Min ko vill ha roligt

Last updated
Min ko vill ha roligt.png
Author Astrid Lindgren
Kristina Forslund
Original titleMin ko vill ha roligt
Language Swedish
Publisher Rabén & Sjögren
Publication date
1990
Publication placeSweden

Min ko vill ha roligt (English: My cow wants to have fun) is a book written by Astrid Lindgren and Kristina Forslund. It contains all articles concerning animal protection and mass production that Lindgren and Forslund wrote in the Swedish magazines Expressen and Dagens Nyheter from 1985 to 1989. Their activities led to a new Swedish law which was later called Lex Lindgren and was announced at Lindgren's 80th birthday.

Contents

Content

On May 3, 1985, Astrid Lindgren wrote an article for the Dagens Nyheter magazine. She criticized the development of the so-called cow trainers, who are using electric shocks to force the cows to put their dung into the chute. In addition, she doesn't think it's right that the cows are often no longer able to be outside, but are locked up. Astrid Lindgren then receives a letter from Kristina Forslund, a veterinarian and lecturer at the University of Veterinary Medicine. Lindgren asks her to help her with an awareness campaign to promote better animal treatment in Sweden. At this point, Forslund is on the verge of giving up her career as a veterinarian. She is fed up with prescribing antibiotics and medication to animals whose real problem is improper animal husbandry. The only way how Forslund can imagine going on, is to change the things that she thinks are going wrong. A collaboration between Forslund and Lindgren follows, in which Lindgren brings in her journalistic skills and Forslund her specialist knowledge. From then on, they write and publish articles in the Swedish magazine Expressen. These articles are dealing with animal suffering and maximizing profits. In the articles, Lindgren and Forslund mainly criticize agricultural policy, the industrialization of agriculture and less the farmers, who, according to the authors, also want that the animals are well.

Background

The book contains both articles that Astrid Lindgren and Kristina Forslund wrote for newspapers, as well as personal letters in which the authors criticize the treatment of animals in factory farming.

After the articles were published in the Swedish newspaper Expressen, Lindgren and Forslund put the articles together in chronological order. A comment was written behind each article on what happened after it was published. The authors also write about how they started to work together and how they feel about the change in the Animal Welfare Act. The book was first published in Sweden in 1990. [1] It was translated into Dutch, [2] German, Norwegian and parts of it in English. [3]

Impacts of the articles

The publication of the articles led to a new animal protection law in Sweden. [4] [5] It was presented to Astrid Lindgren on her 80th birthday and was called Lex Lindgren. [6] During that time it was the strictest law concerning animal welfare in the world. [7]

These are the most important things that were added to the law:

Forslund and Lindgren had fought for the new law for three years, but they were not happy with it. A little had improved for some animals, but not enough and in most areas there was no improvement. For example, the right to graze was only granted to breeding animals, not to fattening animals. The size of the chicken cage was only increased much later and the slaughter regulations were kept too vague. [9]

English releases

The book has not been released in English as a whole, but some parts of it were published in 1989 by the Animal Welfare Institute in the book How Astrid Lindgren achieved enactment of the 1988 law protecting farm animals in Sweden - a selection of articles and letters published in Expressen, Stockholm, 1985-1989. [10] The book contains 27 pages, while the Swedish book Min ko vill ha roligt contains 99 pages. [11] Next to this Forslund has published a few of the articles on her website, [12] where she also mentions what kind of changes came with the new law. [13]

Editions

Reception

According to Brigitte Jakobeit from Die Zeit , Min ko vill ha roligt is a book about the history of animal husbandry and where it led to. Furthermore, it is about profit making and politics. She believes that the book will be loved by children, adults and animal welfare activists. [14]

Andreas Berger from the Braunschweiger Zeitung praises Lindgren's and Forslund's clearly written articles. Lindgren does not make any naive arguments, protecting the Swedish farmers who have reluctantly followed the new boom in factory farming. She praises their will for contributing to animal welfare and demands support from the state. She believes cruelty-free animal husbandry must be worthwhile. Astrid Lindgren reports very drastically on industrial pig slaughter, but sometimes she also chooses satirical formats. At one point Lindgren even writes about a dream in which God goes on an inspection trip and is horrified. [9]

According to leseforum.isb.bayern.de, the book is a sympathetic plea against factory farming. Even thirty years after it was published, it can encourage young people to get involved in this still important topic. [15]

Istdasvegan.eu highly recommends the book because it deals with the topic in a child-friendly way, but it doesn't glorify or gloss over anything. [16]

According to David Rudd, the book, among Lindgren's other works, shows that there "are no privileged categories in Lindgren's world, fictional or factual" and that "cows can want to have fun" too. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrid Lindgren</span> Swedish childrens writer (1907–2002)

Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the Six Bullerby Children, and for the children's fantasy novels Mio, My Son; Ronia the Robber's Daughter; and The Brothers Lionheart. Lindgren worked on the Children's Literature Editorial Board at the Rabén & Sjögren publishing house in Stockholm and wrote more than 30 books for children. In 2017, she was calculated to be the world's 18th most translated author. Lindgren had by 2010 sold roughly 167 million books worldwide. In 1994, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "her unique authorship dedicated to the rights of children and respect for their individuality." Her opposition to corporal punishment of children resulted in the world's first law on the matter in 1979, while her campaigning for animal welfare led to a new law, Lex Lindgren, in time for her 80th birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pippi Longstocking</span> Fictional character

Pippi Longstocking is the fictional main character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get-well story when she was off school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbro Lindgren</span> Swedish childrens writer

Barbro Lindgren is a Swedish writer of children's books and books for adult readers. For her lasting contribution as a children's writer, Lindgren was a finalist for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2004. Ten years later she won the annual Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The biggest cash prize in children's and young-adult literature, it rewards a writer, illustrator, oral storyteller, or reading promoter for its entire body of work.

"Pomperipossa in Monismania" is a satirical story written by the Swedish children's book author Astrid Lindgren in response to the 102% marginal tax rate that she incurred in 1976. It was published starting on 3 March in the Stockholm evening tabloid Expressen and created a major debate about the Swedish tax system.

Life on Seacrow Island is a Swedish TV series, consisting of thirteen 25-minute episodes from 1964. The script for the series was written by Astrid Lindgren, who later re-wrote it as a book, also titled Vi på Saltkråkan. Astrid Lindgren was closely involved in the filming and editing of the series, which took place on Norröra in the Stockholm archipelago. The series was produced and directed by Olle Hellbom.

Anna Lundh is a Swedish television personality, adventurer and model. Anna Lundh first gained notability in 2009 when participating in and becoming a top finalist in the tenth Swedish season of Survivor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pija Lindenbaum</span> Swedish illustrator, author and designer

Pija Lindenbaum is a Swedish illustrator, author and designer. 1999–2007 she owned the 14th chair of the Swedish Academy for Children's Books. She has illustrated the Tsatsiki books written by Moni Nilsson-Brännström.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viveca Lärn</span> Swedish writer and journalist

Viveca Lärn, earlier Viveca Sundvall, is a Swedish writer and journalist. She is mostly famous for writing the Mimmi and the Eddie children's books series. She has also written books for an adult audience, and many of those books formed the basis for the TV series Saltön.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna-Clara Tidholm</span> Swedish childrens writer and illustrator

Anna-Clara Beatrice Tidholm is a Swedish children's writer and illustrator. She grew up on Djurgården in Stockholm. Since 1970, she lives at a small farm in Arbrå.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frida Nilsson</span> Swedish childrens writer (born 1979)

Frida Nilsson is a Swedish children’s writer whose first book was published in 2004. She has won numerous international shortlistings and prizes, including the August Prize, the German Youth Literature Prize, Expressens Heffaklump (2015) and the Astrid Lindgren Prize. She was recently chosen as one of the best emerging writers in Europe under 39. Nilsson’s writing is characterised by playfulness and sincerity. She has been compared to Roald Dahl and Barbro Lindgren.

Never Violence! or Never Violence is the title of a speech made by Astrid Lindgren in 1978, when she received the peace prize Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels. It is one of the most well-known and influential speeches by Lindgren. Astrid Lindgren speaks against corporal punishment of children. A year later, in Lindgren's home country Sweden, a law was released that forbid corporal punishment of children. In 1978, the speech was first published as a book under the German title Astrid Lindgren: Ansprachen anlässlich der Verleihung des Friedenspreises des Deutschen Buchhandels . Later the book was also published in many different languages. In 2009, a German short film called Never Violence had been published at Children's Day. It was based on the story mentioned in Lindgrens speech.

The following is a list of books published by Astrid Lindgren, a Swedish author of children's fiction.

<i>Matti Lives in Finland</i> 1968 book by Astrid Lindgren

Matti Lives in Finland is a book by Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, with the photos by Anna Riwkin-Brick. In 1968 the book was published at Rabén & Sjögren.

My Nightingale Is Singing is a children's book written by Astrid Lindgren.

<i>I Dont Want to Go to Bed</i> (book) 1947 book by Astrid Lindgren

I Don't Want to Go to Bed is a children's book written by Astrid Lindgren.

<i>I Want to Go to School Too</i> Childrens book by Astrid Lindgren

I Want to Go to School Too is a children's book written by Astrid Lindgren. It is about Peter and his sister Lena, who previously appeared in the book I Want a Brother or Sister.

<i>I Want a Brother or Sister</i> Book by Astrid Lindgren

I Want a Brother or Sister, also That's My Baby is a children's book written by Astrid Lindgren. It is about Peter and his sister Lena, who later appeared in the book I Want to Go to School Too.

Astrid Lindgren's plays are a number of theater plays written by Astrid Lindgren in the 1940s to 1970s. Part of the plays are based on her books, other stories were only written for theater. Since almost all of Astrid Lindgren's works have been staged for theater, this page only deals with the plays, whose scripts were written by Astrid Lindgren. Many of these works were published in the Swedish books Sex Pjäser för barn och ungdom (1950), Serverat, Ers Majestät! (1955) and Praeser för barn och ungdom. Other Samlingen (1968). Most of these works have not been translated into English. These include stories about well-known characters such as Kalle Blomquist or Pippi Longstocking, which were only written for the theater and were not published as prose.

<i>Now That Night Is Near</i> 2019 book and song by Astrid Lindgren

Now That Night Is Near is a children's book written by Astrid Lindgren and illustrated by Marit Törnqvist. It includes Lindgren's song of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margareta Strömstedt</span> Swedish author (1931–2023)

Gunhild Margareta Strömstedt was a Swedish author, journalist and translator.

References