How to grow up, deal with changes – and tame an elk?
Author: Malin Klingenberg
Swedish original: Älgflickan
Publisher: Schildts & Söderströms, 2018
Genre: young adult fiction
Number of pages: 190 pp.
Reading material: Swedish original, English sample
Rights sold: Finnish, Kustantamo S&S; German, dtv; World Spanish, Errata Naturae
Johanna has just started middle school and many things have changed during the summer. Her best friend Sandra, for instance. Sandra has started to spend time with the most popular girls in their year and is doing anything to get their approval. Johanna only wants things to be as they were.
Luckily, Johannas’s got her forest den, where she can enjoy the fresh forest air and study the animals in peace.
Malin Klingenberg writes in a serious but light-hearted way about being a teenager in the throes of changes. And about taming an elk.
Elk Girl is a touching young adult novel from Malin Klingenberg, following her popular middle grade novel series about the adventures of The Senior Squad. Critics and readers alike have heaped praise on the book.
“Elk Girl gets a hold of the confusing and tangled daily life. Humorist Klingenberg ladles into the story absurdities, like taming an elk with popcorn but lets the seriousness shimmer in the background. The result is brilliant.”
– Hufvudstadsbladet newspaper
From the novel:
“I stepped down from my bed silently and went out the front. I thought an elk would be afraid of me but even though they must’ve noticed me, they only pricked up their ears. I sneaked closer. One of the elks turned its head and looked at me whilst slowly chewing a tuft of grass. I knew it was ridiculous to smile at an elk but I couldn’t help myself.
Hello you, I whispered. The elk listened attentively again and stopped chewing for a moment, then went on eating.”
– Translated by Aleksi Koponen
Also available:
The Skeleton (2023)
The Secret Life of Farts (2019)
The Senior Squad #1, Patrik and The Senior Squad
The Senior Squad #2, Irene and the Moneyhoover
The Senior Squad #3, Fake Bernice
The Senior Squad #4, The Fantastic Alfredo
The Senior Squad #5, Rakel’s Miracle
The Senior Squad #6, The Magnificent Senior Match
About the author:
Malin Klingenberg