Thumbelina

I purchased 3 of this title for our school library and would love to own my own copy. The illustrations are so lovely. I enjoy paging through books Susan Jeffers has illustrated. Amy Elrich's retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale is just right. The combined efforts of reteller and illustrator make this a very accessible book for the children's book section in any library.

My little girl became intrigued recently with the story of Thumbelina after her teacher told her about a fairy the size of a thumb. I took her to the library this afternoon in search of a Thumbelina storybook so she could hear the story and see the pictures for herself. The librarian suggested this version and I agreed this is a very nice edition. Several pages in the book are two page spreads with detailed art work. Other pages have extensive text and difficult to read words for early readers, so ages 6 & below will probably want the story to be read to them. My 6 year old daughter felt the story was long and at times scary. The field mice was arranging a wedding between poor Thumbelina and a blind mole, and Thumbelina comes across a bird that the mole thinks is dead so he kicks it. Thumbelina is also kidnapped from her mother by a frog to be a bride for her son. All in all, it's a bit of a strange book, but nonetheless my daughter enjoyed the story and it kept her attention all the way through. I would say because of the occassional scary text that you might want to change some words when reading to preschoolers, but on the other hand kids with active imaginations should be engrossed in this story from the beginning until the end. Thumbelina never does make it back to her mother, but she meets a Fairy King and marries him, and naturally they live happily ever after.

One of my favorite stories as a child, I was very happy to see such a great modern version of it. Beautiful art, fantastic story.

The familiar Hans Christian Andersen story of Thumbelina has received the royal treatment from Susan Jeffers. Her large, lovely pictures make this seem like you are stepping into the story for the first time. Thumbelina is so dainty and sweet that it's no wonder the toad wishes to marry her but poor Thumbelina has a harrowing time escaping from her warty suitor. Share a trumpet vine blossom with Thumbelina, a pair of hummingbirds and a fat bumble bee or take a ride with her on the back of a gallant swallow. This whole story is enchanting from start to finish and the pictures are a delight!