The Little Match Man

by Luigi Barzini, Hattie Longstreet Price (illustrator)

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

164 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1909

About the author

Famous Italian journalist, war reporter and traveller.

Father of Luigi Barzini (1908-1984)

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Italian reporter filing from Japan during one of their clashes with China makes a little man out of matchsticks, which he discovers is possessed with the protector spirit of the tree the matches were made from. Whimsical adventures, and at least one not so whimsical, ensue.

Yeah, it's an ancient kid's book, but it's sad and sweet in places, and even though it starts with a dead tree, it isn't about the environment. While I can see why it didn't become a perennial classic, maybe Miyazaki (or somebody) could make this into a nice anime movie. A studio like Disney would be tempted to take out all the war and death and smoking...and add cheery songs (brrrr).

[Diana Bosco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may have cried. A lot.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The little match man is a wonderful little tale about an Italian war journalist who while working for an international news organization in Japan, is sent with the Army to report on a war in China. Before leaving the weather is so bad that he ends up being unable to get out and say goodbye to his friends and so he makes a little match man like he did when he was a child. Wonderful things begin to happen and he’s not going to be lonely on his trip after all. I’m so glad that I took the time to read this book. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a short story that is well written, it’s listed as a children’s book but by now a days standards it probably won’t get any good ratings because it has smoking, drinking and war in it.