"... who finally, in his teens,
sat with the three - and four -
and five - year - olds in class,
learning all he could;
a boy, thin and awkward,
towering over the little ones,
knees up to his nose
as he crouched over his small desk; "
It should never be a surprise that Jane Yolen finds a new and inspirational way to tell a story. In this picture book biography about Hans Christian Andersen, she honors his storytelling in one long sentence that begins with readers learning his mother could not read. Her memory for the fairy tales she had heard throughout her life provided her son with constant entertainment, and a chance to imagine.
While his mother regaled him with exciting tales, his shoemaker father built solid wooden objects to further his interest in storytelling, and his grandfather danced naked in Denmark's forests. Hans dreamed of being a writer before he knew the alphabet; he had never attended school. In his teens, he joined a nursery class to help him learn all that he could learn. What an education it was!
He shared his poetry with people on the streets; and wrote stories that he gave away because no one wanted to buy them. As a man, he longed to be a digter (a Dutch word for poet) and to find someone to love. Friends loved his writing, as did many others.
"a man whose stories
were on every tongue
in every tongue,
in places he had never traveled,
read by people he never met ... "
He was never loved by someone special. He lived in loneliness until his death. Today, he is honored in statues around the world for his body of work. What a legacy he left - certainly an influence for fine writers today, including Ms. Yolen whose own work is much-loved and honored. Such beauty in the words chosen to tell this story.
Watercolor, graphite, and pen and ink images are the perfect finishing touch. Ms. Boynton-Hughes infuses her work with detailed images from many of the fairy tales so beloved by readers. Hans Christian Andersen's authentic life is placed alongside what his imagination conjured for his storytelling. Beautiful!
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