The Little Mermaid

By Hans Christian Andersen, Misha Hoekstra and Helen Crawford-White

A beautifully illustrated new translation of a beloved Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale

Six young sisters live in the depths of the ocean, longing for the chance to see the beauty of the earth. Most eager of all is the youngest mermaid, who counts the days to her fifteenth birthday when her grandmother will finally allow her to rise to the surface.

Her first sight above the water is a large ship on which a beautiful prince is celebrating his sixteenth birthday. Immediately she falls in love, and so begins her determined quest to join the prince on earth as a human.

Full of wonder and heart, The Little Mermaid remains one of the most powerful fairy tales ever written, and this new, gorgeously illustrated translation gives it renewed life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781782692508

Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Anderson (1805–75) was a Danish writer, best known for his universally recognised children’s fairy tales, of which there are over 150. He also wrote plays, novels, poems and travel essays.

Reviews for The Little Mermaid

[andreabyrnes · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"The Little Mermaid" is a popular fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.

[lynleys-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Hans, Hans, Hans, you sick fuck.I haven't read the Disney version but I bet it ain't nothing like this.The original (translated) version includes:The cutting out of a tongueThreats of murderBlack milk coming out of a witches breastHierarchy of sisterly beautyMarital possessivenessAnd perhaps most disturbingly of all, the overall message as explained in the final paragraph:"Unseen, we glide into human homes where there are children, and whenever we find a good child, one who makes its parents happy and deserves their love [because obviously some children don't deserve love], God shortens our time of trial. The child never knows when we fly through the room; if its goodness makes us smile with pleasure, a year is taken from the three hundred. But if we see a naughty, evil child, then we must weep tears of sorrow, and each tear adds one day more to our time of waiting."Now kiddies, your bedtime story is over. SLEEP TIGHT.None of this is a sleight on the translator and artist of this particular version, who both did an excellent job. The pastel drawings by Christian Birmingham are evocative and beautiful, and the large format of this volume invites lengthy gazing. My question is rather, how has this story survived? Of all the stories that might be readapted, time and time again, why this one?

[kacieforest · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

4.The “Little Mermaid” is a book about a fairytale of a mermaid who longs to be human and win the love of a prince. The big idea of the story is about making great sacrifices and taking huge risks. I have mixed feelings for this book, in that I did and did not like it for a few reasons. I liked this book for the overall fantasy genre focus. It brings imagination to readers interests. It focuses on princesses, princes, and a mermaid which sparks the interests of creativity to a readers mind. For instance, the book transports readers on an unforgettable voyage from the fanciful underwater realm of the little mermaid to her dazzling new home on the surface. That is a fun theme and plot for readers who like to take a step into imagination. But, the overall layout, illustrations, and writing did not spark my interest. The layout of the writing was placed into large paragraphs. The paragraphs appeared never ending, and it doesn’t captures the readers’ attention. Also, the pictures are revealing, so the audience could not be younger than 7th grade. The mermaid appears to be slightly nude in a few pictures. I understand that it is a traditional tale, but the book should not be considered a children’s read. Lastly, the writing was not paced well. There weren’t many breaks or exaggerations in between words. The main idea is appropriate for all ages, but the book’s appearance is not.

[dianaharger · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a traditional fairy tale about a mermaid, who meets a prince, and must give up her most beautiful talent to become human. The setting in this story is well established quickly at the beginning. The plot is simple, and direct. The illustrations in this book are very basic, yet colorful, and creative.I remember watching The Little Mermaid on television, and I remember from a long time ago, I think the movie was called Mermaid, with Tom Hanks in it. I loved that movie!A great extension idea would be to have students draw their vision of what the Mermaid would look like. Another would be to have students come up with costume ideas, and have them dress like Mermaids.

[terris-7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was OK, but I didn't like the ending. It felt like the author couldn't figure out how to end it, so he just pulled something out of the "air." (That's a pun that goes along with the story ;))

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is the original Anderson story, much sadder than the Disney version, in an edition produced in Denmark for English-language tourists. There is a very nice introduction by Erik Dal which describes Anderson's life which sympathy and honesty (some of his poetry is "astonishingly bad," though some poems are in the hearts of all Danes as much as the fairytales) and converys well the Danish feeling for the impact of his use of simple, natural language (rather like the theory, if not the practice, of Wordsworth.) The illustrations are selections from famous versions by a number of different illustrators, the Danes Pederson and Frolich and Bang, the French Dargent, the Russian Bunin, Arthur Rackham and Richard Bennet, even Japanese and Chinese versions, among others.

[melynnreadmond · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story is a classic. I enjoyed reading this picture book since the illustrations were colorful and detailed to match the writing. The language was descriptive and powerful. This classic story is about a unknown kingdom under the depths of the ocean and one girls dream to change the separation of the two worlds. This stories language makes the story come to life with descriptive words, given the fact that it is of the traditional fantasy genre. “The sea looked quite green, and large icebergs were floating about, each like a pearl, she said, but larger and loftier than the churches built by men,” helps create a picture in the readers mind and keep them engaged in the story. Given the descriptive language seeing colorful detailed illustrations help to aid readers create pictures to match the oral stories. The main idea of this story is to be careful what you wish for.

[cwollan09 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Genre: Fairy TaleCharacterization: 5 StarsReview: The little mermaid dreamed of spending life ashore and was willing to give up her comfortable home life to live on land. This book is a good example of a fairy tale because it is literature that has been passed down through generations by people retelling them.Media: colored pencils