Játningar mjólkurfernuskálds facts for kids

Játningar mjólkurfernuskálds ('confessions of a milk-carton poet') is the first novel by Arndís Þórarinsdóttir, published in Reykjavík by Mál og menning in 2011. It was nominated for the 2013 Nordic Children's Book Prize.

The title refers to the Icelandic custom of publishing children's poems on the side of milk cartons; the main character of the novel has been published in this way, and it marks her as a goody two-shoes and overachiever.

Plot

The novel is a first-person story of Halla, who is the daughter of a gay male couple, Aðalsteinn and Tryggvi. She is 13, from the affluent Vesturbær district of Reykjavík, doing spectacularly well in her studies, given to wearing pink, and popular among her classmates. However, when she is expelled from her school for violating school rules, Halla is abandoned by her friends, most prominently her best friend Jenný. Meanwhile, the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis means that her family has to move to her aunt Salóme's house in a working-class district, where Halla starts in a new school.

Labelled as a troublemaker at her new school, Halla decides to live up to the label and be a 'vandræðaunglingur' (teenage delinquent). She shaves her head; endeavours to become friends with the Goth Anna Ninja and her friend Alexander Filippus, who, it emerges, suffers from depression; and concludes that she will not attend confirmation (a traditional and important rite of passage for Icelandic teenagers).

However, Halla's nerdy tendencies are spotted by a popular and academically successful boy, Emil, who tries to convince her to compete on the school team for the TV quiz show Gettu betur. Halla fancies Emil and wants to participate, but is afraid to dilute her new, delinquent identity.

Images for kids

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  First edition (publ. Mál og menning)