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HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN’S THUMBELINA by Lauren Mills

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN’S THUMBELINA

adapted by Lauren Mills & illustrated by Lauren Mills

Pub Date: April 6th, 2005
ISBN: 0-316-57359-0
Publisher: Little, Brown

Mills shortens Andersen’s tale of a miniature child snatched by one prospective suitor after another, and tweaks it to give the protagonist an independent streak: “Yes, I will go now and find my own happiness!” she exclaims, climbing onto the swallow’s back to escape marriage to the boring Mole. Illustrated with soft watercolor scenes of a tiny redhead, posed with a dancer’s grace and clad in a succession of beautifully draped shifts, this makes a good replacement for lusher earlier versions, such as Marianna Mayer’s (1986)—though Brad Sneed’s adaptation (2004) is more faithful to the now disturbing original. (Picture book. 7-9)