Lotta Combinaguai
written by Astrid Lindgren and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

Jonas, Mia-Maria, and Lotta are the three children who live on Troublemaker Street.

Although the book is titled Lotta Combinaguai and each short story centers on Lotta, there’s another voice that’s less visible in the action but, in my view, just as, if not more, interesting: that of Mia-Maria, the middle child. She is the one who tells the stories, carefully noting her little sister’s misadventures.

Speaking directly to readers in an authentic child’s voice, Mia-Maria opens a window onto her family life and the wonderfully ordinary moments that fill it. We learn why Lotta calls her little plush pig Teddy, what she wants most (to be as big as her brother and sister) and we watch her various bits of childish mischief: refusing to wear a scratchy sweater and cutting holes in it, claiming a dog did it, until fearful of her act she finally decides to “move out” and live by herself next door in Mrs. Berg’s attic. After arranging her own room with Mrs. Berg’s old furniture, playing with a doll, and dusting everything well more than several times, night falls and she finds herself feeling lonely. Not even the little song her mother taught her doesn’t quite comfort her. She finds relief when her father comes to bring her back home.

Lotta’s bluntness, confidence, and stubbornness make her an emblem of a child’s free spirit — the good and the wild together. Their parents gently guide the children and keep a sense of fun, lovingly joking about their trio as Big Noise, Little Noise, and Little Nut. In this home, noise isn’t scolded, it’s welcomed as part of healthy childhood. Feelings are expressed, lessons are learned, and kids are an active part of the family life.

Lotta Combinaguai is one of those books that make you laugh, but also help you understand children a little better: their freedom, their strong emotions, their desire to be themselves. It’s that same spirit that inspired me to create Dentro di Te a book that invites little ones to explore their inner world with calm, curiosity, and kindness.

And because stories often bring up big feelings, children need us beside them to name thoughts, feelings, and emotions in kid-friendly ways, to accept them all when they show up, and to gently practice self-regulation together. Dentro di Te is designed to support that conversation at home or in the classroom, one page and one feeling at a time.