The Moomins

My mother is from Finland, so I grew up reading stories from Moomin Valley about critters called the Moomins and all of their friends.

The Moomins are creations of author and illustrator Tove Jansson. The original versions were written in Swedish but have were translated into English. Moomins love nature and all her creatures. They possess a tolerant and open attitude toward life with a very strong desire for adventures.

The English versions were the ones I remember being fascinating by as a child. The Moomin characters really sparked my imagination and introduced me to fun and also a darker element to things in life. Some of the characters were a bit gloomy and melancholy, or loners but still lovable.

The Moomins are characters that I have introduced to my own children.

Thankfully the books are now much more easily available in the United States. When I was little we had to get them sent by relatives in Finland.

Image Moomin Book available on Amazon.

From left to right, Sniff, Snufkin, Moominpappa, Moominmamma,

Moomintroll (In front), Mymble, Groke, Snork Maiden and Hattifatteners.

Moomin Cast of Characters from Wikipedia

The Official Moomin site is written in Finnish, but you can change the entire site to English by clicking on the English Flag at the bottom of the page.

Or try it in Finnish and scroll through the cast of characters by clicking on link that says 'Muumilaakson asukkaat.'

Moomins on a Dangerous Journey Placemats available on Amazon

I've listed out the English names of the Main Moomin Characters. Since the books were originally written in Swedish, then translated to Finnish, these characters are know by different names depending on the language you were reading the books.

1. Moomintroll
2. Moominpappa
3. Moominmamma
4. Sniff
5. Snork Maiden
6. Snufkin
7. Mymble
8. Little My
9. Hattifatteners
10. Groke

A 2D look at the movie, Moomins and the Comet Chase.

A 3-D Moomin Movie released in August 2010 in Finland. Moomin and the Comet Chase is the first full length Nordic 3D film.

I remember reading this Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My. My mom had one of the original version of the book which would probably be a collectible by now.

It was amazing with cut out images on the pages and bright vibrant colors that pull you through the story.

It looks like "The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My" is out of print again, only available from some sellers through Amazon. I am not sure why, because it is a really fun book for children.

Tove Marika Jansson 1914 - 2001. Recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Children's Books.

Listed in Order of Publication.

• The Moomins and the Great Flood, 1945
• Comet in Moominland, 1946
• Finn Family Moomintroll, 1948
• The Exploits of Moominpappa, 1950
• The Book About Moomin, Mymble and Little My, 1952
• Moominsummer Madness, 1954
• Moominland in Midwinter, 1957
• Who Will Comfort Toffle?, 1960
• Tales from Moominvalley, 1962
• Moominpappa at Sea, 1965
• Moominvalley in November, 1970

These are the fun Moomin Books that I remember reading as a child.

More of the fun Moomin Books.

The Moomins tv show is based on a series of books by the Swedish Speaking Finn Tove Jansson. The Cartoon, although made in Japan, was directed by Tove's brother Lars Jansson.

This is the Opening to the Moomins Cartoon sung in English.

here is the English translation for the Moomin Theme Song posted on YouTube:

• Here they are for one and all,
• the Moomins are about to call,
• Come and sit down here with me,
• they're here for you on your tv,
• they are the moomins,
• they are the moomins.
• Come with me give me your hand,
• I'll take you off to moomin land,
• you can fly just like a bird or sing the best song ever heard,
• they are the moomins,
• they are the moomins,
• they are the moomins.
• Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma
• Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa

The Moomin Closing Theme Song sung in English.

See the Moomins come to life as fuzzy felt characters on this website created in the United Kingdom, for the Fuzzy Felt Version of the Moomins.

The English version of the Felt version shows were broadcast in the 1980's in the U.K.

You can watch Mamma's Island, one of the episodes on this website for the Fuzzy Felt Moomins.

A short clip of the opening sequence.

You can find Moomin products on Ebay especially limited edition items. Some of the memorabilia may be shipping from other countries.

Moominmama, Moominpapa, Snufkin and Little My as Moomin Chairs by Elaine Ashton.

Used under Creative Commons License

I didn't realize the ones we had were worth so much. I'll have to stop the girls from using the ones that we have.

Many of the Moomin Mugs can be found on eBay.

Moomin puzzles, mobiles and more mugs

I'd ordered some of the Videos for my kids (and mom) to watch. We discovered that while they didn't play on the DVD, they did play on the computer.

Even though the Moomins aren't well known in the United States, they are extremely popular in Finland, Europe and for some reason Japan. Here are just some of the other Moomin sites, Moomin fan fun and Moomin memorabilia that can be experienced.

1. Moomin House in Muumimaailma (Moomin Land in Finland)
2. Miniature (1:87) Scale Moomin House
3. Muumitalo Piparkakkutalo Moomin Family House out of Gingerbread
4. Moominworld (Muumimaailma)
5. Moominmuseum (Mummilaakso) - The Moominvalley of the Tampere Art Museum

Moomin's haus in Muumimaailma by Pawel Drozd.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms

of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.

Take a look at photographs of a Miniature (1:87) Scale Moomin House.

Making Gingerbread houses has always been a Christmas tradition in my Parent's house.

Since my daughter's have been playing with their own Moomin doll house, we might try making a Moomin Gingerbread house this year.

Two websites are listed below with information, instructions and patterns for creating your own Moomin Family House out of Gingerbread.

You can even order a kit from eBay.

Originally from Axis of Ãvil. Eating Moomins. December 2005. Used under Creative Commons License 1.0.

Instructions from two websites on making your own Moomin Gingerbread House, or Muumitalo Piparkakkutalo.

An online site about Moominworld, the Theme Park, or Muumimaailma in Finnish.

Moominworld is a theme Park created especially for children, and based on the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. for the Moomins.

Moominworld is situated on the island of Kailo beside the old town of Naantali, near the city of Turku in Western Finland.

Moominvalley is located in the city of Tampere, Finland. The museum focuses on exhibiting the original illustrations and hand-made Moomin models by Tove Jansson.

You can see quite a bit of these amazing drawings just be visiting the website.

When I was thinking about my favorite children's books for other lenses, I realized how much the Moomins had played a role in my early book memories.

When I searched Squidoo to see if anyone had done anything on the Moomins, the only lens that I discovered that mentioned Moomins was the Fresh Squid for the Day of October 10, 2007. (This was an older program to encourage lensmasters to make new lenses).

The rest as they say is history.

I discovered that Moomins and Tove Jansson were listed as the Fresh Squid for the Day of October 10, 2007.

Did you enjoy discovering (or learning more) about the Moomins?