Hans Christian Anderson - The Little Match Stick Girl

Review by showhost december 2008
One of the christmas books I discovered recently was 'The Little Match Stick Girl' by Hans Christian Anderson. It was first published in 1845. In this retelling of the classic tale, Jerry Pinkney transports the heroine from Andersen's European setting to the bustling city streets and crowded tenements of early 1920s America. On a cold New Year’s Eve, an unnamed girl is sent out into the cold by her abusive father to sell matches. He beats her whenever she fails to bring in a satisfactory income for her work. Eventually she gets so cold that she lights one to keep warm. In their light, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. The girl looks skyward, sees a shooting star, and remembers such stars mean someone is dying. As she lights her last match, she sees a vision of her beloved, deceased grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. The child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The girl runs to her, never to return to the cold again. The next morning she is found frozen to death in the snow with a smile on her face.
'This is one of my favorite stories to hear at Christmas-time. It really reminds you to be thankful of all that you have'
'I read this story as a child and i remember how sad i felt for the little girl. Each picture that came when the match was lit was magical and you wanted each image to stay and as a child it teaches you to think about how other children, just like you, are suffering in the world'.