Mamma Moo tidies up
Text: Jujja and Tomas Wieslander 1997
Illustrations: Sven Nordqvist, 1997
Rabén & Sjögren, 2019
“Come see what I’ve done!” said Mamma Moo, “I’ve picked flowers, washed the windows and swept up. It’s not something that every cow does.”
“Does what?” said Crow.
“Tidy up,” said Mamma Moo.
“Tidy up?!” Crow cried. “Well ruffle my feathers! You swished your tail a bit. And you call that tidying up!”
Jujja’s comments about the book
Children live along with the seasons much more so than we adults. Mud, snow, summer and swimming affect the way they play. We wanted all the books to have a season. This is a springtime book. Mamma Moo picks white buttercups. But she also tidies up. Children have a very hard time understanding why they should bother putting all their things away when they’ll just be using them again soon. Tomas had a background as a first mate in the merchant marines. In the cargo hold, there was an expression used by the stevedores, ‘American stowage’. It meant: everything on top. That’s the way Crow likes it. The first time this book was published, Tomas had suddenly passed way. He never got to see it