Author Astrid Lindgren, creator of Pippi Longstocking, died Monday in her Stockholm home. She left her rural hometown at age 19, unwed and pregnant, and then supported herself and (I assume) her son by working as a secretary. Pippi’s stories were invented for Lindgren’s daughter, and now that I know more about the author’s background, I can understand why she wove such spunk and independence into the head of the girl with the stiff red braids.