Little Mermaids and Ugly Ducklings
Gr 3-6-This handsome picture-book-sized collection presents: "The Ugly Ducking," "Thumbelina," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Nightingale," "The Princess and the Pea," and "The Little Mermaid." A foreword introduces the Danish storyteller, noting that the text is "drawn from some of the earliest translations of his work." While wording may differ slightly from Erik Christian Haugaard's definitive translation, Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories (Anchor, 1983), the stories here are complete and true to the originals. Spirin has illustrated them with lavishly detailed paintings that evoke Northern Renaissance art in both technique and content. His art is far more lush and painterly than Erik Blegvad's informal pen-and-ink drawings for his translation of Andersen's Twelve Tales (McElderry, 1994; o.p.), uniformly set in late 18th-century Europe. Libraries already owning Blegvad's translation will find this new title a fine complement. Only two stories overlap, and Spirin's sumptuous interpretation of "The Little Mermaid" (not included in Blegvad's collection) is well worth contrasting with the Disney version. Both collections, with accurate translations and illustrations that illuminate the classic stories in different ways, should be widely available.Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North AdamsCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.