Hans Christian Andersen

In her most ambitious annotated work to date, Maria Tatar celebrates the stories told by Denmark's "perfect wizard" and re-envisions Hans Christian Andersen as a writer who casts his spell on both children and adults. Andersen's most beloved tales, such as "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Little Mermaid," are now joined by "The Shadow" and "Story of a Mother," mature stories that reveal his literary range and depth. Tatar captures the tales' unrivaled dramatic and visual power, showing exactly how Andersen became one of the world's ten most translated authors, along with Shakespeare, Dickens, and Marx. Lushly illustrated with more than one hundred fifty rare images, many in full color, by artists such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen will captivate readers with annotations that explore the rich social and cultural dimensions of the nineteenth century and construct a compelling portrait of a writer whose stories still fascinate us today.

A delightful boxed set of four classic fairy tales, ideally suited for shared family reading. Includes The Emperor's New Clothes, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Elves and the Shoemaker and The Gingerbread Man from the Abbeville Classic Fairy Tales series. Fairy tales, unlike children, never age, and the most enduring fairy tale collections combine concise, engaging storytelling with colorful, charming illustrations. Now four of these classic stories, popular with families throughout the world, have been gathered into just such a collection: Family Favorites. Whether they are fully familiar with the stories or experiencing them for the first time, young readers will delight in the mischief of the little girl in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the magic of the tiny heroes of The Elves and the Shoemaker, the silliness and truth contained in the fable of The Emperor's New Clothes, and the surprise ending of the mouth-watering tale of The Gingerbread Man. Parents will have their own fun sharing these classics with the little ones, and remembering them for themselves. Rendered in clear, compelling language perfect for early readers, the stories are accompanied by whimsical and imaginative artwork that brings them vividly to life, as well as a picture game at the end of each tale that helps children sort out and remember what they have read. A lovely addition to any living room bookshelf, Family Favorites is sure to become as much a tradition as the stories themselves.