Moominwhat?

Last week, I had a spurt of memory from my childhood; we were discussing children's books and the ridiculous/silly/weird favorites we had. I was a huge fan of historical fiction, girly books about adventurers and mysteries. Then, I remembered a weird series that I loved with quirky illustrations but couldn't for the life of me remember the title or the author. I called my mom to ask if she could remember the name- the conversation went something like this:

Me: "I'm trying to think of a book series I liked when I was like eight or nine. There were animals, no humans, they weren't real animals though, and the one looked kinda like a squirrel."

Mom: "Uhhh."

Me: "They had a lot of weird adventures, like they rode on a magic carpet and the one had a top hat and if you put things into it they changed into other things."

Mom: "Are you sure you're not thinking of Five Children and It?" (side note: great book)

Me: "Nooo, there weren't any humans, just creatures. There was an ice queen too, and she froze the little squirrel guy. I swear I'm not thinking of The Chronicles of Narnia.

Mom: "Honey, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Me: "There were cute little illustrations, oh and there was a glossary in the back that had a little story explaining each of the characters..."

Mom: "Finn Family Moomintroll!"

Me: "Yesssss."

So there you have it. These books are great. The Finnish author, Tove Jansson, created these weird little creatures and wrote a fantastical, magical series based around the Moomintroll family. I love the little goblin like one with a pipe and flowers in its hair, and the girl/thing with a topknot. The books were made into a comic, but I love the original illustrations:

I think I'm going to try to find the series on eBay, or maybe I'll steal them from my parents house. Too good.