Children’s Books is the theme for this year’s Europa stamps, which are issued by the members of the Posteurop postal organization. The Swedish stamps honor two female children’s book authors who are separated by three-quarters of a century but share similarities in their writing styles, Elsa Beskow (1874-1953) and Lena Anderson (1939-).

“I would say that Lena Anderson is a modern version of Elsa Beskow. Both want to entertain their readers while still teaching their young readers a lesson. They expertly weave together artistry, storytelling and pedagogics,” says Cecilia Östlund, senior librarian at the Swedish Institution for Children’s Books in Stockholm.

The stamp motifs are taken from Elsa Beskow’s Children of the Forest (Tomtebobarnen) from 1910, which teaches about nature, and Lena Anderson’s Maja’s Alphabet (Majas alfabet), which was issued in 1984 and in which the letters of the alphabet and reading are the entertaining main characters.

published February 27th, 2010