THUMBELINA

A tiny girl no bigger than a thumb is stolen by a great ugly toad and subsequently has many adventures and makes many animal friends, before finding the perfect mate in a warm and beautiful southern land

Andersen's perennially popular tale of the tiny girl ``no bigger than your thumb'' is faithfully retold in this newly illustrated edition. Thumbelina's adventures begin when an ``ugly old toad'' kidnaps her, planning to wed Thumbelina to her son. Rescued from that fate, the diminutive heroine suffers a series of trials and tribulations until she is taken in by a kindly field mouse. When marriage once again threatens her future, a sparrow she had befriended carries her away to the warm southern lands where she finds tiny people like herself and, happy at last, marries their king. Hautzig's telling is simple and direct, capturing the conversational tone and humorous comments of Andersen's original. Kaila's delicate watercolors, with their luminous blues, browns, and greens, are superbly suited to the tale, with borders of plant and animal life used to create an impression of the larger natural world that exists beyond the confines of the book's pages. A handsome and serviceable edition. --Linda Boyles, Alachua County Library District, Gainesville, FL Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.