Kaunon Nuoruusvuodet - Jasu Rinneoja

Kaunon Nuoruusvuodet - Jasu Rinneoja - 2019

Young Adult. Historical Fiction. Village Life.

STORY: This book contains two stories about a boy named Kauno, the first when he is still a small child and the second when he is an older child and teenager.

The author has also written a second selkokirja featuring Kauno as an adult, Kauno ja Sutki.


LANGUAGE: The language in this book is around a B1 - B2 level, and also contains dialect that might be slightly challenging to understand for a reader unfamiliar. The first story is around 60 pages and the second story around 50 pages. The whole book is split into chapters. the text is large with lots of white space and there are also nice black and white illustrations throughout the stories. The story is told through multiple perspectives - Kauno's, his mother's, father's and occasionally even various villagers' perspectives.

I recommend this to readers of level B1 and up.


CHARACTERS: Kauno is the protagonist of the story, and as the title suggest, tells the story of his childhood and youth. Kauno is a very sensitive child, though the book does not go into more medical information than that. His sensitivity is shown through the way he responds or fails to respond to various situations, and in the way his parents raise him and communicate with him.

The illustrations on the cover and in the book are very expressive and the reader truly gets to know Kauno through his adventures.


WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: This is a great book for young readers, especially middle grade through young adult. I believe that adults will also appreciate reading the book and appreciating the parents' roles and personalities.

Minä odotan sinua - Sanna-Leena Knuuttila

Minä odotan sinua - Sanna-Leena Knuuttila 2018

Historical fiction. Jatkosota. Women's fiction.

STORY: The story begins in 1940. Veikko has just returned from talvisota and the pair begin to prepare for their wedding. Hilkka rejoices in her new life as a married woman and their new life on the farm. However, in 1941 war breaks out and Veikko must leave. Hilkka must manage the farm with the help of her parents and take care of her soon to be born child.

This is an original story published in 2019. The author has previously published another novel featuring Hilkka and Veikko, Ne lensivät tästi yli. The books can be read together or as standalones without problem.


LANGUAGE: The book is broken down into five parts and includes a dictionary at the front of the book. The grammar is of a B1-B2 level. Readers will benefit from new vocabulary and also familiar vocabulary used in new contexts. The text is large and the pages contain lots of white space. Photographs are included with captions throughout the book and enhance the reading experience. At just over 100 pages, the book provides a well-developed story without being too long.

I recommend this book to readers of B1-B2 level.

CHARACTERS: Hilkka and Veikko are a young married couple with a child on the way. Both have grown up on farmland and have dreams of running their own farm someday. They are both hard working and family is very important to them. Veikko is strong and a good husband and writes letters to Hilkka throughout the book. Hilkka is also strong and hard working but worries about whether Veikko will come back home alive.

The cover of the book features a photograph of the fictionalized couple and throughout the book photos also show side characters or representative photos of men and women at the time the book is set.


WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: This is a great historical fiction novel published recently (2018). The breakdown of the sections and "chapters" make the book very accessible to selkokirja readers, while the plot keeps readers engaged and interested to learn both about daily life during war-time and also Hilkka's own personal experiences and story. A fresh, eye-opening story from an excellent writer. Highly recommend. 5/5.

Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta - Johannes Linnankoski

Artemira publising, Easy Finnish Reading
selkokirja translation; Anna Mertanen

Finnish Classic. Yli taso. Questions and exercises.

STORY: Originally written in 1905, this book tells the tale of young Olavi. Instead of settling down and staying in his home village, he has the urge to wander restlessly from town to town. He seeks out jobs such as lumberjack, where he risks his life performing dangerous tasks. His restlessness also applies to his relationships, where he falls in love with a young girl from each town and proceeds to leave her as he wanders to the next town on his journey. 

This is considered a Finnish classic, and it reads like one. It is historical, and is filled with old folklore, beliefs and customs and dense in vocabulary.

LANGUAGE: This book is 88 pages (plus extra pages afterwards) and contains short chapters, ranging in length from 1-6 pages. On each page are selected words in italics, and at the bottom of each page are definitions of those words, with the definition also in Finish. The book is split into three sections and there are discussion questions at the end of each section. At the back of the book are exercises related to vocabulary and grammar. The answers to the questions and exercises can be found easily on the publishers website at www.artemira.eu. 

This book is rated by the publisher as C, Vaativa, around 1800 words. As a selkokirja, this is on the longer side, making it ideal for a C level reader and for a B2.2 seeking to make the transition to C level. The grammar exercises in the back are around B1-B2 level, however the vocabulary may be a bit higher level. A C level reader will learn new words easily by reading the definitions at the bottom of each page, but a B1-B2 level reader may still struggle with some vocabulary in the definitions and need to look some words up in a translated dictionary.

My recommendation is B2.2 / C.

CHARACTERS: As our protagonist, we follow the story from Olavi's perspective as he wanders from town to town, meeting young girl after young girl. Instead of real names, each girl is given the name of a flower, reflecting her personality and role in Olavi's life. 

Photos of the flowers that the young girls are named after can be found on the answer key on the publisher's website. 

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: This is a great way to delve into the world of Finnish classic literature. While it has a slow start, the pacing of the rest of the book is quite fast, and can be read in a reasonably short time. The extra features of vocabulary definitions, discussion questions and exercises make this appealing to the selkokirja reader, who will benefit from reading this style of "Easy Finnish Reading" book. The original book has also been made into movies (1938/1971). Highly recommend. 5/5

Tämä on minun lauluni - Helena Seppälä

STORY: This is a poetry book that is split into 4 themes (nature, cats and other pets, feelings and a bit more personal poems) ending with a section with questions for the reader, the poetry presenter and the poetry writer. The back of the book includes some lined pages, inviting the reader to write their own poems.

The themes of the poems in this book are accessible to all readers, though definitely geared more towards adults. Although they are written in selkokieli, they are lyrical in nature and the author's images and thoughts and feelings are expressed in full, evoking landscapes, seasons and memories in the reader's mind.

LANGUAGE: Most pages contain 2-4 shorts poems per page and the size of the book is wider than it is tall, allowing the words to spread across the page and be held easily in the hands. The vocabulary is made up of everyday words, so even though this is a poetry book, the higher Finnish level reader will already recognize most of the words while the less experienced in Finnish reader will learn useful vocabulary to apply to their own life.

I recommend this books for adults, though all of the poems are family friendly. Because of the variety and accessibility of the poems, I recommend this book to all skill levels, from A1.1 on up.

CHARACTERS: While there are no characters per se in this book, the author's words as narrator and poetess are the most important in this case. Although we do not know the author's background, the introduction explains that she writes the book to express herself, in spite of having reading and writing disabilities.

Delightfully, I found that the author has her own blog at.http://lukihairikko.blogspot.com/  where more of her poetry can be found. I hope that she is someday inspired to write more poetry books accessible to all.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: This book is great for the reader who doesn't have the time to invest in a hundred page plus novel written in selkokieli. It's perfect to put down and pick back up, savoring each poem, although if you have the same experience I had while reading, you'll be reading ahead to discover more great poetry. It truly is accessible to all, and everyone will identify with the passing of the seasons, the company of a pet and going through good days and bad days and the people that surround us. The questions in the back also make this a great book for a classroom or discussion group. An enthusiastic 4/5.

Emman ja Eetun koirapulma - Marita Hauhia ja Anne Randen

STORY: One morning, Arttu's girlfriend Anni comes to visit. Emma is the only one awake and she is excited that Anni has brought her dog Pulma with her. Arttu, Emma and Eetu are to dogsit Pulma for the day. Anni warns Emma that Pulma can only go outside on a leash and to be careful so that Pulma does not escape. But during the day, Emma leaves the door open and Pulma does escape!

This is a sequel to Hauhia's first Emma ja Eetu book, Emman ja Eetun yllätyslöytö. It follows the same format of the first book is is similar in length. It is appropriate for young readers first learning to read.


CHARACTERS: All the characters from this story are from the first book, with the addition of Pulma (which means trouble in Finnish) the puppy. They appear to be around the same age as from the first book or at least not aged noticeably. Emma is young and playful, Eetu enjoys building snowmen and isn't afraid to adventure into the winter forest, Arttu is still expected to act as babysitter for the two younger children and Anni is back and friendly to all. Mom and Dad are present in the book but spend most of the story at work. When mom returns from work, she engages in conversation with them all.

I was slightly disappointed with the characters in this book compared to the first. Emma is still a joy, but Eetu seems more stubborn and stand-offish. While it was clear in the first book that older brother Arttu would rather be doing other things than taking care of his siblings, it was even more evident in this book and he even came across as unpleasant. He is not a role model for the two younger children and I find that unfortunate in a book intended for young children and families. Also, while the mother was present, the father was clearly lacking presence in this book, when even a few more lines would have sufficed. In this category, I prefer the first book over this one.


LANGUAGE: The language in this book is the same level as in the first book. There are a lot of present tense verbs and many uses of negation. While the first book featured summer and beach vocabulary, this book featured winter and dog vocabulary.

The text on each page is short, with lots of pictures, so the book can be read relatively quickly. Based on the language and story, I would recommend this book to anyone, from level A1 to above. It is not necessary to read the first Emma ja Eetu book before this one, though if you like one, then I definitely recommend the other.


WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Emma ja Eetu are great young children characters that have adventures in ordinary settings. This book features a story about a dog, which will delight younger readers. The children show teamwork by building a snowman together and eating healthy foods. Big brother Arttu shows the younger children how to take care of Anni's dog when  an emergency happens. When Emma and Eetu would like a pet of their own and mom says no, the children respond in a healthy way. And when Anni comes home and hears about what happened while she was away, she shows forgiveness. I recommend this book if you are looking for a book with these traits, a good easy reader book for beginning readers or for a family read. 3/5

100 Totuutta Suomesta - Pertti Rajala

Educational. Informative. Current.

This is a non-fiction book broken down into 100 sections, each with a different fact or topic about Finland. Included are topics on food, drink, ways of life, sports, politics and more. The information is up to date as of 2016.

The language in this book is fairly easy to understand, though the reader may encounter more advanced words on topics they know less about (sports or politics, for example).

Each section is short, at max a few pages. Many are less than a page in length. On average each section took 5-10 minutes for me to read.

I recommend this book to all language levels. It's an excellent reference book, so it doesn't need to be read from front to back. The reader can read topics of interest to them. It also breaks down difficult topics into short and concise reading, making history and government easy to understand.

This book contains information that everyone living in Finland should know and some topics might be completely new or unknown even to natives (do you know what an ICE-tunnus is?).

Included throughout the book are black and white photographs of Finnish landscapes, hobbies, architecture and more. These alone are worth flipping through the book to get an idea of what is included in the topics.

Highly recommend on every bookshelf! 5/5

Tahdon - Kari Levola, Jaana Levola

Cute. Relaxing. Engaging.

STORY: Jusa is an all-around good guy. He goes to school, cooks and cleans for his family, is nice to his neighbors, and tries to appreciate life. One day he meets a girl, Mari, in the forest. The two then deal with the struggles of life, love and happiness.

This is a nice relaxing read for the YA (young adult) teen crowd. Mari is in lukio and Jusa is a couple of years younger. The story is not overly complicated or dramatic, but the internal struggles the characters go through are the focus in this book.

CHARACTERS: Jusa is laid back and down to earth. He thinks of others and not just himself. Mari has super short hair and is smart. She lives in a nice house, her parents have expectations of her future and she has to  a be a good role model to her  a younger brother. This book contains full page illustrations throughout by Kim Helminen, and the characters' stances, expressions and attitudes really exemplify Jusa and Mari.

The book is told in third person from both Jusa and Mari's perspectives and is accessible to guy and girl readers.

LANGUAGE: Each chapter is from around 2-5 pages long. The vocabulary is basic with some more advanced words thrown into each chapter. The great illustrations help explain the story while still remaining simplistic and artistic.

I read each chapter in less than 10 minutes, most less than 5, while looking up new words using an online dictionary. What I found interesting about this book is that for me the vocabulary followed a bell curve, with the book's climax as its peak. So at the peak of the action, I was giving the book the most attention, looking up extra words, while the rest of the book was much more relaxing to read, with fewer words to look up. a surprising plus. I recommend this book to B1 or higher language levels. I think in this case the age of the reader is more important than the skill level, based on events and topics in the book.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: This is a light, relaxing read about teens and relationships, love and happiness. While this book is not specifically intended for the Finnish-as-a-second-language audience, there is a scene involving refugees. While other selkokirjat for the YA crowd are deep and heavy, this one is not complicated or overly dramatic. Neither is it fluff though! This book discusses important topics relevant to modern teens. The story will stay with the reader long after reading. And who could resist such an adorable cover? 4/5