Pippi Longstocking's house!
We were in Stockholm for 13.5 hours (night ferries to and from; day in the city), and we spent about 4.5 of those hours at a place called Junibacken. It's a place for children to explore the worlds of Astrid Lindgren's books - she wrote Pippi Longstocking as well as other stories. For good measure (or in times of expansion?), Junibacken has added on a room featuring the lands of other Swedish children's authors, as well as a Mumin forest.
(Upon reflection, I'm not entirely sure a children's attraction is allowed to exist in Scandinavia/Nordic Europe without incorporating a Mumin element, and this place did nothing to disprove my theory. It was literally "here are a bunch of Swedish children's authors...plus Mumin." Who was originally published in Swedish, sure, but by a Finn. Also, there was a huge sign outside Junibacken that just said "MUMIN." I am not complaining, though - the Mumin forest was Sterling's favorite! There is a set of Mumin mini-figures on display in the window at his päiväkoti and he points them out every time I pick him up.)
I never read Pippi Longstocking as a kid, let alone other Lindgren stories, but both girls have studied them at school here. Magda's class read Pippi Longstocking (or Peppi Pitkätossu as it is in Finnish, which she loves to repeat) and Miriam's class read Ronia the Robber's Daughter. Both classes read the books in Finnish, obviously; my girls followed along as best they could and read the English version at home. They even learned some folk songs from each book.
So at Junibacken, I had the singular experience of watching my kids connect with these stories and songs and settings and props and characters that I don't know from my own childhood. I was glad they at least had each other to bounce moments of recognition off of - that's so-and-so from such-and-such scene! And this is from the part where she ___! Remember when ___?
There is one Lindgren book we are trying to get our hands on in English now - The Brothers Lionheart. It was featured in one of Junibacken's exhibits and even the short bit of the story I heard was very affecting. It sounds like one of those stories that is so tragic that it's not meant for children...but isn't that the kind of story children like the most sometimes?
I'll leave you with a video excerpt of one of the best parts of Junibacken - the story train. It takes you through tableaus of different scenes in Lindgren's books. The Brothers Lionheart parts are toward the end (you'll know it's them because they're tragic).