Tirlittan () is a Finnish

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

from 1953 by

Oiva Paloheimo Oiva Aukusti Paloheimo (2 September 1910 – 13 June 1973) was a Finnish author who wrote novels, short stories, poems and aphorisms. His best-known work is the children's book ''Tirlittan'' from 1953. Life Oiva was born under the surname Piet ...

. It’s the story of a little girl named Tirlittan who ends up separated from her family after a thunderstorm destroys their home and takes the family past, leading Tirlittan with an

ocarina The ocarina (otherwise known as a potato flute) is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the bo ...

to embark on an eventful quest to find her parents and siblings. The author himself had been an

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

as a child and dealt with the theme of orphanhood in several of his works. The book is considered to be the most well-known work of Paloheimo's literary production. Based on the book, several theater plays, a film and television adaptations have been made. However, the film adaptation '' Tweet, Tweet'' directed by Maunu Kurkvaara in 1958 was poorly received, and the author was not satisfied with the result either. Since 1993, the

Union of Finnish Writers The Union of Finnish Writers () is an ideological and professional organization representing fiction authors writing in Finnish. The organization was founded in 1897 and now has around 770 members. It is led by an elected board consisting of 8 memb ...

has awarded the Tirlittan Prize, named after the work, to Finnish-language children's and young people's literature.

References

1953 children's books Finnish children's literature Children's books adapted into films Books adapted into plays Children's books adapted into television shows {{child-book-stub