Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Pettson och Findus #1

Палачинковата торта за рождения ден на Финдъс

Rate this book
Весела история за тортата в чест на Финдъс, който има рожден ден три пъти в годината, защото така е по-забавно!

Книгите от поредицата са преведени на 44 езика, продадени са над шест милиона екземпляра. В много страни са заемали челни места в топ класациите за най-продавани книги. Удостоени са с големи международни награди. Историите за дядо Петсън и неговото необикновено коте са адаптирани за телевизия, заснет е филм, играят се театрални спектакли. Сладкодумните приказки и уникалните илюстрации на Свен Норквист доставят истинска наслада на децата с многобройните си детайли, като развиват въображението им и без назидание им показват колко ценни са приятелството и грижата един за друг.

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Sven Nordqvist

212 books255 followers
Sven Nordqvist (born 30 April 1946) is a Swedish writer and illustrator of children's books. He is best known for his series Pettson and Findus, about an old farmer, Pettson, and his talented cat, Findus.

Nordqvist was born in Helsingborg and grew up in Halmstad, Sweden. He originally wanted to be an illustrator but was rejected by several art schools. Instead he studied architecture at Lund Institute of Technology, and worked for a time there as a lecturer in architecture. At the same time he continued to look for work as an illustrator working on advertisements, posters and picture books. In 1983 he won first prize in a children's book competition and since then has worked exclusively as an author and illustrator of children's books.

He is married and has two grown sons.

During his career, he has been given awards in both Sweden and Germany. His Pettson and Findus books are especially popular in Germany, where the characters are known as Pettersson and Findus. In Danish they are called Peddersen and Findus. In Finnish they are called Pesonen and Viiru. And in English, Festus and Mercury, though English translations of the books exist with the original names kept.

In 2007 he won the literary award Augustpriset in the children's books category, for his book Var är min syster? ("Where is my sister?"). In 1992 he won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1,976 (57%)
4 stars
1,013 (29%)
3 stars
329 (9%)
2 stars
77 (2%)
1 star
31 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
Profile Image for ⊱ Sonja ⊰.
3,335 reviews516 followers
August 24, 2023
Es gibt Bücher, die sind einfach zeitlos. Ich finde, die "Pettersson und Findus" - Bücher gehören dazu. Obwohl die Geschichten inzwischen nicht mehr "jung" sind, machen sie immer noch Spaß. Und den alten Pettersson und seinen gewitzten Kater Findus muss man einfach mögen.
Auch dieses Buch bildet da keine Ausnahme. Findus hat mal wieder Geburtstag (mindestens 2 oder auch 3 mal im Jahr muss das sein), und Pettersson möchte ihm eine Torte backen. Doch die Zutaten sind nicht im Haus...
Ein wirklich schönes Buch für Jung und Alt!
Profile Image for Sheri.
1,214 reviews109 followers
March 4, 2020
The colorful and detailed illustrations add their own layer of fun to this comedy of errors as Pettson tries to make a birthday cake out of pancakes and whipped cream for his cat, Findus. Delightful and amusing!
Profile Image for Manny.
Author 34 books14.9k followers
August 25, 2010
If Pettson, P, is to make a pancake pie, then P must buy flour.

If P is to buy flour, then P must cycle to town.

If P is to use a cycle C, then C's tires must be intact.

If P is to make C's tires intact, then P must obtain a cycle repair kit R.

If P is to obtain R, then P must have the key to the toolshed K.

If K is in the well W, then P must have a fishing rod F.

If F is on the roof, then P must have a ladder L.

If L is in the bull B's field, then P must scare away B.

If P's neighbor N had known all of the above, then N wouldn't necessarily have thought P had lost his wits when he saw him playing Jussi Björling records for B on P's wind-up phonograph.

That's logic. What do they teach them in schools these days?
Profile Image for Arezoo Alipanah.
234 reviews140 followers
July 11, 2020
به نظرم برای تزریق حس خوب این کتاب عالیه*-*
عکساش خیلی زنده اند.

A great book for a good feeling! *-*
Profile Image for Norah Una Sumner.
859 reviews508 followers
February 1, 2021
Surprise, I am not dead or kidnapped by aliens. Although uni and life really did make it seem so, apparently.

As much as I didn't have the time to start any new series and catch up on newer releases these past few months, I did have the pleasure of reading the entirety of Sven Nordqvist's series for children Pettson och Findus both in original Swedish and Serbian for a paper on children's literature I was working on for Masters. The story is so warm and wonderful and it is even more stunning when paired with Nordqvist's very own illustrations for it. I wasn't that aware of the popularity this series had and still has in Sweden before I started researching, but I am so glad that I read this and learned more about it through popular culture as well.

It would be a bit too much work to review each and every book of the series as the Goodreads doesn't offer any kind of collection edition, so I'm writing this in general for one of my favourite parts of it!
Profile Image for Katerina.
853 reviews755 followers
June 8, 2018
"Мама, почитай мне книжку, которая называется "Как Петсон и котик хотели испечь пирог, но у них не было муки, а ключ от сарая потерялся, и они прогоняли быка и чинили велосипед и ехали в магазин".
Profile Image for Kathryn.
4,523 reviews
March 16, 2017
I thought it was charming. I love all the detail in the illustrations and the humorous and unexpected way the story unfolded with regard to gathering the ingredients for the pancakes. Lots of fun little details in the illustrations that enhance the story.
Profile Image for Abigail.
7,359 reviews221 followers
April 23, 2022
The Birthday Cake - 1999 Michael Rollerson translation of Pannkakstårtan.

The first of Swedish author Sven Nordqvist's many picture-books devoted to the madcap adventures of Pettson the farmer, and his feline companion, Findus, The Birthday Cake is an entertaining tale of two friends and the extraordinary lengths to which they will go, in order to make that all-important birthday cake for Findus! (Well, I suppose it's not that extraordinary - I've been known to go pretty far out of my way for cake myself, from time to time). In an amusing series of back-and-forth exchanges, Pettson, who the neighbors think is more than a little crazy, and Findus, who has three birthdays per year, "just because it was more fun that way," wrangle with the question of how to bake a cake, when: the flour has gone missing, the bicycle needed to fetch more flour has a punctured tire, the shed containing the necessary tools to repair the bike is locked, the key to the shed is at the bottom of the well, the fishing rod needed to fish out the key is in the (locked) shed, and the ladder that would enable Pettson to climb onto the shed, and through the skylight, is with a neighbor's cantankerous bull in a nearby field. Needless to say, it takes a lot of ingenuity (and a few grouchy exchanges along the way) to put all to rights...

With its delightfully detailed illustrations, and zany sense of humor - matter-of-factly ridiculous, and slyly subversive - The Birthday Cake is an incredibly entertaining romp! I enjoyed many of the pointed little details in the narrative, from the idea that Pettson was considered crazy, partly because he "wasn't like other people," to the fact that, despite being old and rather absent-minded, he understands his cat so well. I had to chuckle at the scene in which Findus is convinced to confront the bull in his field, the other option being going without cake! This wonderful tale, published originally in Swedish as Pannkakstårtan, has been translated into English at least three times (that I know of): in an American version ( Pancake Pie ) released shortly after the original; in a recent British version ( Pancakes for Findus ) printed in 2007; and in this edition, translated by Michael Rollerson, and put out by the same Swedish publisher (Opal) as the original. Having not seen the British edition, I cannot speak to its quality, but I strongly prefer this edition, The Birthday Cake, to Pancake Pie , which I read at the same time, and which, sad to say, is somewhat abridged (see that review for more details). My recommendation, therefore - and it is a strong one! - applies to this edition, which I heartily enjoyed, and which I wish were more readily available!
Profile Image for Inese Okonova.
467 reviews50 followers
October 18, 2021
Jauks, asprātīgs stāsts komplektā ar brīnišķīgām un ļoti detalizētām bildēm, ko pētīt un pētīt. Lieliska bērnu grāmata.
Profile Image for Karis.
135 reviews60 followers
July 2, 2018
As an almost adult teenager, it’s rare that one finds me with my nose in a picture book, unless it happens to be a moment when I’m re-discovering an old favorite when going through boxes, but I have to say I quite frankly ADORED this book and enjoyed every second of reading it.

The illustrations are so imaginative and charming, and the storytelling unique and just as satisfying as the pictures to match.

We’re introduced to the main characters, Pettson and his cat Findus of whom he lives with quite companionably, as Pettson is preparing to bake a birthday cake. However, doing so proves to be more of a challenge then anticipated and, inadvertently, becomes the talk of his neighbors, proving in their minds the eccentricity of Pettson, truly only an absentminded old gentleman.

Reminiscent of Mr. Potter and Tabby and Amelia Bedelia amidst a charming Sweden rural community, this book is sure to be a delight and bring joy to readers of all ages.
Profile Image for Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023).
2,041 reviews75 followers
May 1, 2018
5*art
5* story

(I love Sven Nordqvist. I want to read everything he wrote to Squirt. So it's frustrating to find that the library only has 2 books by him. Glum, that's what I am.)
This is a version of a Problem String, or Thwarted At Every Turn story - these come up in so many forms and I love them because they are so true to life (especially if you're a woman). Anyway, the illustrations are so lively and humourous, Squirt and I wish we could live inside the book.
Profile Image for Jūra.
13 reviews
January 12, 2024
Mylimiausia vaikystės knyga. Tiek istorija, tiek iliustracijos sužavi.
Profile Image for Jard.
18 reviews1 follower
April 16, 2024
Min svenska är lite rostig, men jag älskar den här boken 🧡🧡🧡
Profile Image for Laura.
33 reviews
February 23, 2023
Man merker at dette er første bok i serien. Etter min mening utvikler personene, illustrasjonene og historiene seg til det bedre gjennom hele serien.
Profile Image for Abigail.
7,359 reviews221 followers
December 4, 2018
Pancake Pie - 1985 American translation of Pannkakstårtan.

One of three English translations of this classic Swedish picture-book - which include this American version, published the same year (1985) as the original; a 1999 translation ( The Birthday Cake ) done by Michael Rollerson for Bokförlaget Opal, the original Swedish publisher; and a British edition ( Pancakes for Findus ) released in 2007 - Pancake Pie is, judged on its own merits, and in isolation from any other version of the tale, an engaging enough book for younger readers. Detailing the madcap adventures of farmer Festus and his cat Mercury (Pettson and Findus in the original, and in the other translations), and their efforts to overcome numerous obstacles in the making of a cake for Mercury's birthday, it boasts both an amusing text and appealing illustrations.

It is only when compared to another, seemingly** fuller translation, that done by Rollerson in 1999 ( The Birthday Cake ), that this book feels a little... wanting. Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it, or that it has no merit! But I couldn't help but feel, reading through Pancake Pie, and then comparing and contrasting it to this other version (sadly, I was not able to obtain the British edition, Pancakes for Findus , so I can only compare two of the three English translations), that many of the sharper moments - the moments of social observation, or of sly humor - have been elided, in favor of a smoother, altogether less interesting narrative.

At the beginning of the book, for instance, the Rollerson translation includes a paragraph about the local townspeople, and how they view Pettson, who "isn't quite like other people." This passage, and the sense that it gives of how perception can be distorted by expectation - that sometimes what seems 'crazy' is just something or someone who is different - is entirely missing from the American version, which also omits the accompanying illustration, showing the townspeople all laughing at Pettson and his ways. This is the most obtrusive change, I think, but many of the little details - the fact that the characters' names have been changed from Pettson and Findus to Festus and Mercury (why? why was this necessary?), or that the music played on the victrola goes from Viennese waltzes to the Star Spangled Banner (again, why? the original doesn't seem to have any patriotic connotations) - were also troubling. I won't say that these difference ruin Pancake Pie, but they do give it a very different flavor than The Birthday Cake - a far less appealing flavor, in my opinion. Good enough, if it's all you can get, but I recommend hunting down the fuller version!

**Not reading Swedish, I cannot definitively say that the Rollerson translation is more accurate, but it certainly contains quite a bit more text. The fact that it is published by the Swedish press which also published the original also lends credence to the idea that it is a closer, more accurate rendition.
Profile Image for Debra Shumate.
76 reviews1 follower
June 21, 2014
I loved this book so much, I named my cat "Findus". My grandchildren are huge fans of these Sven Nordqvist stories! They are very clever, and filled with charm and humor. I don't think they are very well known in the US. Too bad. I am adding my favorite here - maybe we can change that!
Profile Image for Mir.
4,895 reviews5,202 followers
February 13, 2017
Disorganized Festus and his cat have some madcap, but domestic, adventures whilst trying to prepare a cake. I'm told this is an abridged and less sarcastic version of the original text.
Profile Image for Jenny.
2,937 reviews31 followers
April 10, 2017
The people in town think Pettson is crazy. But it really was all a misunderstanding on a day when Pettson was trying to make a birthday cake for his cat, Findus, and everything went wrong. A humorous story with a quirky cat and his quirky owner as the characters. Includes a recipe for Pettson's pancakes.
Profile Image for Lolita iš Kauno.
228 reviews7 followers
May 1, 2023
Ratas apsisuko ir aš vėl skaitau Petsono ir Finduso istorijas. Linksmi, juokingi nutikimai, detalios iliustracijos. Mažoji ne tik klauso, bet ir skaičiuoja vištas, katinus, etc.
Profile Image for Terminus.
231 reviews
March 7, 2024
Findus der Kek will drei mal im Jahr Geburtstag feiern. Richtiges Einzelkind-Verhalten
Profile Image for Preili Pipar.
591 reviews14 followers
August 29, 2021
Lugu sellest, kuidas tekivad arusaamatused ja tehakse valejäreldused. Naeruturtsatused toob see raamat küll kaasa 😊
Profile Image for Katya Piccione.
36 reviews1 follower
June 28, 2020
Заливахме се от смях, докато я четохме. Много е забавна, картинките (на автора) са невероятни - не просто хубави, а с толкова детайли, че при всяко разглеждане забелязваш нови весели дреболийки. И, в крайна сметка разбираш, че нещата не винаги са такива, каквито изглеждат.
Profile Image for Cosette.
1,255 reviews10 followers
June 12, 2015
Lovely tale - was sad no recipe was included
Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.