Elf Hill: Tales from Hans Christian Andersen
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Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from Edward Ardizzone’s Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain. Brian Alderson discusses this classic picture book, now reissued in a beautiful new edition by Scholastic in ‘Classics in Short’. Thanks to Scholastic Children’s Books for their help in producing this January cover.
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Elf Hill: Tales from Hans Christian Andersen
Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
Lewis’s retelling of classic stories is justifiably well-regarded, and this latest Andersen collection, on whose work she is an expert, can only add to her reputation. There are nine stories in this volume, and as Lewis points out in her introduction, some, such as ‘The Princess and the Pea’ are well known while others, such as the title story, may be new to many readers. Three of the stories have already appeared in Lewis’s 1986 Andersen Press publication. The wording has been changed very slightly, possibly to allow for greater smoothness in reading aloud.
Illustrating a classic presents challenges, but if Chichester Clark felt any sense of awe in illustrating Andersen it does not show. As we have come to expect, her line is assured and her palette rich. Her vision of the Little Match Girl huddled in a doorway and the dying Emperor in ‘The Nightingale’ are but two images which bring freshness to the familiar.
This collection will ensure the popularity of Andersen’s Fairy Tales for quite some time to come.
