After it was rejected by Bonniers, Lindgren developed the nonsensical aspects further and submitted the revised version to the 1945 children's book contest sponsored by Rabén & Sjögren, a rather new publisher.
Pippi won the contest that closed on August 1, Rabén & Sjögren arranged for illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman (her debut in Sweden), and the first edition was published in November.
The book focuses on the experiences of Pippi Långstrump, a nine-year-old pigtailed redhead whose mother died when she was a baby and whose father, a sea captain, has seemingly vanished at sea, so she moves into a big house known as Villa Villekulla, located in a little Swedish village, with her pet monkey Mr. Nilsson, a suitcase filled with pieces of gold, and her unnamed pet horse.
Gifted with superhuman strength and countless other eccentricities, Pippi is soon befriended by two local siblings named Annika and Tommy Settergren, who admire her and enjoy her company.
In 2002 the Norwegian Nobel Institute listed the novel as one of the "Top 100 Works of World Literature", based on polling one hundred authors from fifty-four countries.
[8] A US feature film version from Columbia Pictures was released in 1988, directed by British veteran director Ken Annakin, starring Tami Erin as Pippi with Eileen Brennan, Dennis Dugan, John Schuck and Dick Van Patten in supporting roles.
Gina (1951) is the younger sister of former Mouseketeer Darlene Gillespie (1941), a lead singer and dancer of the original 9 member Red Team in 1955.
Although the story is mostly faithful to the original books, a few liberties are taken; Pippi is shown to be extremely intelligent (flawlessly answering a strict but well-meaning teacher's questions), which she attributes to her firsthand experiences in her world travels, and Pippi can fly (rather, she lands softly onto the ground from the rooftop of her house, à la Peter Pan).
Among the characters, Pippi's originally nameless pet horse is named Horatio, and Thunder-Karlsson and Bloom are renamed "Scar Face" Seymour and "Mad Dog" Jerome.
In 1985, Carrie Kei Heim played the title role in the 2-part ABC Weekend Special, entitled Pippi Longstocking.