*Thank you to the Publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I may be an adult, but this little book truly moved my imagination. I received a beautifully illustrated Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale collection for my fifth birthday and grew up reading these magical tales over and over again. Yet, I never knew a thing about the author, even though I happen to live and study in Copenhagen right now.

This book gives children a unique opportunity to learn about their favorite author - one which I didn't have until now. Not only does it give a solid background to the tales, but it is also a very motivational story. Through wonderfully illustrated pages of this book, we learn that Andersen came from an impoverished family and became wealthy and accomplished through his own hard work and determination. This is the kind of message I want to be reading to children; as an ESL tutor for little kids, I know very well just how much TV shows and books shape the young minds.

The only suggestion I have is that in the story and illustrations, Andersen and the little girl Elsa have a bit of a strange relationship when read with the contemporary times in mind. He holds her hand at the beginning of the tale when they had just met, for example. This is not an appropriate message, nor something I would like to expose children to.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book to any young fans of some of the most beautiful classical fairy tales - and the parents, too.

Such a cute and fascinating little book. I wanted a bit more from it, the story itself was quite short. The art was lovely though and my fascination with Hans Christian Anderson has definitely been ignited.