Pettson and Findus is a series of children’s books written and illustrated by Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 author Sven Nordqvist

Sven Nordqvist

Sven Nordqvist is a Swedish writer and illustrator of children's books. He is best known for his series Pettson and Findus, about an old farmer, Pettson, and his talented cat, Findus.- Background :...

. The books feature an old farmer (Pettson) and his cat (Findus) who live in a small ramshackle farmhouse in the countryside. The first of the Pettson och Findus book to be published was Pannkakstårtan in 1985 (first published in English in 2007 as Pancake Pie).

To date, nine story books have been published in Swedish, plus a puzzle book, song book and cook book. The books have worldwide book sales of over 6 million and have been translated into 44 languages. There are two alternative English translations of the characters' names: in the books published in the UK by Hawthorn Press, as well as those published in English by Swedish publisher Opal, they have the original names, Pettson and Findus, while in the books published in the USA by Carolrhoda Books they are called Festus and Mercury.

In addition to the books, there are also three Pettson and Findus 75-minute long animated films, an animated TV series of 26 25-minute parts, computer games and board games. In December 1993, the Swedish TV company SVT

Sveriges Television

Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...

 broadcast one of the Pettson and Findus stories, Tomtemaskinen (The mechanical santa), as its annual Julkalendern

Julkalendern

Julkalendern or Adventskalendern is an annual Swedish Christmas calendar television series broadcast by Sweden's national television broadcasting company Sveriges Television , since 1960 and has developed into a living part of contemporary Swedish yuletide tradition.Every series consists of 24...

 (Christmas calendar), with one 15-minute part shown each day up until Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...

. In 2000 the world of Pettson and Findus was recreated full scale at the Junibacken

Junibacken

Junibacken is a children’s museum situated on the island of Djurgården in the centre of Stockholm, Sweden. The museum was officially opened by the Swedish Royal Family on June 8, 1996. The museum is Stockholm’s 5th most-visited tourist attraction. The museum is devoted to Swedish children’s...

 Children’s Museum in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

The setting for the stories

Pettson is an old farmer who lives in a ramshackle red-ochre-painted wooden farmhouse in the Swedish countryside. He is presumably a widower, as in Pettson Goes Camping he tells of a planned camping trip with his wife in his youth, but no children are mentioned. His neighbours regard him as a bit odd. However, he does have the company of a cat, Findus. Findus is dressed in a green-striped costume and wears a cap. Pettson and Findus can converse with each other, and the cat can stand up on his two hind legs like a human - Findus thus appears and behaves as if he were a small child. However, Findus, unlike Pettson, is aware of other "small creatures" living in the house, who play havoc with Pettson's belongings. Each of the books takes off from simple events, such as gardening, going fishing, preparing for Christmas, and so on. It emerges only in the most recent of the books, When Findus was little and disappeared, that the cat had been given to Pettson as a kitten, and that he had arrived in a cardboard box with the text "Findus

Findus

Findus is a company that produces and retails frozen food. Its products include Crispy Pancakes, which were invented in the early 1970s.- Origins :...

peas" on the side - hence the inspiration for the choice of a name.

The Pettson and Findus books

• Pancakes for Findus / aka: Pancake Pie (2007) (Original: Pannkakstårtan, 1985)
• Findus and the Fox / aka: The Fox Hunt (2009) (Original: Rävjakten, 1986)
• Findus at Christmas / aka: Merry Christmas Festus and Mercury (2011) (Original: Pettson får julbesök, 1989)
• A Rumpus in the Garden / aka: Festus and Mercury (2005): Ruckus in the Garden (Original: Kackel i grönsakslandet, 1990)
• Festus and Mercury: Wishing to go Fishing (1991) (Original: Stackars Pettson, 1991)
• Findus Goes Camping / aka: Pettson Goes Camping / aka: Festus and Mercury Go Camping (2010) (Original: Pettson tältar, 1992)
• The Mechanical Santa (Tomtemaskinen, 1994)
• The Rooster’s Minute (Tuppens minut, 1996)
• When Findus was Little and Disappeared (2008) (Original: När Findus var liten och försvann, 2001)

• Puzzle with Findus (Pyssla med Findus)
• Pettson and Findus Song book (Pettson och Findus sångbok)
• Pettson and Findus cookbook (Pettson och Findus kokbok)

The Pettson and Findus films

• Pettson & Findus - 1999
• Pettson & Findus II - Pettson & Findus II - The Cat-o-naut (Kattonauten), 2000.
• Pettson & Findus III – Pettson’s Promise (Tomtemaskinen), 2005
• Pettson & Findus IV - Forget-Abilities (Glömligheter), 2009.