Elizabeth Ward
…a vivid new translation here by Stephen Mitchell…Bagram Ibatoulline's delicate watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations bring out its latent, violent weirdness very well.
—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Andersen's mysterious tale of the common soldier who ends up marrying a princess with the help of three unusual messengers of fate is illustrated with Hutton's beautifully rendered pen-and-watercolor drawings. The soldier kills a witch because she will not tell him the secret of her tinderbox and discovers that when he strikes the box, three dogswith eyes as big as teacups, mill wheels and round towers, respectivelyappear to do his bidding and help him win the princess. While Hutton effectively uses moon-washed shadows throughout the book, the dogs, like Orphan Annie's Sandy, have blank cartoon eyes that detract from the eerie aspects of the story. Although some of the paintings are imaginatively designed, the art does not provide a consistent interpretation of the work. Ages 6-up. (Sept . )
From the Publisher
Beautifully illustrated…Mitchell’s words are rich and colloquial.
—Booklist (starred review)
School Library Journal
11/01/2016
Gr 3 Up-One of Andersen's earliest fairy tales, "The Tinderbox" is considered a classic of the genre. But unlike in his other tales, this hero is self-absorbed and greedy. First published in 1835, the story begins with a soldier returning home from war, his knapsack on his back and a sword at his side. As he walks, he meets an ugly old witch. She asks him to climb into a hollow tree to retrieve a magic tinderbox and gives the soldier permission to take anything he finds inside the tree, but he must return the tinderbox. In the tree, he comes across three chambers filled with copper, silver, and gold coins guarded by three monstrous dogs. He fills his pockets and knapsack and returns to the witch. When she demands the tinderbox, the soldier draws his sword, "and that [is] the end of the witch." The soldier becomes rich and extravagant. He learns the secret of the tinderbox. When he strikes the flint, the three monstrous dogs appear, ready to grant him any wish. In true fairy-tale style, he also goes on to discover a princess in a locked tower and has one of the dogs kidnap her. He falls in love with her, but her royal parents have him arrested, put in prison, and sentenced to death. On the day of execution, the soldier sends a boy for his tinderbox, and, at the scaffold, asks to have a last smoke. When he strikes the match, the dogs appear, fall on the judges and council members, and "toss…them high into the air, so high that they [break] into pieces." The soldier and the princess are united, and the dogs join the wedding feast. Yerko's pencil and watercolor artwork is expressive and intricate. The book's oversize format gives readers the opportunity to enjoy his exquisite detail. Inset illustrations and incidental art as well as full-page pictures are interspersed throughout to create a clever design that perfectly complements this somewhat mysterious and curious folktale. VERDICT Perhaps not a first choice when sharing Andersen's work, especially with the younger crowd, but this book would be a beautiful addition to any comprehensive fairy-tale collection.-Carole Phillips, Greenacres Elementary School, Scarsdale, NY
