Risto the Rapper

Sinikka and Tiina Nopola

Noodlehead -cover

Illustrated by Aino Havukainen and Sami Toivonen ( Two books illustrated by Christel Rönns)
Hetki lyö, Risto Räppääjä 1997
Risto Räppääjä ja kauhea makkara 1998
Risto Räppääjä ja Nuudelipää 2000
Risto Räppääjä ja pakastaja-Elvi 2001
Risto Räppääjä ja komea Kullervo 2002
Risto Räppääjä ja sitkeä finni 2003
Risto Räppääjä ja Hilpuri Tilli 2004
Risto Räppääjä ja villi kone 2006
Risto Räppääjä ja viimeinen tötterö 2007
Risto Räppääjä ja kuuluisa Kamilla 2009
Risto Räppääjä saa isän 2011
Risto Räppääjä ja nukkavieru Nelli 2012
Risto Räppääjä ja kaksoisolento 2013
Risto Räppääjä ja Sevillan saituri (will be published in July 25th, 2014)


Risto Räppääjä is a young boy that lives with his aunt Rauha. He plays the drums and raps (hence the name Räppääjä = rapper in Finnish). Risto and Rauha have odd adventures, even though they try to live ordinary lives. Risto’s best friend is Nelli Nuudelipää (Noodlehead). Risto has bookseries, plays and movies.

Risto the Rapper movie book -cover

The bookseries starts with Risto and Rauha moving into a new home. Risto plays his drums and then the threatening t Letters start coming from upstairs. In book nr 2, Rauha has to come up with new product to sell. Rissto comes up with sausages that they can get from Hungary.

 In Risto Räppääjä and Noodle hear, RIsto gets new neighbors. At first Risto doesn’t like Nelli but soon they are best friends. Pakastaja-Elvi is a story about Rauha’s cousin Elvi, who comes to help out when Rauha breakes her leg. Risto thinks Elvi is a criminal.

 In Risto Räppääjä and Handsome Kullevo a new boy Handsome Kullervo moves to the house next door. Nelli and Kullervo becomes friends and Risto becomes jealous. In the next book Risto gets a pimple even though Risto is too young. Risto tries to hide it from Nelli. It turns out that the pimple is glue.

The two books presented here are special books. The first has pictures from the first Risto Räppääjä movie.

Alpo tells what the characters were thinking

Risto the Rapper movie book 2008
-39 coincedenses and facts about the movie
Alpo the cat knows what really happened in the movie. He tells what Risto and Nelli thought when Risto visits Nelli. And what Nelli thought, when Risto shows her his favourite stone. This book gives another angle to the movie. The producers of the movie enlighten the birth of the movie and how one movie involves dozens of professionals, but also roles, juice and snacks. Sinikka and Tiina Nopola tell, who the characters from the manuscript jump into the screen and how the whole movie is team work.

 
 RR as in Risto the Rapper 2010

RR cover

The second book tells background stories to Risto: what was he like as a baby? What kind of childhood did Rauha have. It also explains the prowerbs that are used in the book. The book also includes word acrobatics. There are also puzzeles such as: what doesn’t belong to the group.

The faces of Risto the Rapper

Niko reindeer

Niko cover

Hannu Tuomainen:
Niko - A way to the stars 2008
Niko 2 - Little Brother, Big Trouble 2012


Niko - A way to the stars
Niko is a young reindeer who lives with his mother. His father is supposedly one of the "Flying Forces", Santa's flying sled reindeer. Niko is trying to fly, but he cannot. His best friend, a flying squirrel Juuso is also a father figure to him. Niko decides to go visit his father at Korvatunturi, where Santa Clause lives. Juuso follows him. They save a weasel Wilma, who helps them find to Korvatunturi.

Wilma the weasel

On their way they run into Black Wolf, who wants to eat the Flying Forces. Niko escapes the wolf several times and the wolf gets mad. He wants revenge. Niko meets up his father and learnes to fly.

Niko 2 -cover

Niko 2 - Little brother, Big Trouble
In the second book, Niko's mother has met a new guy, who also has a son, Jonni. Jonni admires Niko, but Niko wants nothing to do with Jonni. Mostly, because Niko still wishes his father would come back to them. Niko wishes Jonni would disappear. So he does, the eagles take him. Niko goes after him.



The scenery in both books (originally in the movies) are very familiar, since they were inspired by Lappland. One thing bothers me. I konw it is a fairy tale, but in Finnish stories the Santa's reindeer never fly. That is totally anglo saxon mythology. Then again the story wouldn't be as exciting if the reindeer do not fly.

Onneli and Anneli

Marjatta Kurenniemi 1966

Marjatta Kurenniemi wrote four books about Onneli and Anneli. The first book was published in 1966. In 2003 a book that had all four stories was published.

The first book, the House of Onneli and Anneli (Onnelin ja Annelin talo), tells a story of two girls, best friends tha find a sum of money and buy a house. Anneli lives part time with her mother, part time with her dad. Onneli is the middle child of nine children. No one notices that they are not there anymore.

The house that they buy is made for little girls. Mrs. Ruusupuu (Rosetree), who sells the house, cannot live there herself. The neighbours are two ladies Tingelstiina and Tangelstiina, who have chickens that lay easter eggs and have balloons growing in their garden. The other neighbour is a widow, who has a cupboard full of piggy banks and is a bit grumpy. (Luckily Onneli and Anneli fix that).

Onneli and Anneli find a house

Second book tells about the first winter the girls stay in their house "Winter with Onneli and Anneli" (Onnelin ja Annelin talvi). They receive guest, the tiny family of Vaaksanheimo (Vaaksa is the distance between the thumb and the middle finger, heimo means tribe or family). The family moves into Onneli's and Anneli's doll house. All kinds of adventure awaits.

The third book, Onneli, Anneli and the orphans (Onneli, Anneli ja orpolapset) start with an orphanage moving across the street from Onneli and Anneli. The director of the orphanage is an old acquaintance of the girls. Happy ending, the girls and the adults in the street fix the orphanage to be a happy place.

The fourth book about Onneli and Anneli (Onneli, Anneli ja nukutuskello) tells about Tingelstiina's and Tangelstiina's brother. He is an inventor and invented a sleeping clock. It is like an alarmclock but reverse: everyone falls a sleep when the clock rings. A factory owner wants to make a high way near Onneli's and Anneli's house. He also wants the clock. Needless to say there is a happy ending.

Family Vaaksanheimo moves in.

The drawings in the book are made by Maija Karma (She also illustrated Adalmina's pearl.)The drawings fit the book very well.

In January 2014 was made a movie of the first book. Even a house was built according to the story.

The stories are very optimistic with some sad nuances: the fact that no one misses the girls, the sad orphanage, homeless tiny people and gready business man. Despite all of these the tone is very optimistic and every story has a happy ending. Real good mood books.