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Around the World in Books / Denmark
Looking for the Little Mermaid
A mother and her young daughters set out in a camper van for places linked to Heidi, Pinocchio, and other characters — and had the adventure of a lifetime
This is the fourth of 30 reviews of books about 30 countries that will appear in the first 30 days of March 2022. Tomorrow: England
In 1985 the British writer Christina Hardyment took a family vacation that might make an American parent’s hair stand on end. She packed her four daughters, ages 5 to 12, into a yellow camper van and set out to visit spots linked to well-loved characters in children’s stories — Heidi, Pinocchio, Hans Brinker, the Pied Piper, and the Little Mermaid among them.
Hardyment planned a trip that would be near-impossible to pull off today, and not just because it might look less enticing next to all the Harry Potter tours that sprang up later. The family would also travel without the devices that help to keep children docile on long car trips in 2022: iPads, smartphones, in-car DVD players. American parents can only shudder at the thought.
