Tove Jansson’s seventh comic, Moomin Builds a House, is a story about Moomintroll building a house for himself and Snorkmaiden. At the beginning of the story, Moomin Builds a House, Mymble’s mother comes to the Moominhouse with her 17 small children to visit her daughter. Mymble is surprised that her mother has made ‘another lot’ and seriously wonders why her mother has so many children.

Mymble’s impossible sister Little My also arrives at the Moominhouse, where she bites Moomintroll because she ‘likes it!’, lives in the coffee pot and swings on the pendulum of the wall clock. With this story, Little My becomes a permanent part of the Moomin comics. At first, Little My seems to be a real nuisance, but as the adventure progresses, she calms down. 

The Moomins try everything they can to get rid of Mymble’s family, but in the end they decide to give Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden’s newly built house to Mymble’s mother and her children. The story is full of visual gags reminiscent of silent films from the early 1900s, especially when Moomintroll builds the house. The objects that separate the panels at this point also reflect the theme of the story: a hammer, a nail, a board, a beam, long-handled pliers, a trowel, a long-handled hand drill and a brush. 

This is clearly the shortest of the Moomin comics thus far, with a total of only 57 strips, which is 25 strips shorter than the previous story, Moominmamma’s Maid. At the end of the story, Little My has the honour of holding up the END sign. 

Moomin Builds a House was published in 1956. The Finnish name is Talonrakennus, and the Swedish name is Att bygga ett hus.