Thumbelina

by Hans Christian Andersen, Kelly Vivanco (Illustrator)

Overview

Thumbelina is as pretty and delicate as the flower she was born in, and no bigger than her mother’s thumb. She grows older, but no taller in their happy home until she awakens one morning to a terrible surpise: an ugly mother toad has kidnapped her and wants Thumbelina to marry her even more awful toad son. So begins Hans Christian Andersen’s classic story of hardship, adventure, and friendship in a wild and wonderous world filled with helpful fish, braggy June bugs, and a mysterious mole. Thumbelina may be small, but her life is full of big adventures in this beautiful picture book illustrated with the modern paintings of Kelly Vivanco.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927018736
Publisher:	Simply Read Books
Publication date:	09/12/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 12.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Kelly Vivanco was born and raised in front of a sketchpad and a box of colors in Southern California where she later received her BFA with honors from LCAD. Kelly enjoys setting whimsy to work in many mediums and pulls inspiration from the natural and imagined world, vintage photographs, children’s literature and the oddness of her dreams. She lives and works at her home in Escondido, California. A sampling of her solo and group art exhibitions include showings at the Museum at the California Center for the Arts, the Portsmouth Museum of Art, Thinkspace, SURU, Gallery 1988, Subtext, Rotofugi, Flatcolor, 323 East, London Miles, Art Basel, and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts. Her work is held in collections across the U.S. and abroad. http://www.kellyvivanco.com

Date of Birth:

April 2, 1805

Date of Death:

August 4, 1875

Place of Birth:

Odense, Denmark

Place of Death:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Read an Excerpt

"There once was a woman who wished for a child, but was unable to have one. So she sought help from a kind fairy.



'Take this magic seed,' said the fairy. 'Plant it in a flower-pot, and see what will happen.'



'Thank you,' the woman replied, and she went right home and planted the seed. Soon it sprouted and grew a beautiful bud. 'How lovely!' she exclaimed, giving its petals an impulsive kiss.



POOF! The bud blossomed. In the middle of the flower sat a girl as pretty and delicate as the petals and no bigger than the woman’s thumb.



The woman couldn’t believe her eyes. 'I shall call you Thumbelina,' she said joyfully."

Editorial Reviews

Reviews for Snow White and Rose Red, illustrated by Kelly Vivanco:

"The real stars of this adaptation are Kelly Vivanco's stunningly evocative and atmospheric paintings. The large illustrations add depth and substance to the story...Vivanco's muted, earth-toned palette is, in a way, reminiscent of the classic fairy tale illustrations of the great Arthur Rackham and represents a clear departure from the candy-coloured fairy tale adaptations of publishers such as Disney. This classic colour scheme is paired with Vivanco's wide-eyed and oddly proportioned characters to create a modern and visually arresting illustration style."

~ CM Magazine

"Simply gorgeous."

~ Singing Light

From the Publisher

2015-07-22
The adventures of a tiny girl amid flora and fauna in an imaginary land are again presented for young readers. The text is acceptably adapted and accessible, but the illustrations, thickly textured and deeply colored, are leaden and rely on fashion rather than magic for their distinctiveness. The illustrator veers back and forth distractingly in her depiction of clothing, from the traditional 19th-century peasant dress with apron and kerchief of the field mouse to the 1920s look of the three female June bugs (cockchafers in some versions) who declare Thumbelina's utter unsuitability as a mate for the big June bug who tries to capture her. The ugly toad who first steals her from her walnut-shell bed for her own son (shown in denim overalls) wears a frumpy pink polka-dot dress of no particular vintage. The haughty mole who wants to marry the girl wears a red fez and a fur-trimmed jacket to portray his wealth. Thumbelina wears simple white dresses, symbolizing her purity, but there is a lack of the magical lightness necessary to the tale. Even the double-page spread of the wedding scene when Thumbelina, with her large, Margaret Keane-like eyes, finally finds a suitable mate of just the right height, seems heavy and contrived. While Andersen's imaginative story, first published in 1835, keeps children listening or reading, this edition adds nothing new or special to a long literary history. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews