Cheryl's Reviews > Mio, My Son

Deceptively simple and straight-forward; I sense depths that I'll better plumb upon a reread in a year or two. If nothing else I'll remember Sir Kato's stone heart for a long time....

The only reason this might be difficult for a modern American child is that the setup takes very little time, the introduction to the land of Faraway quite a bit more, and the adventure only half the book.

Lots of illustrations of little boys with bare long legs and long jerseys and horses, flowers, a cottage, a well, a grandma.... Wikland used a more casual line than he did in the Lotta books, but the pictures still charm.

Reread. Opinion holds. Beautiful story, obviously more mysterious and allegorical than a superficial reading reveals... but darned if I can lay a finger on exactly what it is that's going on under the surface. I bet it's even better in the original Swedish.