Sven Wernström (English Introduction)
2012; Swedish Institute for Children's Books; Volume: 35; Linguagem: Inglês
10.14811/clr.v35i0.131
ISSN2000-4389
Autores ResumoThe We Fix It books by Stig Ahl (five books, 1959Á 1964) are little known today, but to me they were important back in the 1970s.In some ways these books are similar to Enid Blyton's Fabulous Five or Astrid Lindgren's Bill Bergson books.Like these, the action is focused on a teen gang of friends who solve mysteries and crimes.But the We Fix It gang is older and all-male, and these teenage boys are considerably more work-oriented than Blyton's and Lindgren's crime busters!Work, indeed!''We Fix It'' is really the story about a group of young entrepreneurs who perform various service functions, do odd jobs, and happen to stumble over mysteries and foul play.Tommy, Hammy, Leffe, and Kurre create their own exciting niche on the job market without having to take the (potentially everlasting) detour over the unemployment office.And into the bargain they get to solve crimes!This may sound like a strange recipe for success, but to me the We Fix It firm was more enticing than the inevitable crimesolving.I was not alone in thinking like this.One of my friends actually started his own fairly successful version of We Fix It, and I helped out when I could.It was an important experience.When I read the We Fix It books back then, I had no clue that Sven Wernstro ¨m was one of the authors behind the pseudonym ''Stig Ahl'' (the second author was Stig Malmberg).But if I had known, my respect for the author would have increased further.On my bookshelf, I already had many of the books in the ''Flight Comrades'' series (hand me downs from my dad), but also more recent Wernstro ¨m books, such as the books in The Thralls series and Journey on an Unknown Planet.Both history and science fiction were my favorite genres.Writing this Barnboken introduction to Sven Wernstro ¨m, it strikes me that ''We Fix It'' could stand as a motto for Wernstro ¨m's achievements.In Wernstro ¨m's books, there is a utopian optimism and undaunted belief in human potential Á not least in young people's potential.It is possible to change things for the better.This essentially positive outlook can be seen both in Wernstro ¨m's early genre fiction or in the later, politically outspoken books.It is true that the later Wernstro ¨m is deeply critical of (capitalist) society, but it is a constructive criticism, not a destructive cynicism.When human
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