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(More customer reviews)I have grown up loving fairy tales, and I collect books of fairy tales. I happened to be at [the store] one day, sometime before Christmas, and I noticed Christian Birmingham's book of Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol". I looked at it for a while, surprised that I haven't seen any of this illustrator's previous work. I continued to look around and I found "The Classic Treasury Of Hans Christian Andersen". I looked at it, and was amazed at how magical and beautiful the illustrations were. All of the illustrations in this book capture the timeless fairy tales of Andersen perfectly. I was once again reunited with some of the stories I grew up loving like "The Little Mermaid", "The Little Match Girl", among others.
The luminous illustrations complement the black and white drawings so that it's just the right amount of artwork to capture pivotal scenes from the stories without overdoing it. I love the color illustrations of Thumblina flying through the air with her bird friend, the black and white drawing of the Little Mermaid saving the prince from drowning, the color illustration of the nightingale signing on the branch of blossoms as the captivated people watch it, and the black and white drawing of the Little Match Girl being taken to Heaven by her Grandmother. These are truly beautiful stories brought to life by an outstanding illustrator. Although you would expect all fairy tales to have perfectly happy endings, many of Andersen's do not. It is up to the reader to decide if the endings are happy or not. I would say they are bittersweet, but beautiful just the same. Anyone who is looking for an excellent book of these stories, or just for a good picture book, I HIGHLY recommend this!!!
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Award-winning English illustrator Christian Birmingham--one of the rising stars of children's illustration--brings eight time-honored fairy tales to life in dazzling, full-color artwork for this charming collection. Sure to become a treasured part of any childhood library, this sumptuously illustrated book includes the read-aloud favorites The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Match Girl, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, and The Princess and the Pea.
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