First two titles in a new series of best-loved Hans Christian Andersen stories, now in the Orchard Fairy Tales format. Each book contains two stories: THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL / THE WILD SWANS THUMBELINA / THE TIN SOLDIERS These direct, accessible retellings by Andrew Matthews are pacy and full of humour, and ideal for 7-9 year olds. Forming a useful teaching resource of traditional tales, they are perfectly complemented by Peter Bailey's classic can humorous illustrations.
This book features in the following series: Hans Andersen, Orchard Fairy Tales .
There are 48 pages in this book. This book was published 2001 by Hachette Children's Group .
Andrew Matthews is a celebrated children's author, who has written over fifty books and has twice been nominated for the Smarties prize. Peter Bailey has been illustrating books for more than thirty-five years and has worked with many of today's best known authors, including Philip Pullman, Allan Ahlberg, Michael Morpurgo and Joan Aiken. He lives near Liverpool with his wife, Sian, who is also an illustrator.
This book contains the following stories:
The Little Match Girl
On a cold New Year's Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is already shivering from cold and early hypothermia. Still she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She shelters in a nook and sits down. The girl lights the matches to warm herself. In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward and sees a shooting star; she then remembers her dead grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone is dying and is going to Heaven. As she lights the next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can. Running out of matches, the child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the child dead in the nook and feel pity for her.
The Wild Swans
