The Steadfast Tin Soldier
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Cover Story
The illustration on our cover this month is by Andrew Skilleter from Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone. Susan Cooper is interviewed by Stephanie Nettell. The book is published by Bodley Head, to whom we are grateful for help in using this illustration.
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The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Illustrated by P J Lynch
Abridged by P J Lynch and Naomi Lewis
This translation of a classic tale of humble, hopeless love communicates the strange, tender harshness of Andersen's world very directly. P J Lynch's illustrations are an exhilarating accompaniment to the tragedy. The soldier's fascination with the ballerina, his persecution by a goblin that howls off the page, his plunge into the gutter, his sewer voyage and sojourn in the belly of a fish, his miraculous return to the playroom and his final immolation amidst the ashes of his beloved, all are depicted with a vigorous realism that mirrors the clarity of the text. Share this with all ages, but be prepared for tears.
