist, item number one is the rest of the books from the Mulla Meka series. And because Semyon really likes them, and because I really like them. And when parents are not bored and pleased to read the same children's book over and over again, it seems to me that it speaks very eloquently about its quality.
Text and photo: Ekaterina Medvedeva
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