Customer Reviews

Fairy Tales from Hans Christian Andersen: A Classic Illustrated Edition (Classics Illustrated)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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A superb collection of nine favorite H.C.A. stories (see below), wonderously illustrated with something like a hundred hig-quality reproductions, at least half of which are full-page, drawn from the work of twenty of the greatest artists from the "Golden Age" of children's book illustration (around the turn of the century). The art is simply mind-blowingly beautiful.

The tellings themselves are very fine. The language used is both delightful and sophisticated, making this a fine volume to entertain good readers amongst older children, and to expand their language skills. Of course, less able readers and younger children might like the stories just as well if they were read to them. There is no information in the book or on the publishers website regarding the origins of these particular tellings.

A sample paragraph, from "Thumbelina":

"Then they came to the warm lands. The sun was shining much more brightly, the sky was twice as high, and the most wonderful green and black grapes were growing by the roadside and on fences. Lemons and oranges hung in the forests, and there was a scent of myrtle and curled mint, and pretty children were running by the roadside playing with big colorful butterflies. But the swallow flew still further, and everything became even more beautiful. There, beneath magnificent green trees by a blue lake, stood a shining white palace, with vines climbing up it's lofty pillars. At the top were lots of swallows' nests, and the swallow carrying Thumbelina lived in one of them."

This collection contains the following stories:

The Emperor's New Clothes The Little Mermaid The Little Match Girl The Nightingale The Princess and the Pea The Steadfast Tin Soldier Thumbelina The Tinderbox The Ugly Duckling

The compilers, Russell Ash and Bernard Higton, must be very proud of the beautiful object they have produced. The publisher, Cronicle Books, deserves praise and support.

This book is a must, either for the child's library or the collectors shelf.

Besides the gorgeous artwork the stories are written as I remember them
from my childhood as opposed to some really,truly horrendous Hans Christian Andersen collections I have seen where the language has been modernized and the stories changed to protect delicate sensibilities.

I was very pleased with this book when I received it, the illustrations are beautiful. This edition of Anderson's work contains most of his well-known fairy tales, and I loved the fact that all the stories were kept the way he originally wrote them.

We bought this book to share the stories with my 4 year old son. The stories are excellent, of course. The illustrations are simply gorgeous, by far the best I have seen for any fairy tale collection. However, one should be aware that some illustrations for The Little Mermaid have nude figures. They are beautiful, it's just something that I thought would be nice to know as a parent. I am very glad we bought it, though we will probably avoid reading The Little Mermaid for a few years.

I grew up on and admire the tales of Hans Christian Anderson, and I was hoping to find a good volume to read to my 4 year old and introduce her to the wonders of classical literature. I will not, sadly, be using this particular collection because the 'beautiful' illustrations are littered with naked children, cherubs, and mermaids. While there is nothing terribly indecent, the fact is I teach my children that is is inappropriate to walk about naked, and reading a book to her in which the characters seem to have no problem doing so may conflict with the wonderful morals which Anderson's stories teach us.

Very 'classical' illustrations... in the sense that the statue of David is 'classical'. Just because indecency is an ancient tradition does not make it acceptable in a book of children's stories.