Rasmus and the Vagabond by Astrid Lindgren

Rasmus and the Vagabond by Astrid Lindgren is a republication of the old favorite by the same name.  Ms Lindgren is also the creator of the Pippi Longstocking stories.   She has won many awards. 
Rasmus lives in an orphanage in Sweden in the 1950's or possibly earlier.  He cannot remember living anywhere else in all of his 9 years.  All of his friends live here but forever all he has dreamed of is to have parents and live with them in his own family.  He doesn't fear much but he does fear being spanked.  He has gotten in trouble with Miss Hawk, the one person who watched over the all orphans, and it is big.  He was play fighting with his good friend Gunnar.  He has a basin full of water and he is all set to throw it on him when he jumps aside and who should walk through the door into the spot that Gunnar was in but Miss Hawk.  Rasmus soaked Miss Hawk and then to make matters worse he was so horrified that he laughed.  This of course all happened just before the big inspection getting ready for an orphan to get picked out because a couple was coming to look at them.  Gunnar had told Rasmus don't worry they never pick out anyone but curly haired girls anyway but that didn't keep Rasmus from being hopeful even though he was a plain old straight haired boy.  Well everything got cleaned up and the grocer and his wife came to pick out one of the orphans.  The orphans were told to play and of course they were so nervous that they couldn't  play.  Rasmus decided to go out where they were having tea and when he saw the lady he was so amazed that she was so pretty that he froze in place.  Then she offered a cookie and he stumbled over what to say.  Then the lady dropped her parasol and Rasmus and Greta, who just happened to be a curly headed chubby cheeked girl both went to pick it up for her.  They both tugged on it until it snapped in two.  Greta burst into tears, then Miss Hawk yelled at him and in horror Rasmus ran away to cry by himself.  All night Rasmus lay in bed planning what to do.  He decided to run away and so he creeps out of the house and it is Rasmus all by himself.  Rasmus has never been alone but soon runs into a tramp and this story is of how Rasmus and the tramp find adventure roaming the countryside.
This is a delightful book that any child who reads chapter books would love to read.  There is some action and because it was written in the 1950s there is a little more gun play than what some parents might like but this is a book mainly for boys in the line of Pippi Longstocking.  I had never read any of the Rasmus books but I wish that I had because I am sure that I would have loved them.
This book was provided by Handlebar for this review.