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HE'S STRIPED, FURRY, CLAD IN A GREEN BEANIE AND SHORTS and is loved by children throughout Scandinavia, Germany, and Swedish America.1 His name is Findus, and he lives somewhere in southern Sweden with the elderly Pettson, a grouchy farmer of the Norwegian-bachelor sort made famous by Garrison Keillor, who turns out to have a soft heart for the small cat. Created by Sven Nordqvist, an award-winning children's author already of great repute in Sweden, Findus made his debut in Pannkakstårtan (The birthday cake) in 1984. Findus, precocious and able to talk, wants a birthday cake made of pancakes for his third birthday celebration that year. Pettson, on his quest for eggs and flour to make the cake, must go through many convoluted trials: to get to the store he needs to fix a flat tire, but the workshop key has fallen down the well; to get to the ladder he needs to scare off a bull with opera music. Finally, he must head off to the store in his underwear-all in order to give Findus his pancake birthday cake with strawberries and whipped cream on top. The illustration of the two of them munching on cake while listening to opera music, surrounded by chirping birds, blooming sunflowers, and a well-laden apple tree, gives the impression of satisfaction in the midst of a typical Swedish late summer afternoon.
This first book was an immediate hit in Sweden. Pertson's inventiveness, Findus's fantasy life, and the interaction between the old man and his cat resonated with Swedish children and parents alike. The book was soon followed by a whole series of Pettson and Findus adventures, and Sven Nordqvist's literary figures were soon crossing the borders of Sweden into the rest of Europe. The phenomenon did not end with books, but soon Pettson and Findus appeared in various children's theater productions in Scandinavia and Germany, along with a flood of children's products such as CDS, computer games, puzzles, stationery, card games, and stuffed toys. Before too long, Findus became the star of two animated movies, Katten och Gubbens år (The year with the cat and the old man) and Kattonauten (The catronaut).2 The movies in turn spawned a television series that was broadcast in Germany.
HOW DID THIS FELINE...