The Moomins
#774.24 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 9 books Status Complete 1945–1970 Reading commitment High Tove Jansson Last reviewed 2026-10-07
Overview
Tove Jansson's nine Moomin books (1945-1970), written in Swedish in Finland and illustrated by the author, follow the Moomin family of Moominvalley, Moominpappa, Moominmamma and Moomintroll, and their friends and lodgers: the wanderer Snufkin, the tiny and fearless Little My, Sniff, the Snork Maiden, the Hemulens and Fillyjonks, and the Groke, who freezes the ground she sits on. The early books are comedies of catastrophe, a comet, a Hobgoblin's hat, a flood that floats a theatre into the valley; the later ones, Moominland Midwinter, Moominpappa at Sea and Moominvalley in November, grow quieter and more searching, about loneliness, change and the people who are left when the Moomins are not at home. Translated into more than fifty languages, they are among the defining works of twentieth-century children's fantasy.
Comic fantasy, Cozy fantasy · For All ages
Core Canon: Reading Order (9 works) counts toward ranking
The Moomins Tove Jansson
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Moomins and the Great Flood | 1945 | 1 | core | 4.04 (22,715 ratings) |
 | Comet in Moominland | 1946 | 2 | core | 4.25 (24,565 ratings) |
 | Finn Family Moomintroll | 1948 | 3 | core | 4.30 (20,129 ratings) |
 | Moominpappa's Memoirs | 1950 | 4 | core | 4.15 (11,533 ratings) |
 | Moominsummer Madness | 1954 | 5 | core | 4.29 (15,129 ratings) |
 | Moominland Midwinter | 1957 | 6 | core | 4.40 (18,560 ratings) |
 | Tales from Moominvalley | 1962 | 7 | core | 4.30 (11,903 ratings) |
 | Moominpappa at Sea | 1965 | 8 | core | 4.22 (12,855 ratings) |
 | Moominvalley in November | 1970 | 9 | core | 4.26 (11,902 ratings) |
Tove Jansson's nine Moomin books (1945-1970), written in Swedish in Finland and illustrated by the author: the Moomin family of Moominvalley and their friends, from the comet, the Hobgoblin's hat and the flooded theatre of the early comedies to the winter, the sea and the empty house of the darker late novels.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Moomins? The Moomins's Core Canon is 9 books.
- What is the reading order for The Moomins? Publication order, starting with The Moomins and the Great Flood. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Moomins finished? Complete (1945–1970).
- How much reading does The Moomins take? High reading commitment (estimated from 9 Core Canon books · ~1,521 pages).
- How is The Moomins ranked? #77 in this site's official ranking, based on 149,291 reader ratings across 9 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #77?
Ranked #77 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.24 across 9 core books.
- Backed by 149k reader ratings.
- 0.04 behind #76, Kencyrath.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Top-tier rated · 9 books · Complete · 149k ratings · Ranks #77 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running comic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (9 Core Canon books)
- The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945)
- Comet in Moominland (1946)
- Finn Family Moomintroll (1948)
- Moominpappa's Memoirs (1950)
- Moominsummer Madness (1954)
- Moominland Midwinter (1957)
- Tales from Moominvalley (1962)
- Moominpappa at Sea (1965)
- Moominvalley in November (1970)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No award is registered against a book; the author's 1966 Hans Christian Andersen Award was a career honour.
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Suggestions computed from what The Moomins and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
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- The Iron Druid Chronicles Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.21
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.24 across 149,291 ratings on 9 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: The Moomins (Tove Jansson) accepted 2026-10-06
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-06
Rule: Core Canon = the nine Moomin books, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945) to Moominvalley in November (1970), in publication order. Picture books and the comic strips are out of scope.