Starred Review for reading aloud. Pinkney, who recently retold and illustrated The Ugly Duckling, now adapts another Hans Christian Andersen classic, The Little Match Girl. The large-format picture book allows plenty of room for early twentieth-century city scenes that form the backdrop for this memorable tale. Sent out from her crowded tenement home to sell artificial flowers and matchsticks on New Year's Eve, the little girl loses her shoes crossing the street and feels the chill as snow begins to fall. She's afraid to go home because no one has bought her wares. As night falls, she huddles against a brick wall and begins to light her matches to stave off the cold. Each flame brings a momentary vision: first warmth, then a feast, then a Christmas tree, and finally her beloved, deceased grandmother. Striking all her matches to keep that vision with her, the lonely child finds herself gathered up in her grandmother's arms and taken up to heaven, where there was no more cold, no hunger, no pain, for they were with God. The illustration of the match girl presents a challenge for artists, but Pinkney's interpretation is impressive. He places her firmly in the context of her times, contrasting her poverty and the wealth of many others in the street scenes, people too busy and self-absorbed to notice her. Also, he makes her neither too pretty nor too pathetic, giving her an essential dignity that is true to the original story. Like the story, the detailed artwork, in pencil, gouache, and watercolor, is a study in contrasts, with many juxtaposed shades of muted colors, occasionally brightened with golden light and brighter, deeper hues. Because of the book's somber tone, some parents may object to the book's placement on the picture-book shelves, as CIP recommends. However, this is a beautifully illustrated version of a classic tale. (Reviewed October 15, 1999)

Pinkney has gracefully adapted the tragic classic about a poverty-stricken young girl forced to sell matches on a street corner. If the Match Girl is a bit too rosy-cheeked and romanticized, the gouache and watercolor paintings of the city setting are both sumptuous and gritty, aptly underscoring the tale's contrasts.

Pinkney's deeply moving treatment of Andersen's classic tale moves the events to an urban America of the 1920s. On a freezing New Year's Eve, a girl stumbles outside in her stocking feet to try and sell matches. The jovial holiday crowd hustles by her; she is afraid to go home, where her father will beat her. To keep herself warm she lights her matches, and each blazes in a dream of holiday happiness. Her last vision is that of her kind grandmother, whom the child joins in a place beyond the reach of cold and poverty. On the last page, two shooting stars are shown blazing across the dark New Year's sky. Pinkney's detailed watercolors bring to life this cold winter night, and profusion of food and gifts just out of the girl's reach. Flecks of snow tumble across the outdoor scenes, and warm yellow candlelight make indoor settings look especially cozy. Pinkney's sense of pacing is also just right; readers will be captivated by the intimacy and drama his illustrations create. The result is so affecting that some will believe they're encountering this story for the very first time. (Picture book/folklore. 5-9)

"In this faithful retelling of the classic tale, Pinkney transports the heroine from Andersen's European setting to the bustling city streets and crowded tenements of early 1920s America," said <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW in a starred review. "Pinkney's vision proves as transcendent as Andersen's." Ages 5-up<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">. (Sept.)

Gr 1-4-An internationally renowned Czech artist brings her avant-garde perspective to Andersen's timeless fable. Pacovsk 's playful art is challenging and experimental, featuring childish scrawls, bright smudges of color along with silver inlays, and whimsically amorphous figures. One illustration depicts the girl's eyes, nose, and cupped hands scribbled across what appears to be a financial balance sheet. One spread consists of squares of color smudges facing a shiny silver page on which readers find their own reflection. The two pages are linked by a multicolored paintbrush/matchstick form. The image of the matchstick recurs throughout in all colors and shapes, singly or in groups, some leaning at angles, some resembling picket fences. Though the art challenges, it is appropriately childlike and whimsical, and opens this classic tale to new interpretations. Thoughtful students of folktale will welcome Pacovsk 's brilliantly innovative vision.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.