Thumbelina

by Hans-Christian Andersen, Elsa Beskow (Illustrator)

Overview

Elsa Beskow's charming illustrations bring to life this classic Hans Christian Andersen tale of a thumb-sized girl who has big adventures.

Thumbelina is so small she sleeps in a walnut shell bed with a rose petal sheet. One day, a toad steals her away from her home and keeps her captive on a lilypad, until some fish set her free to find her way through the countryside.

This wonderful new edition of Thumbelina faithfully reproduces Beskow's classic illustrations in a collectable picture book featuring a unique hand-crafted design, premium-quality paper, gold foil signature and a luxurious cloth spine. Create an Elsa Beskow library by collecting all of the gorgeous new editions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782507277
Publisher:	Floris Books
Publication date:	01/12/2021
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	499,434
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.40(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author, best known for his fairy tales which include The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen and The Emperor's New Clothes. Elsa Beskow (1874-1953) is the most popular children's author—illustrator in Sweden. Often described as Sweden's Beatrix Potter, Elsa Beskow's picture books have been known and loved for over a century. Her charming stories of children and magical folk, accompanied by her signature illustrations, are known and cherished the world over.

Read an Excerpt

Once upon a time there was a woman whose only desire was to have a tiny little child. Now she had no idea where she could get one, so she went to an old witch and asked her: "Please, could you tell me where I could get a tiny little child? I would so love to have one."

"That is not so difficult," said the witch. "Here is a grain of barley; it is not the kind that grows in the farmer's fields or that you can feed to the chickens. Plant it in a flowerpot and watch what happens."



Excerpted from Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen. Translation copyright (c) 1974 by Erik Haugaard. Illustrations copyright (c) 1996 by Arlene Graston. Excerpted by permission of Delacorte Press, a division of the Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Editorial Reviews

'This particular retelling is lovely in its simplicity and accompanied by gorgeous illustrations from Elsa Beskow. Young readers will love the beautiful pictures depicting tiny Thumbelina and the many creatures she encounters. They'll wonder at how she finds herself almost married to so many unappealing creatures, and they'll cheer every time she manages to become free again. This is a great version of a classic tale.'
– San Francisco Book Review

'This is a very pretty illustrated version of the tale.'
– Youth Services Book Review

From the Publisher

Two-time Caldecott Honor artist Pinkney (The Faithful Friend; Duke Ellington) presents a visually snappy adaptation of this Hans Christian Andersen tale. Rendered in colored inks on clay board, the wispy art accentuates the natural setting among pond reeds and flower stalks, and features a sunny palette punctuated by electric hues. This Thumbelina, a black child who springs from a gold and flame-red blossom, spends her days floating on a tulip petal, "rowing on a little lake that was really a bowl of water decorated with flowers." In a rather choppy narrative, the author chronicles the tiny heroine's adventures after she is kidnapped by a toad (who sports a gaily patterned kerchief and has spectacles perched on her nose). Pinkney whimsically depicts the animal friends who in turn help Thumbelina escape from her captors, offer her shelter and whisk her away from the mole fianc she does not love into the arms of the dashing, equally diminutive king of the flower people. Despite some stilted prose (e.g., "Thumbelina was glad to agree"), the imaginative illustrations gives this chestnut a fresh look. Ages 4-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2-This greatly abridged retelling joins many versions in recent years, both single volumes and in collections of Andersen's work. It is told in simplified language and vocabulary, minimizing many of the darker elements of the tale. Unfortunately, it begins rather abruptly and some of the emotional content is lessened. Pinkney uses colored inks on clay board to illustrate the story with vibrant colors, large shapes, and sketch-type outlines. The artwork, while certainly bold and engaging, does not meld well with the delicate and fragile nature of the original story. Still, since it is so visually different from other retellings, comparison among them would be an interesting student activity. The book's format is large and would work well for group sharing.-Cris Riedel, Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School, Dansville, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

2015-07-22
The adventures of a tiny girl amid flora and fauna in an imaginary land are again presented for young readers. The text is acceptably adapted and accessible, but the illustrations, thickly textured and deeply colored, are leaden and rely on fashion rather than magic for their distinctiveness. The illustrator veers back and forth distractingly in her depiction of clothing, from the traditional 19th-century peasant dress with apron and kerchief of the field mouse to the 1920s look of the three female June bugs (cockchafers in some versions) who declare Thumbelina's utter unsuitability as a mate for the big June bug who tries to capture her. The ugly toad who first steals her from her walnut-shell bed for her own son (shown in denim overalls) wears a frumpy pink polka-dot dress of no particular vintage. The haughty mole who wants to marry the girl wears a red fez and a fur-trimmed jacket to portray his wealth. Thumbelina wears simple white dresses, symbolizing her purity, but there is a lack of the magical lightness necessary to the tale. Even the double-page spread of the wedding scene when Thumbelina, with her large, Margaret Keane-like eyes, finally finds a suitable mate of just the right height, seems heavy and contrived. While Andersen's imaginative story, first published in 1835, keeps children listening or reading, this edition adds nothing new or special to a long literary history. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews