Mio, Min Mio: Update One

I started reading this book in Norway, and I got about four chapters into it. I am now rereading it. I read the first chapter and it went very smoothly. Neither that time nor in Norway did I use a dictionary at all. But then I decided that even though it helps somewhat with my reading comprehension to go straight through, I would learn more words if I looked up what I didn't know. When reading Kristin Lavransdatter I plan to look up only those words which definitely obstruct understanding, but Mio, Min Mio is easy enough that I can look up any words that I am unsure of and still proceed at a reasonable pace. So now, as I go, I am looking up words in my lovely, green Norwegian -> English dictionary and writing them down on a sheet of paper. At the end, I may go through and make notes of the words that are most important for me to actually, actively learn, but even just doing it this way, I think that I am adding about 85% of these words to my passive vocabulary. So far the vocabulary list is pretty nice, with a preponderance of scenery words, as usual. I have learned the words for poplar trees, wild rose bushes, and jasmine, as well as straw-roof, beehive, and knoll. But I have also learned to say 'to line oneself up' and 'to quench thirst', and even a few words that I probably should already know, like disappear and surprise.

I have gone through the first four chapters and plan to finish the fifth one tonight. There is still not a very gripping plot, but there are hints of some encroaching darkness which I'm sure will hijack things pretty soon. So far the story is that this boy named Bosse (Bo Vilhelm) disappears from Stockholm. The back of the book and the opening pages support the idea that this will be some sort of mystery book. I admit that I really hate this sort of false advertising, but oh well, that's how it goes.

The book is first person, and once you actually start reading you see that the boy has not been kidnapped or anything of the sort, but actually, due to a set of rather unconvincing circumstances and coincidences, frees a sort of genie that was sent to go get him anyway, because he is the son of the king of a faraway land (or other world, depending on how you want to look at it), and must be taken there. So Bosse goes away to this other world. Apparently this doesn't create any problems because he has adoptive parents who don't care about him and only the one best friend who appears to be of any value. I find this whole 'vanish without a trace and make no real mention of it' thing a little fishy, especially as with what I know about the book's plot as a whole, the author probably could have gotten away with just putting him in the alternate world to start with without upsetting anything - except that she would have to be more creative about introducing minor info dumps. Again, that's how it goes.

I guess that those are my only two problems with the book. What has happened so far is that when Bosse and the Genie arrive, Bosse recognizes his father the king, (he is always referred to like that: 'Min far kongen'... lit... 'My father the king'), and his father the king recognizes him as his son Mio. Bosse is now named Mio. :S (See earlier paragraph... they went to some lengths to establish his name as Bosse/Bo Vilhelm only to completely disregard this).

Now Mio goes around and sees his fathers beautiful, amazing and fun rosegarden, gets a new white/gold horse named Miramis, and makes a few friends: namely, the son of the rosegardener, Jum-Jum, and a shepherd boy, Nonno. All parents here are very pleasant and serve mostly to provide bread to laughing little boys. It is always the best bread Bosse, I mean Mio, has ever tasted. They do things like playing hide and seek and learning ancient melodies to play on wooden flutes, and it's a little hard to date the world, because even though everyone is living in cottages (except for Mio and his father the king's palace) and raising sheep, etc, Mio and his father make model airplanes a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean that they do that, and they explore the rose garden together, and that's all they seem to do together, even though Mio says that his dad is his best friend and that they hang out all the time.

That's where I am now. They have mentioned an EVIL KNIGHT KATO a few times. His name makes everything cold and scares animals and trees. Most recently, it appears that he has kidnapped Nonno's brothers sometime in the past. But oddly, people are seeming rather unconcerned with him for the moment. My prediction for the next three chapters or so is that a crisis of sorts brings this situation to a head and Mio has to go defeat the EVIL KNIGHT KATO, probably to save his friends.