Review by New York Times Review
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S 1836 "Thumbelina" is the story of a tiny, passive girl, no bigger than your thumb. She is good at cleaning and music. She has a kind heart. She is exceptionally good-looking and modest. "She had no way of knowing how lovely she was," as Sylvia Long puts it in her retelling. Everyone loves Thumbelina. In fact, they love her so much they want to either abduct her, marry her or rescue her. There seems to be nothing else to do with Thumbelina, actually. Here's the story: Magically born from a flower, tiny Thumbelina is soon kidnapped by horrid toads for purposes of marriage. She's rescued by fish and a butterfly, abducted by an amorous beetle, abandoned, adopted by a mouse, forced to marry a mole and rescued by a swallow just before the wedding. Then she marries royalty and lives happily ever after. The tale may be inherently irritating to parents hoping to present their children with models of girls and women not so mired in the values of Andersen's 19th century. These two new editions, though lovely, compound this problem by portraying Thumbelina as a blue-eyed white girl possessing the even features and slim build that have been representing ideal beauty to Westerners for more than a century. It's a bit depressing, actually, that neither book pushes to reimagine the story visually. Yes, it's nice to have pretty new pictures of a famous tale, but beyond that, why this story? What interpretation are the artists offering? Why revisit "Thumbelina" now? There are no answers in these two books. They are conventional as can be - staid, even - though that's not to say that they're without value. Both are exceedingly attractive, and the story is a wild adventure filled with eccentric animal characters. My 8-year-old, who usually considers herself rather old for picture books, grabbed them off my desk and read them cover to cover one after the other. Thumbelinas drawn by Sylvia Long, above, and Bagram Ibatoulline, below. Long is best known for illustrating the spectacularly beautiful picture book "An Egg Is Quiet" by Dianna Aston. Her watercolors bring out the wonder of the natural world with an almost emotional intensity. Several spreads in her "Thumbelina" are vertical, requiring children to turn them to get a proper look, emphasizing that the book is as much a beautiful object as a story to get lost in. THE old mama toad in Long's book seems anatomically correct down to the flecks in the irises, making her all the more horrifying. The beetles, though dressed in pearls and filmy gowns, have detailed wings and antennas. The water, the flowers, the gently cloudy sky, the snowcapped mountains beneath the swallow as it flies - all these are so gorgeously and specifically rendered that the centerpiece of the story almost seems to be the landscape as tiny Thumbelina sees it. Long's version is quite faithful to Andersen's original, which is to say wordy and full of details: "She wove herself a bed out of blades of grass and hung it under clover leaves for protection from the rain. She sucked nectar from the flowers for food and drank dew from their leaves every morning." It's well suited to older readers and fairy tale fans. Brian Alderson's "Thumbelina" is more of a departure from the original, though he's known as an Andersen translator ("The Swan's Stories"). His approach is great for reading aloud to small children, since his short sentences and rhythmic language emphasize character. Descriptive passages are axed in favor of dialogue. For example, in Long's book, the mama toad thinks, "What a pretty little wife she would make for my son." Alderson's croaks: "Rek-kek-kek-kek. What a catchi-catchi-catch. She shall wed my Toadikins." Long's field mouse scolds, "Nonsense!" when Thumbelina objects to spending her life underground with the pompous blind mole. Alderson's snaps, "Now don't be obstropolous." Thumbelinas drawn by Sylvia Long, above, and Bagram Ibatoulline, below. Alderson's version is a vigorous interpretation, though it doesn't particularly energize its heroine. Thumbelina herself speaks only a single sentence: "She has been so kind to me," she remarks of bossy Mrs. Fieldmouse. Bagram Ibatoulline's gouache and watercolor paintings give Thumbelina a large-eyed pathos reminiscent of silent movie heroines, but her body and face are so much less detailed than those of his charmingly nefarious antagonists that in some scenes she almost seems a cartoon character adrift in the real world. His pictures are bolder and funnier than Long's, and the brilliant purples and greens of the landscape contrast strongly with the damp grays and browns of the field mouse burrow that traps Thumbelina. One can feel the joyous relief when the swallow rescues her, flying above a bright green meadow, and over all, Alderson and Ibatoulline's recasting tells the story with higher energy and drama. "Thumbelina" has a premise that is inherently enchanting: it's the adventures of a miniature human being. The terrors of giant toads and bugs, the joys of a ride on a swallow or a float on a lily pad - all this will capture children's imaginations in these new editions, just as it has since 1836, whatever one might feel about the limitations of the heroine or the ambitions of the artists. Emily Jenkins's most recent books are "Sugar Would Not Eat It" and "Toy Dance Party."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [April 11, 2010]
Review by Booklist Review
The familiar Andersen tale is given a sprightly retelling and illustrations filled with gleaming flora and fauna. The story moves along with much of the extraneous description cut as Thumbelina leaves her parents' home, is kidnapped by the toads, stays with the maybugs, and then sojourns with Mrs. Fieldmouse, who plays matchmaker with Thumbelina and the Man in Gray, a pompous, blinking Mole. Thumbelina, with her curly blond hair and wide-eyed look, resembles a paper doll, and sometimes is as stiff. But her surroundings are gorgeous, and Ibatoulline, using acryl gouache and watercolor, shows his skills in the intricate detail of a butterfly's wing, blowing reeds, or a mouse's fur. Librarians wanting to add to their Andersen collections won't be disappointed.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Alderson's version of this oft-retold tale clips along at a breezy pace, retaining most of Andersen's detail. It heightens the role of the swallow a bit, identifying him at the outset as the narrator, in addition to his central role in liberating Thumbelina. "'That's where it all started,' said the swallow. That's where the woman went off to see the local witch. She wanted a baby real bad and thought the witch could help." And so, of course, the witch did help, giving the woman a barleycorn to plant in a pretty pot. Ibatoulline's fulsome paintings offer bold views of the natural world and the animals that the blond doll-like Thumbelina encounters. Most of the semi-realistic creatures have a cheerful semblance, though two of them-who are actually quite benign in the story-are a bit grotesque. The maybugs that carry Thumbelina off to their tree for a bit and the spiders who weave her wedding dress are drawn as very toothy animals. All look as if they're wearing prominent dentures. The large views and well-paced text will work well for reading aloud in group settings. The book stands nicely with editions by other artists, tellers, and translators.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Pint-sized Thumbelina faces danger and despair as she searches for true love. She grows from a bud, "no bigger than your thumb," after her mother pleads with the witch for a child. When she is kidnapped to be married to the ugly Toadikins, Thumbelina's weeping brings a multitude of characters to her aid. She then nurses a swallow to health, and he helps her avoid marriage to the dismal mole, the Man in Grey. Thin lines and dynamic colors portray the wispy and fair Thumbelina. Ibatoulline deftly balances darkness and light to convey Thumbelina's quest for happiness, her expressive eyes giving her emotional depth. Emphasizing perspective, rich acryl gouacheand-watercolor spreads illustrate both vast outdoor scenes and intimate abodes. Alderson's conversational tone brings warmth to the tale, and lively dialogue develops the characters. "Now don't be obstropolous," says Mrs. Mouse. "Otherwise I shall bite you with my little white teeth." A cozily satisfying rendition of the classic. (Picture book/fairy tale. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
