Flicka, Ricka, Dicka Go to Market

January 30, 2012
From a Swedish picture book series about three blonde triplets (originally published in the U.S. in the 1950s), this redesigned edition centers on the girls as they grow a garden in hopes of selling vegetables so they can buy bicycles. The girls learn the art of patience—first sending away for the seeds (“Oh,” Ricka says, “even the outsides of the envelopes are beautiful”), then waiting for them to sprout. When it’s finally time to harvest, a farmer offers the girls the use of his horse and cart if they will also sell his flowers at the market. The triplets, who wear matching outfits that alternate between blue and orange stripes and solids, appear in tidy compositions—walking in line under an orange umbrella in a rainstorm, they resemble a troika of Morton Salt Girls. Lindman’s designs point to a bygone era of friendly, pipe-smoking neighbors and delayed gratification, offering a refreshing change of pace for the Farmville generation. Ages 5–8.

July 1, 2012
This redesigned book stars Swedish triplets Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka. They plant a garden, drive their produce to market in a pony cart, and earn enough money to buy bicycles. Both the text and the illustrations are somewhat stiff and old-fashioned, though the enterprising, identical girls have a certain appeal, particularly for beginning readers. Paper dolls are included.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)