I remembered The Moomins from my childhood. The creepy yet enchanting “fuzzy felt” animated TV show from the late-70s/early-80s was a staple after-school experience for me.

They have come returned to my life recently, partially through the usual 20-something nostalgia that pervades the net that has also reawakened my interest in Battle of the Planets and old episodes of Doctor Who and partially through the acquisition of a lovely Finnish girlfriend who is a big fan of the books.

The aforementioned girlfriend bought me some a couple of the novels as a gift and after quickly working my way through those (Moominpappa at Sea and Moominvalley in November respectively) I desired more and a friend lent me this. I had a vague recollection of Moomintroll’s adventures in the strange world of winter from the TV show and wished to read the book. While this is a popular Moomin novel and I found it charming and enjoyable while reading it on a nightly basis to my sweetheart, it didn’t touch me quite as much as the other two later books which possessed a level of character depth rarely found in “children’s stories”.

I will definitely be tracking down more of Ms Jansson novels for my inner child and that of my girlfriend… and possibly buying the DVDs of that classic TV series.