Tales Of Hans Christian Andersen

by Hans Christian Andersen, Joel Stewart (Illustrator), Naomi Lewis (Translator)

Book by Andersen, Hans Christian

Genres: Childrens, Fairy Tales, Classics

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1853

About the author

Hans Christian Andersen (often referred to in Scandinavia as H.C. Andersen) was a Danish author and poet. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories — called eventyr, or "fairy-tales" — express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Nightingale", "The Emperor's New Clothes" and many more. His stories have inspired plays, ballets, and both live-action and animated films.

Reviews

[ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

i'm frequently mistaken as the goblin at the grocer's whenever i pop to woolies so obviously i found this incredibly charming (haha get it ge- i'll stop). this was so lovely! v glad i picked it up at a book sale. the prefaces before each story was so wonderfully done, a real simiplification of context that added more to hans christian andersen's legacy but ultimately my favourite part of this were stewart's illustrations. his artistic style so perfectly befits the strange, whimsical but joyful nature of andersen's tales and i could tell just how much effort must have been poured into this. the colouring is beautiful, the images are the type of creepy that just accentuates the isolation and suffering some of the characters go through but also they r so fantastical and v unique, they rlly added a lot to the reading experience. also fairy noxious and fairy nice were so cute. while i started this as more of a read one story at a time between slumps kind of thing, and also because i rlly love tales, this brought me a lot more appreciation for andersen than i had originally anticipated. kind of insane how many thematic elements were tied into these stories (a lot of these end up being a mockery of status quo, of human artifice, good and evil and a lot about love and belonging and i think that's so wonderful!!!). andersen rlly did that, what a trendsetter. his whimsy is endless. but also his cognition of suffering for love, of bottomless love and also the indignities of poverty (little mermaid is fucking harrowing, little match girl what the fuck man) is devastating. there are a couple tales in here that ended up being quite unexpectedly moving, some were dark and others frankly boring but still fantastical. great read, all credit to stewart for being a rlly innovative illustrator, i hope more people (probably parents but who's to say) appreciate this in the future!

stories (bolding my faves from memory...this also took me three months to read as it was unexpectedly kind of dense for me so my memory is limited to say the least):

- the princess and the pea
- the tinderbox
- thumbelina
- the emperor's new clothes
- the little mermaid
- the steadfast tin soldier
- the wild swans
- the flying trunk
- the ugly duckling
- the nightingale
- the snow queen
- the little match girl
- the goblin at the grocer's

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more reader friendly than other collection due to text size and illustrations, but I didn't like this translation as much as Hersholt and the illustrations were often creepy. The introductions to each story and the author background were nice though.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Little Match Girl

Plot Summary

This tale, set in 1845 Copenhagen, is about a poor little girl who goes out on a cold wintery New Year’s Eve trying to sell matches in the street. Shivering from the cold without a hat and shoes, she dares not go back home to her abusive father without selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and sits down, warming herself with matches. Each lit match represents her hopes and dreams, bringing her comforting visions such as a big beautiful decorated Christmas tree, a holiday feast, and her kind and loving dead grandmother. The girl looks up at the sky and sees a shooting star, remembering her grandmother telling her that it meant someone is dying and is going to Heaven. The child stays there, dies through the night, and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the child dead in the nook and feel pity for her.

Review

I love this collection of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales. The writing is wonderful in its straightforward simplicity and refection of reality, as tragic and harsh as it may be. A four-page biography of Andersen opens the book: we get an insight into his life and how his harsh reality and experiences inspired his fairy tales. At the beginning of each tale, there is one page of text introducing and describing the story’s inspiration, background and reception - this adds greatly to the stories. The Little Match Girl as a character, and the story, are both are realistic and believable. We can connect to the girl, her life and fate; we can identify with her thoughts and feelings – we care about her. We feel her struggle, relate to her hopes and dreams, and are sympathetic to her tragic situation. The story is worth telling: there is a Major Dramatic Question: will the Little Match Girl sell matches and survive the cold night outside? That question is answered through the resolution of the conflict (her struggles in the cold streets) at the end of the book, when she tragically, but happily dies. The point of view (third person) works well for this story because it is a fairy tale. We get to see what happens to her from the outside, yet we also get an insight into her mind and emotions.

I love the illustrations: they’re unique, detailed, and perfectly sombrely coloured at times. The art fits the book well and adds to the stories well. The illustrator uses colour appropriately: simple black and white charcoal drawings when reflecting harsh reality (i.e. The Little Match Girl’s bare feet in the snow, three panes showing match lighting), colourful detailed drawings when reflecting imagination or positive emotions (i.e. the girl looking up at the stars with awe and wonder). The illustrations effectively establish the story’s setting (i.e. girl’s bare feet in the snowy street, the girl gazing up at the starry sky) and reinforce the text (i.e. the girl lighting the matches). These few images also help to develop the plot, define and develop the character, and establish mood. The book cover is done very well and includes characters from each story on a cozy stage, representing the imaginative stage of Andersen’s mind. The table of contents is so sweet, original and creative. Two little characters called Fairy Nice and Fairy Noxious follow us through the book and appear at the beginning of each story, silently tormenting each other. They represent the positive and negative elements of Andersen’s mind. Fairy Nice represents confidence, genius, fame, his stories living on through the readers; Fairy Noxious represents crippling-self doubt, his stories being criticized and received poorly, depression, and health problems (i.e. a toothache). In The Little Match Girl section, Fairy Nice looks worried and closed off; Fairy Noxious is holding a burnt match behind his back and also looks concerned. This helps set a tone for the story.

Awards

Joel Stewart (illustrator): Selected for the IBBY Honour List for outstanding book illustration work in 2006 for Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.

[Rowan Egoryshev · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of folklore by Hans Christian Andersen meant for ages 8-13. It is a translation of Hans Christian Andersen's original folktales including The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, and other not as popular tales such as The Flying Trunk.

While this specific edition of Hans Christian Andersen's stories was a staple of my childhood reading, I recognize that a lot of these stories have out-of-date and misogynistic messages. A lot of the women that Andersen wrote about were either defined by the men they were in love with, or were villains. With that being said, a lot of the protagonists are women, which is interesting. They just aren't well-developed women, but that's kinda par for the course when it comes to folk tales of this time period. I would just be careful reading some of these stories to young women(cough cough- The Little Mermaid). That's the only reason I knocked this book down by a star. Everything else(illustration, translation, stories) are wonderful. Maybe it's because I'm sentimental, but the sketchy and ruddy-cheeked art style that Joel Stewart uses has always been comforting to me. It also stands out and creates a certain vibe to the whole book. The creepy image of the boy from The Snow Queen looking through a chunk of ice has always stood out to me. The stories themselves are super entertaining and just folksy enough to worm their way into a kids heart.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this collection of Hans Christian Anderson. Of all the versions of his tales I've seen this one stands out for it's elegant writing, the fact that it retains the strangeness of real fairy tales, and its excellent, non-sacharine illustrations. These are not sanitized versions, they are weird and full of unique details. I particularly love the hot hut near the end of the Snow Queen. A great read aloud and lots of fun for adult reading on a stormy night.

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice translation of Andersen's tales, with interesting intros to each story about its history and place in Western culture. I loved the illustrations, especially of the dog with eyes as big as teacups (who reminded me of Tock) and the Ice Queen with her stalactites of ice on her head. Logan didn't think much of them though. He likes things to be a little "cuter" and not distorted.

[rené lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of stories. My favorites were "The Little Mermaid," "The Wild Swans," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Goblin's Grocer." There was a sweetness to these stories, even the ones that didn't end in a fairy tale fashion.

[Starbubbles · Rating 5 out of 5]

there's background information, and has very good translations for the stories. i focused on the mermaid story. it was fun reading the real story, and seeing how it compared to the movie.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish the whole collection, but read enough to know I'm not interested in continuing.

[aseriesofpages]

Not sure how to rate this but I really enjoyed reading these with the beautiful illustrations. It was interesting to see the original stories and I'm glad I picked this up.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection of stories are fascinating! The artwork felt a bit distracting though.