herself noted, "my favorite theme has been the same: CHILDHOOD." Unnerstad later described her grandmother and mother, who were both excellent story tellers, as influential to her writing. In particular, their tales of past childhood in the past, as well as her own experiences of childhood, motherhood and grandmotherhood, influenced her stories. She continued "But above all I think the plain truth is: I was once a child, and the child I was, in many respects, I still am. That's why I know, and that's why I love to write about it." Edith Unnerstad is particularly known for a series of children's books written about the Pip-Larsson family. These include The Saucepan Journey, Little O, The Urchin and The Pip-Larssons Go Sailing, all of which were translated in English. Unnerstad's books often have a theme of cohesive families and friends. Unnerstad explored the traditional craft of hair weaving in two of her books. From 1830 till the First World War, the Dalecarlia region of Sweden was famous for the production of ornaments and trinkets woven from hair, and women from the region travelled throughout Europe to sell their creations. The Journey with Grandmother tells the story of just such a trip to Czarist Russia, which Unnerstad researched by travelling to the Soviet Union, just after the end of Joseph Stalin's regime. Her Russian tour guide in Leningrad, with some reluctance, permitted her to visit some relevant areas. The book A Journey to England also features hairweaving: two children travel to England to find their mother who has disappeared on a hairweaving trip to the United Kingdom. She also wrote novels for adults and radio, television, and movie scripts. Unnerstad's books were translated into English and formed part of a wave of Scandinavian and in particular Swedish books which were influential in English-language children's literature after the Second World War. Her book The Saucepan Journey were adapted for the Swedish screen in 1950 and in 1998 in a Swedish TV series called Pip-Larsson. She received the 1957 Nils Holgersson Plaque for her book Journey with Grandmother. Her husband died in 1971. Unnerstad died on 29 December 1982 in Djursholm. Awards Children's Book Prize 1949 Nils Holgersson Plaque 1957 Works Children's books Uffe reser jorden runt, 1932 Hoppentott i Vanliga skogen, 1938 Muck, 1939 Tummelunsarna i Vänliga skogen, 1939 Pikku-Lotta, 1941 Kastrullresan, 1949, reprinted 1964, translated into English as The Saucepan Journey