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How Hans Christian Andersen Became a Swan by Sandra Nickel – YA Books Central
About This Book:
He brought to life stories and characters that millions have loved: A one-legged tin soldier who yearned for love. A poor little match girl. A mermaid who gave up her voice for a prince. But who was Hans Christian Andersen? He was a “strange child.” An ugly duckling. Even his mother said so. He didn’t seem to think like, or look like, anyone around him. But while his tender heart was bruised by ridicule, it responded by driving an unstoppable urge to create, to entertain. If he couldn’t act he would dance, if he couldn’t dance he would sing, and if he couldn’t sing … well, maybe he had stories to tell. With each rejection and defeat, Hans would soothe himself by making art with scissors and whatever was handy. A bit of cloth, a piece of paper. Until one day…
Structured like a fairy tale, this is the story of how Hans Christian Andersen took all the parts of his life—whether painful or transcendent—and used them to create books that have touched children the world over.
This is the first picture book biography of Andersen to be told through a lens that takes into account what scholars now know of his neurodiversity. Anderson, for instance, often told stories while keeping his hands busy by making paper-cut art. In this spirit, the remarkable illustrations by Calvin Nicholls are all created as paper-cut soft sculptures.
A fresh, and uniquely beautiful look at one of the world’s greatest storytellers.
*Review Contributed By Karen Yingling, Staff Reviewer*
More Perspective on a Beloved Author
Good Points
It’s the cut paper illustrations that really make this one; Nicholls does a great job of layering the backgrounds with a lot of different elements, and also of conveying emtions in the figures. I especially like Andersen’s clothes; the wrinkles in the pants are so realistic. The color palette has a lot of blue, yellow and green which seem very evocative of the Danish countryside.
Young readers will be familiar with Andersen’s stories but might not know the background of the author. Add this to our literary round table of picture book biographies of authors that might include Beatrix Potter, Scientist by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Make Way: The Story of Robert McCloskey, Nancy Schön, and some very Famous Ducklings by Angel Burke Kunkel, One Fun Day with Lewis Carroll: A Celebration of Wordplay and a Girl Named Alice by Kathleen Krull and illustrated Júlia Sardà., Tomfoolery! Randolph Caldecott and the Rambunctious Coming-of-Age of Children’s Books by Michelle Markel and Just Like Beverly: A Biography of Beverly Cleary by Vicki Conrad and illustrated by David Holm.