Emil’s Pranks

 Emil’s Pranks, originally Nya Hyss Av Emil i Lonneberga (1966), was translated by someone, we might presume, although no translator is listed in the version I read.

Again readers are treated to Bjorn Berg’s pictures, which perfectly reflect Emil’s impishness.  This illustrator fits the stories very well.

Like Emil in the Soup Tureen, this is a set of three Emil stories: when Emil upset the bowl of blood pudding over his father, when Emil got a horse and scared the life out of Mrs. Petrell and all of Vimmerby, and when Emil made a clean sweep in Katthult and caught the superintendent in a wolf pit.

Favorite paragraph: Perhaps you may think that Emil gave up getting into mischief because he now had a horse, but that wasn’t the case.  He rode Lukas for three whole days, but by the third day, which was 3 November, he was ready to get up to his pranks again.  Guess what he did – ha ha, it makes me laugh whenever I think about it.  Well, on that particular day he – no!  stop!  I promised his mother never to tell what he did on 3 November, because soon after that the Lonnebergans collected all that cash, you remember, and wanted to send Emil to America.  Emil’s mother didn’t want to remember it and never even wrote about it in her notebook, so why should I give it away?