Goodbye, Mr. Muffin

Goodbye, Mr. Muffin

“I’ve had it good, better than most: a very clever and kind wife, a little blue house with its own letter box, six furry little children…”

In his youth, Mr. Muffin was a strong guinea pig who could carry a whole cucumber on his back. Now old, grey and tired, he looks back on his life. Then one Wednesday morning, he feels a sharp pain in his stomach…

This picture book is for ages three and up. It tells the touching story about the death of a much-loved pet. Growing old, death rites, the question of the afterlife, all handled with warmth and gentle humor.

The story also shows that the final stages of life need not be a ‘difficult’ subject. A beautiful book that children love—it is one of Sweden’s bestselling and most-borrowed children’s books—Goodbye Mr Muffin won the 2002 Swedish August Prize. Voted book of the year by a children’s poll in both the Swedish Book Jury Prize (2002) and the French Chronos Prize for Youth Literature (2008–2009).

About the Author

Ulf Nilsson, a celebrated children’s writer in Sweden and a winner of the August and American Batchelder awards, was born in 1948 in Helsingborg. In 1992, Nilsson began biblical research at the University of Lund because he takes an interest in the subject and finds the Bible stories to be cornerstones of Western culture and moral concepts. Stories from the Bible are retold in many of his books, but in a new way. Together with illustrator Anna-Clara Tidholm, Ulf Nilsson won the most prestigious Swedish literary award 2002, the August Prize, for Goodbye, Mr. Muffin.

Anna-Clara Tidholm, a Swedish author and illustrator, was born in 1946 in Stockholm. She is winner of numerous awards, including the August Prize, the Elsa Beskow Prize and the German Youth Literature Prize. Anna-Clara Tidholm often collaborates with her ​​husband Thomas Tidholm, with whom she has two sons, Svante and Po.