Tales of Hans Christian Andersen

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-8–Lewis's translations of Andersen's tales have appeared in various collections and picture books over the past 20 years. Thirteen of them appear in this lavishly illustrated volume. In new introductions to each story, Lewis provides background and context, connecting the tale to Andersen's life and offering her own interpretation of its theme. Stewart's digitally created drawings shed fresh light on the stories as well. Each page facing a story's introduction presents a color picture showing a stage, framed with red curtains and footlights, on which the central character acts out an important scene. Many stories receive an additional full-page illustration, and all are decorated with small rectangular sepia illustrations, while other drawings float freely across a page. Balancing astringent wit while plumbing emotional depths, Stewart's artwork is an appropriate partner to Andersen's words. The best short collection of Andersen's stories remains Twelve Tales (S & S, 1994), translated and illustrated by Eric Blegvad, distinguished by the casual precision of its art and text. Erik Christian Haugaard's translation of Andersen's Complete Fairy Tales and Stories (Doubleday, 1973) is still the standard reference. Lewis's anthology, with its insightful art and lively introductions, is certainly a worthwhile addition.–Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 4-6, younger for reading aloud. This big, splendidly appointed volume of 13 stories, almost all of them well known, honors the Danish storyteller in form as well as content. Stewart's muted artwork (a mix of large, full-color images and smaller, often sepia-toned decorations) elegantly reflects the qualities of beauty, tragedy, and farce found in the stories. At the same time, many of the images, such as the grotesque witch in the "Tinderbox," whose "lower lip hung down to her waist," suggest a taste for whimsy that Andersen surely would have applauded. Theatrical motifs can be glimpsed throughout, nodding to the writer's passion for staging miniature performances. Andersen scholar and translator Lewis has published versions of many of these same stories elsewhere, and her foreword and story introductions accessibly highlight Andersen's genius. Libraries looking for more on Andersen in anticipation of the two-hundredth anniversary of the author's birth should have no qualms about adding this noble collection to the shelves. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Thirteen of Andersen's best-loved fairy tales are dramatically interpreted by an esteemed translator and an acclaimed illustrator in this definitive edition. Open the pages of this magnificent volume and enter the fairy-tale realm of Hans Christian Andersen! In a playful design that echoes Andersen's passion for miniature theaters, illustrator Joel Stewart depicts such well-known characters as the pea-sensitive Princess and the unclothed Emperor as actors on a timeless stage. Expert commentary by Naomi Lewis offers historical and biographical points of interest, revealing that "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is the first fairy tale ever to feature a nonhuman hero (now a hallmark of children's literature) and that "The Ugly Duckling," considered Andersen's autobiography, is a tale he especially loved to read aloud. Open the pages and savor the singular voice of this literary giant - the "washerwoman's crazy son" who became one of the best-known storytellers of all time.

From the Inside Flap
Hans Christian Andersen called his life a fairy tale, but as Naomi Lewis points out in her introduction, "Fairy tales also have their darker side." Though he rose from the obscurity of the slums to become one of the most famous men in the world, Andersen was often plagued by self-doubt and financial insecurity, just as the protagonists of his stories are faced with terrible trials - but of course, it is these dark moments that are among the most memorable aspects of his work. From the more than one hundred and sixty tales that Andersen wrote, thirteen of his best are brought to life by Naomi Lewis and Joel Stewart in this volume, including "The Princess and the Pea," "Thumbelina," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Little Mermaid," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Snow Queen." Irresistible humor, beguiling conversational style, the invention of giving speech to objects...the hallmarks of Hans Christian Andersen's style are to found here in abundance, their brilliance undiminished by time.

About the Author
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born in the Danish town of Odense. From humble origins, he rose to become a celebrated writer of fairy tales, many of which continue to be among the most popular and well-known stories in the world. Naomi Lewis is a leading authority on the works of Hans Christian Andersen, many of whose stories she has translated. A poet and critic, she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has received the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished services to children's literature. Joel Stewart received a degree in illustration from Falmouth College of Art in England. He is also the illustrator The Adventures of a Nose by Viviane Schwarz and Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.


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Hans Christian Andersen wrote more than 160 stories, 13 of which are retold by critic Lewis and revitalized with Stewart's winsome, quirky illustrations in this hefty, beautiful collection. Lewis opens with a four-page introduction to the life of the "unquenchable maverick" of humble origins, also prefacing each story with an engaging, scholarly critical history. She translates well-known favorites such as "Thumbelina" and "The Tinderbox" and, more obscure, "The Goblin at the Grocer's," in a lively, accessible style, retaining 19th-century charm and vocabulary without a hint of stiffness. While adult lovers of children's literature will appreciate the historical material provided, young newcomers to Andersen will relish "The Princess and the Pea," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Match Girl," and other stories that have woven their way into Western literary tradition. The elegant design tips a hat to Andersen's interest in miniature theatre, as the opening story illustrations are flanked by a red velvet curtain. Lovely. (All ages)


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