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cover image Thumbelina

Thumbelina

Hans Christian Andersen. Doubleday Books for Young Readers, $16.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-385-32251-5

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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Reviewed on: 12/30/1996

Genre: Children's

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Library Binding - 28 pages - 978-1-59197-756-8

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MP3 CD - 979-8-8747-0995-2

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MP3 CD - 978-1-4915-7391-4

Open Ebook - 36 pages - 978-1-62028-278-6

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