Customer Reviews

Hans Christian Andersen's Fairytales

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

my daughter is almost six and i opened the pages for our bedtime read with the expectation of quick rejection. the illustrations are truly remarkable and can delight young and old; the prose itself comes across as faithful to the original, yet far too elegant and sophisticated for a young child - or so I thought. to my surprise, she was mesmerized (which thankfully didn't stop her nodding off after a few pages each night.) we read it from start to finish within two weeks. it helped perhaps that she'd previewed several of the tales in her school. yes, there is a dark element, the figure of death is no stranger to these pages. yet my daughter seemed to stretch herself and her imagination, a quick and gratifying leap from the, to my mind, somewhat limited scope, for all their charms, of Dr. Seuss books. She proved ready to put "childish things" behind her -- so long as there was a beautiful picture every 2-3 pages, which this edition with lisbeth zwerger illustrations certainly has. a wonderful, remarkable read, despite the prose and subject matter being a bit hard for her age. and all the more stunning as she's a bilingual child, with English not really her strongest suit (though developing rapidly, thanks in part to this book.)

Most of Andersen's Tales are dark, even a bit scary and many are truly heart breaking. Even though they are described as fairy tales, they can be enjoyed far more by adults. Children may enjoy the well known tales which are actually the simplest, but most can be enjoyed only by grown ups.

I have most all of the books illustrated by Lizbeth Zwerger. She is the most incredible artist.

If you're looking at this , you probably know Hans Christian Andersen, so there is no point in my reviewing the stories, and I don't speak Danish, so I can't comment on the translation. The book itself is very well put together. The illustrations really set this version apart and are perfect for the stories.

The illustrations are beautiful, unique, inspiring and very magic. But despite the fact that the fairytales are by Andersen and some of them are parents-approved classics, some are less known and very scary. Just read it to yourself, before you read it to your child (or remove a couple of pages with the most awfull stories out from the book, like I did, even though I believe book vandalizing is a sin and crime.