Tove Jansson Books In Order

Publication Order of Mumintrollen Books

Publication Order of Moomin Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Tove Jansson was a reputed novelist, illustrator, painter, visual artist, comic strip writer, and author from Finland, who used to speak and write in Swedish. She was particularly popular for her children’s book series called the Moomin series, which were initially written in Finnish and Swedish and later translated for the English readers. Jansson had started this widely successful series in 1945 and published its last book in 1970. She was born as Tove Marika Jansson in Helsinki, Finland. Jansson’s birth took place on August 9, 1914, and her death occurred on June 27, 2001, in Helsinki. Jansson was highly influenced by her artistic parents while she was growing up. Between 1930 and 1938, she studied in Helsinki, Paris, and Stockholm. In 1943, Jansson organized her first independent art exhibition. At around the same time, she was also writing articles and short stories for several publications. Jansson was also involved in creating graphics for the covers of books and other purposes.

After gaining early exposure to the professions of writing and art, Jansson continued doing them for as long as she lived. The first three books of her Moomin series achieved tremendous success in worldwide sales. In 1966, Jansson was awarded the Hans Christian-Anderson Medal for her contribution to children’s books. Starting from 1968, Jansson wrote 6 novels and 5 short stories for adults, that included her semi-autobiographical novel called Sculptor’s Daughter and the popular book known as The Summer Book. During the 1930s, she made trips to several European countries and drew from her experience to write short stories, articles, and illustrations. These works of Jansson were published in several periodicals, magazines, and daily papers at that time. Jansson also worked on designing adverts, postcards, and book covers. For a short duration, Jansson was engaged to Atos Wirtanen.

While studying for her later education, she had come across her future partner named Tuulikki Pietila, with whom she collaborated on numerous projects and works later. The two women are credited to have built the Moominhouse model, which is now preserved at the Moomin museum located in Tampere. A number of characters in Jansson’s books were inspired by the people in her personal life. Too-Ticky was inspired by her partner Pietila, Moomintroll was considered as her own alter-ego, Moominmamma was created as an inspiration from her mother’s personality. Following the release of her last Moomin book, Jansson stopped writing that series and began writing for the adult readers. Her most popular adult fiction is The Summer Book. This novel is described as a work of simplicity, subtlety, and charm, and describes the experience of a young girl of staying on an island with her grandmother. Jansson created the young girl’s character based on her niece Sophia Jansson, while the girl’s dad was inspired by Sophia’s father and her grandmother’s character was taken from Jansson’s mother.

Besides writing novels, Jansson has enjoyed her careers as a cartoonist and illustrator as well. She worked for a Swedish satirical magazine called Garm from the 1930s until 1953. Jansson’s political cartoon portraying Hitler as a diaper-clad crying baby had received international fame. Jansson continued to draw political cartoons throughout World War II, often mocking Joseph Stalin and Hitler through her creative work. Likewise, Jansson also had great success as a painter, comic strip author, and writer of theater plays and stage shows. During the course of her life, Jansson had a few male lovers. A political philosopher named Atos Wirtanen was one of them. Atos’ personality inspired the author to create the character of Snufkin. After Jansson broke off her engagement with Atos, she got indulged in homosexuality. For a brief period, she had a secret affair with Vivica Bandler, who was a theater director and was already married. In 1956, she met Tuulikki Pietila and remained her partner throughout her life. Jansson’s death occurred at the age of 86 after a long battle with cancer. She is cremated in the Hietaniemi Cemetery.

The Moomin series written by author Tove Jansson is comprised of a total of 9 books released between 1945 and 1970. This children’s book series is set in a fantasy world called Moominvalley and feature magical stories revolving a family of white trolls called Moomins. It also includes some charming characters such as Snufkin, Fillyjonk, and Sniff. This series is suited for middle-grade readers as well as younger children. The debut book of the series is entitled ‘The Moomins and the Great Flood’. It was first released in 1945 and the latest edition was published by Schildts in 2006. Jansson has featured the central characters in this novel in the form of Moomintroll, Moominpappa, Sniff, Moominmamma, Tulippa, etc. The story revolves around Moomintroll and Moominmamma’s search for the disappeared Moominpappa. They look for him in every nook and corner of the Moominvalley. After several failed, Moominpappa is finally found. The family reunites and goes on to look for the house built by Moominpappa that was carried away to a far location by a flood. They succeed in finding the house and decide to reside there.

The second volume of this series is called ‘Comet in Moominland’. It was originally published in 1946 and re-released by the A & C Black publication in 1986. This novel opens by the breakout of the news that a comet is going to pass over Moominland. When Moomintroll comes to know about this news, he joins his best friend Sniff to visit the Professors working at the Observatory located in Lonely Mountains. Moomintroll wishes to have a consultation with the Professors in regards to the comet. During their journey up the mountain, Sniff and Moomintroll go through many adventures.

They come across their greatest adventure when it is learned that the comet is headed to strike the beloved Moominvalley. Moomintroll approaches his family and takes them to a cave for shelter. They hope that their beautiful Moominvalley doesn’t get destroyed and fall asleep. The next morning, they wake up with a sigh of relief upon learning that the comet took a different course and didn’t hit the Earth. After its successful run, this novel was adapted into several animation shows and a movie. The animations were made in 1978 and 1992, whereas the film was made in 2010 under the title of Moomins and the Comet Chase. The immense success of the book led Jansson to add several more titles to the series, all of which gained worldwide successes.