Author(s): Hans Christian Andersen

Children's books

For over one hundred years, Hans Christian Andersen's beloved fairy tales have charmed and entertained audiences around the world. Blending the old folk tales told to him as a child with a mixture of colloquial speech and fantasy, Andersen's stories reveal a vision rich in humor, sharp with irony, and reflect both the sadness and joy of living. The forty-seven tales in this beautifully translated collection transport readers into a magical world of kings and princesses, farm lads and mermaids, witches, and even the devil's grandmother! But whether we are marveling at the fragile porcelain palace of the Emperor of China or weeping for the poor little match girl, every tale shocks us into recognizing a human truth - as clear as the nakedness of the Emperor in his new clothes, or the final beauty of the Ugly Duckling. As generation after generation of readers has discovered, and as Pat Shaw Iversen notes in a splendid Afterword, Hans Christian Andersen is a story teller who ranks as "one of the greatest literary geniuses the world has ever known."