Originally published in 1910 as Sølve Solfeng, this engaging Norwegian children's novel chronicles the childhood of its eponymous hero, the young Solve. Raised high on the mountainside by his grandparents, the orphaned Solve comes to live in the valley, with distant kin at Kjelle Farm, after the Solfeng house burns to the ground. Once at Kjelle, Solve slips naturally into the life of a farm boy, helping with the animals, working to assist Berit Kjelle in processing the hemp, and aiding the older men at haymaking time. Berit's young niece Guri Kruke, a mischievous and high-spirited little girl, comes to live at the farm also, and she and Solve become friends. The years pass, and shortly after he and Guri are confirmed, Solve learns something very surprising: Ivar and Berit Kjelle intend to make him their heir, something our young hero isn't sure he can accept...

Translated into English in 1935, Solve Suntrap is the second children's novel I have read from late 19th/early 20th-century Norwegian author Hans Aanrud - the first being Sidsel Sidsærk (1903), variously translated into English as Lisbeth Longfrock and Sidsel Longskirt. All in all, although I think I prefer the earlier Aanrud story, of the two I have read, I did greatly enjoy this one. The translators and illustrators here - Dagny Mortenson & Margery Williams Bianco and Ingri & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire, respectively - are the same as in Sidsel Longskirt, which was also published in 1935. I found, in my comparison of the two Sidsel Sidsærk translations that I read, that the one done by Mortenson & Bianco was somewhat abbreviated and simplified, and I couldn't help wondering whether that was also the case here. Unfortunately, as there is no other English translation currently available to me - there was one other translation done, in 1926, by Englishwoman Anna Barwell, but I have not been able as yet to track it down - I am not able to comment on that. Leaving aside issues of translation (always a preoccupation of mine), I really did enjoy the story here, finding Solve an engaging and warmhearted little hero. I continue to find Aanrud's description of the natural world very beautiful, and I did like the D'Aulaire illustrations. This can be a difficult book to track down, but I do recommend it, particularly to those interested in the depiction of rural farm life in children's books, or in reading Norwegian literature for the young. ( )