Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina
Grade 1-5–This is a charmingly illustrated Thumbelina, retold with just a few changes in detail and some omissions of lengthy description that make the story more readable. Obtained by an old widow from a tulip grown from a magic seed, the tiny child is soon taken by a toad, then by a beetle, both of them fancying her for her beauty. Welcomed into a kind field mouse's home in winter and presented to a bachelor mole as a possible bride, the sweet child has the common sense to listen to others and the strength of character to do what her own mind and senses tell her is right. Thumbelina's decision to nurse an injured swallow provides her with the opportunity to find her own true place in the world. In Mills's soft, detailed watercolor illustrations, the tiny red-haired girl appears fairylike in her filmy nightgown, then wears homespun jumpers and braids in the mouse's cozy burrow. Even libraries that own Lisbeth Zwerger's lovely version of the story (Morrow, 1980), which is closely translated from the original Danish, will want Mills's book as well.–Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OHCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.