Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author and poet best known for his fairy tales. Among his most well known stories are "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," and "The Ugly Duckling." During Andersen's lifetime, he was feted by Royalty and acclaimed for bringing joy to children throughout Europe. His fairy tales have been translated into more than a hundred languages and continue to be published in millions of copies all over the world. Hsin-Shih Lai was born in Taipei, Taiwan. Her mother loved all the arts and sent Hsin-Shih to a paint-ing and drawing teacher when she was 4 years old. Since then, Hsin-Shih has not stopped painting. She went on to study painting and industrial design at the National Taiwan Academy of Art. After working for a while as a freelance illustrator, she met Anthroposophy and, in 1999, moved to the U.S., where she ompleted her eurythmy training in 2004. Hsin-Shih now lives in Spring Valley, New York, and works as an illustrator and performs with the Eurythmy Spring Valley touring group.
K-Gr 3 Andersen's tale of a tiny lass no bigger than one's thumb is familiar to most children, and there is nothing particularly new in this version. The translation differs very little from other editions (notably Michael Hague's Favorite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales Holt, 1981) but at times seems flat and static. This is a longer, fuller version than is often found; there may not be enough illustrations to hold the interest of younger listeners. The pictures themselves owe their dreamlike quality to a subdued wash background, and the characters, the humans in particular, with their withered-apple faces, are drolly portrayed. There are occasional delightfully surprising details, such as a cat peering out of the old witch's cloak. Useful for libraries which need to broaden a folk tale collection or where another edition of this story is needed. Kathleen Brachmann, Highland Park Public Library, Ill.
In this spare and lilting unabridged translation of the classic tale, the tiny girl's pleasant life is interrupted when she is stolen in sleep by an ugly matron-toad who seeks a wife for her son. A series of misadventures with goliath-like creatures‘whether a cruel may-bug or a compassionate field mouse‘leaves the beautiful Thumbelina feeling like a misfit. But her kindness in saving a swallow's life is returned when the bird flies her south to its enchanted garden. Here, Thumbelina finally meets her prince and discovers she is home. Graston, in a stunning debut, uses a light-shifting background of subtly tinted tiles as a backdrop to the range of miniature delights (a walnut-shell bed with rose-petal linens, a butterfly-powered sail on a lily pad) and darker emotions (loneliness and feeling out of place). The artwork varies from the silken and jewel-like (flowers and butterfly wings) to the earthy and somber (the cultured mole's underground home, the ailing swallow's feathered chest). The finale grounds the heady sentiment of the fairy-tale ending: the swallow perches on the venerable storyteller's fingers as it relates the tale to Andersen. All ages. (Oct.)
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