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Tilda, the wild(a) Tilda!!!
Svenska tack
 
Once upon a time, there was a girl, she was born when world war II just broked out. She lived with her mother and father on the countryside...so, they didn´t knew much about the war that was going on in the rest of Europe. The only thing that they knew, was to put some dark drapery in the windows, to hide the light to come trough, if some foreign aircraft passed by over Sweden.
When Tilda started the 1:e grade in school, the war was over! But the curtains was still hanging there,  people still had to buy with ration coupons...In the city people had a hard time, without heating and food. But for they who lived on the countryside and who was farmers it was allright. Tildas family was farmers. Not far away from balticpacific called Ålands Hav in swedish. They haved on there table eggs, milk, pork and fish.

But Tilda was a lonely child. She didn´t have any sister or brother and her friends lived far away, in different farms around the village...or were the foodmarket was...or were the trainstation was...or the mill. So Tilda didn´t see her friends so much more than in school. But at Tildas home, there was many animal who become her very special friends and Tilda never had a bored time...
 

It was a lot of food in Tildas house, but no money to buy things...When there was some money, it all was boughted up for corn, some tools or something other important for the farm´s daily care. The dream Tilda had, was to buy a horse, but it couldn´t happen! But the dream was there and you can allways pretend you got a horse...
 and it was just what Tilda did, with all stuff that could move and if it couldn´t she did it anyway! The results of that, was her parents irritation...her mother was really indignant about the way her daughter behaved. Almost like a boy!!!


In 1940 it was really carefully to behave correctly, special for children. Girls must be girls and boys must be boys. But Tilda didn´t care about how other children was, so why care about how I am? And the most important thing for her was to NEVER become a farmers wife...
 
They only washed and cooked..
 

....

FARMER was her ambition to become...like her father!

In these days and when you lived on the country, then the parents was allways around, but they had their daily chores to make...Dad was mostly in the stable or out on the fields, in the woods or worked with the fence, in the winter he worked with the saw for a while. The only thing that Tilda wasn´t aa part of, was just the saw, because she didn´t had the time for it, she had her school to care for!

 
 
The book of Tilda...
A couple of years ago, the Norstedts contacted me whit a assignment to write some short "first reader books" for children who just started to read, in the meantime the books should be good as a  story-book. I wasn´t in shape to write, in that moment, but I let the typewriter run...and so there she was!!! Who she is?
 
 
 

As an writer I´m come up with storys from my self, it´s not allways truestorys, it might as well be a fantasy from my emotions. Tilda is in many way, me!, when I was a child...and in her dreams is the same dreams I had as a child.
 

In a way Tilda could do all that things I wanted, but was to afraid to do..Mostly, all the reality things that Tilda is going through, has happend for real, I rode the wicker chair all apart...and I hided the elegant cote in the dunghill...and yes, I have a great care with animals, but not quite so much as Tilda have, further on in book after book...!
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But  one thing I had in comment with Tilda...I got angry so easly, and then the tongue pointed right out to provote the adult´s. The growned up people couldn´t cache up with all the this bad language. And all that leadership I´ve had (it most have been) put a lot of trouble for me, as well as for Tilda! It was a lot of things to clear out...
Tilda is in the books a lonely child...but when I was a child I had a lot of friends. It´s easyer to let a character be special because it´s more suitable for little children to understand, and you don´t have any  brother or sister trouble in the book...And for the adult´s she is also easy to understand, because she is wise like a adult but she´s only 8 years old!
The truth is, that my father wasn´t a farmer...he was a merchant. My mother wasn´t a farmers wife, she was a journalist and a hospital-nurse.
But we lived on the country, and we had a farm, but it was strangers who worked there when my parents had to work.
Tildas life, is the life of my dreams when I was a child...My parents lived by my side every day and my dreams strenghten more when my parents divorced. I was 9 years old and I adopted the neighbor to be my new father...and the horse experience and a lot more happend that´s been reviewed later on in the books... I´m watched my school friend´s familys and I thought they wore the happyest people in the world!  , In that time, in 1940 to 1950, the children lived much closer whit their parents than how they do to day and they was more experienced about all that daily things that growned up have to do. I´m very greatful for that...maybe my writing
and my drawing Is a product of that...because I knew just like Tilda, how my life would be... Gunilla Wolde


 
 
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Tilda and Storm