The Story of the Little Old Man

A lonely old man, who makes friends with a dog, feels deserted when a little girl also begins to play with it.

The story of the Little Old Man (first published in Sweden by Rabén & Sjögren in 1979, distributed in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992) marked the beginning of Barbro Lindgren’s long-lived co-operation with illustrator Eva Eriksson. The book was also her first of many for the very young. In it, we meet two figures to whom Barbro Lindgren would frequently return – a lonely human and a friendly dog. In this poignant tale of friendship, it is the dog, placing a cold nose in the old man’s hand, which assuages the man’s feelings of abandonment.