Virginia Olcott

Adventures in Norway is the exciting story of Ane, a girl from Oslo, who is staying with Helga, the family maid, family on their farm while her parents are in Lapland. Here she becomes friends with Helga's brother Olaf, a boy about her age, Hulda, Helga's twin sister, and a bevy of farm animals and neighbors. Together Olaf and Ane work on the farm, visit Bergen, and teach readers a lot about Norway (there's a convenient glossary of names/terms in the back).

The book features beautiful illustrations by Constance Whittemore, but it has a lot of words, so it's probably better for older readers or reading aloud. Note that it was originally published in 1938, and the depiction of Sami (who are called Lapps throughout) is probably a bit to stereotypical to be PC these days.

On the whole though, it's a lot of fun and a lovely depiction of a way of life that definitely does not exist anymore. Highly recommended.… (mehr)