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The Little Mermaid
Small hard cover pictorial with vinyl covered boards, 4.5" x 6.5". Illustrated in color. One of a series of five books adapted from the fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen.
29 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 5, 2022
De mis clásicos favoritos, pero con un final totalmente distinto al vendido de Disney. Siempre quise ser una sirena.
September 21, 2024
I've never been a big fan of the Little Mermaid (something about losing her tail to gain legs but it feeling like walking on knives never felt good to me as a child!), but I recently came into possession of three retellings of the story, so I went and read the original by Anderson (translated by Erik Christian Haugaard) and I feel better about the tale - because it wasn't after all a tragic ending, since the little mermaid was not just trying to win the prince's love, but to win an immortal soul, and she gets the chance to do that.
This version of the story has cartoony illustrations ill-suited to the story by an illustrator named only "Zapp" and some amusing differences from the original. For a start she is given a name - Coraline - and has only 3 sisters not 5 and no grandmother. Much is made more immediately of her beautiful singing voice (that even the jellyfish enjoy). She rescues the prince (also named, here Andre) who is immediately found by a woman on the beach (who in this adaptation immediately sets him straight that she did not save him but just found him - much fairer than in the original!). In this version she "knew her father would not allow her to return to the human world" (which is not at all like the original) and goes to the "Witch of the Ocean" who lives in a bog much like in the original. Here she isn't found naked on the shore of the castle but in a "most unusual dress of shining scales". There is also a bunch of "mean girls" in this one (the ladies of the court) who look askance at her dress and her hair, etc. and the royal court note that she has 'strange ways' such as only eating seaweed salad. In this adaptation the beautiful woman who found the prince on the shore (Clarisse - everyone has names!) was a visitor to the country and is gone but when she returns on a state visit it is obvious she and the prince are in love. He calls Coraline a "sweet little sister". On their wedding night at sea her 3 sisters appear, having sold their hair to the witch for a magic knife to save their sister's life. But Coraline knew she would never use it. She goes with the "Fairies of the Air" but there is no mention of gaining an immortal soul - she just "lives to this day to help young and old who are good at heart".
This version of the story has cartoony illustrations ill-suited to the story by an illustrator named only "Zapp" and some amusing differences from the original. For a start she is given a name - Coraline - and has only 3 sisters not 5 and no grandmother. Much is made more immediately of her beautiful singing voice (that even the jellyfish enjoy). She rescues the prince (also named, here Andre) who is immediately found by a woman on the beach (who in this adaptation immediately sets him straight that she did not save him but just found him - much fairer than in the original!). In this version she "knew her father would not allow her to return to the human world" (which is not at all like the original) and goes to the "Witch of the Ocean" who lives in a bog much like in the original. Here she isn't found naked on the shore of the castle but in a "most unusual dress of shining scales". There is also a bunch of "mean girls" in this one (the ladies of the court) who look askance at her dress and her hair, etc. and the royal court note that she has 'strange ways' such as only eating seaweed salad. In this adaptation the beautiful woman who found the prince on the shore (Clarisse - everyone has names!) was a visitor to the country and is gone but when she returns on a state visit it is obvious she and the prince are in love. He calls Coraline a "sweet little sister". On their wedding night at sea her 3 sisters appear, having sold their hair to the witch for a magic knife to save their sister's life. But Coraline knew she would never use it. She goes with the "Fairies of the Air" but there is no mention of gaining an immortal soul - she just "lives to this day to help young and old who are good at heart".
October 11, 2024
Pretty authentic to the original Hans Christian Andersen, different than the Disney version of course but still good.
October 23, 2016
This is a beautiful tale about a forbiden love that is one-sided. I think that is a bit too adult for younger children but a wonderful tale about unconditional love and sacrifice.
October 28, 2012
A really quick and enjoyable read. I downloaded this from the iBooks store a couple of months back and decided to read it today. Beautifully written - it was very cute.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews