Button & Popper

A 20th-century children’s classic: this fairy tale by one of Finland’s most loved authors and illustrators tells the story of pixie twin brothers who find their family a new home

Button & Popper tells the story of a family of pixies (mother, father and twelve children) who live in an apple tree. They enjoy its warmth and shelter, and eating apple pie all spring and summer long. But when autumn comes, the leaves begin to drop and the apple tree becomes a cold and wet place to live. Twin brothers Button and Popper decided they will find their family a new home, but when they trek into the city and start enquiring about an apartment with room for twelve children and their parents, people just laugh or politely excuse themselves.

Luck strikes when, through a most fortunate mix-up at the market, the pixies find themselves in the home of a Professor Pilli. When he hears their story, he invites them to look after his house while he away at the South Pole. The brothers can’t believe the Professor’s kindness, and when the rest of their pixie family find out the good news, everyone is relieved and happy again.