Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren
A fresh delicious fantasy that children will love. In the character of 9-year-old Pippi Longstocking, who is lucky to have no parents to tell her what to do, is a juvenile Robin Hood with the authority of Mammy Yokum and a Mighty Mouse. Pippi- red headed, in longstockings (one black and one brown), and the strongest girl in the world is the friend of Tommy and Annika. Calmly and ingeniously she puts down the enemy forces of the adult world -- with a serene efficiency. The teacher is baffled by her logic in pointing out the futility of learning arithmetic; bullies she hoists on trees; at the circus Pippi rides bareback, walks the tightrope, and wrestles the wrestling champ; cream and sugar flows (on the floor) when Pippi attends a ladies' coffee party where she reveals "horrid things" with the complacency of Eliza Doolittle. Champion of fun, freedom and fantasy and long happy thoughts, Pippi is an inspired creation knit from daydreams.
(Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1950)