Favorite Nordic Words

Author and illustrator Birgit Ruotsala is inspired to write and illustrate books about Scandinavian culture. Tomtes is a large part of how Birgit learned about this culture as a child. Through her stories that tomte's tell, she hopes to share a little Scandinavian culture with others.

Join Annika, Kristófer, Uncle Nels, Gudrun and Jaako as they explore their favorite, fun Scandinavian words. They will find out that learning words from different languages can give a whole new meaning to how we communicate with each other.

The words we use highlight a part of the culture where we live. Through our use of words, we surround ourselves with purpose and meaning.

And through the use of so many fun words, you will gain a little understanding as to why the Scandinavians are some of the happiest people in the world!

This is Birgit's fourth book of tomte stories. Her first book, THE TOMTE'S HAT, is about how and where tomtes get their red hats. Her second book, THE TOMTE'S SMORGASBORD, talks about food preparations that lead up to the Christmas Eve Smorgasbord. Recipes are included. Her third book, GRANDMA'S QUILT, weaves dementia, quilting, tomtes, and family together in a heart-warming story about love.