Thumbelina
Anna Fienberg
Mark Jackson & Heather Potter
Macmillan 2003
32pp., hbk., $29.95
0073291132X
Anna Fienberg has retold a fairytale that’s been around for years. This particular version stands out because of its drawings; Mark Jackson and Heather Potter team up together to make the most extraordinary pictures. Without these fantastic drawings, it would be like seeing a pool with no water!
Adventurous Thumbelina, born out of a flower and sold to middle-aged women, is too curious to wait for anything she sets sight on. She must go outside to see the new world, she must wander upon the dry and outstretched plains…
Yet then she’ll find herself with selfish toads, drifting with lily-pads, taken by cockroaches, cared by birds, ordered by mice, married by blinded moles, falling among spiders and much more!
Though it’s not so important, I thought the names of the characters were very plain, unimaginative and very ordinary. The names were listed like: Mr. Cockroach (a cockroach) and Mrs. Mouse (a mouse).
I think that the writing could have been shortened a little, it had too much detail. Usually when you write a young readers book you try not to have too much writing or it will make it a bit too complex or hard for young readers to read.
Thumbelina was such a cute little story; I would have loved reading this book at eight years old or so.
But overall, I still recommend this book to all children under 10.
Jazz Age 12 North Coast N.S.W.
Probably not, because people like that just don’t exist, except in your imagination. Thumbelina was a tiny, very kind girl who was nice to everyone. She grew from a flower at Rosalie’s house.
A big, old, ugly toad appeared one day and stole Thumbelina away from her home while she was asleep. The toad wanted her for a wife for her
disgusting, warty, son, Horace, who looked like a mud pie. Thumbelina
wasn’t very impressed about marrying an ugly toad, but who would be?
Thumbelina was trapped on a lily pad in the middle of a stream. When the
leaf broke away she was free again. However, her freedom didn’t last
Because she was taken by a cockroach who also wanted Thumbelina for his wife. Oh no, not another disgusting creature wanting to marry her.
The other cockroaches decide she’s not good enough, so they leave her alone in the forest.
After all the feral creatures tried to marry her Thumbelina finds someone
who will look after her; Mrs.Fieldmouse. Then she is betrayed when Mrs.
Field mouse sets her up with Mr. Mole. During her stay with Mrs. Field
mouse, Thumbelina takes care of a dead sparrow; well it’s not really dead!
The sparrow rescues her on her wedding day to Mr. Mole but where will the
sparrow take Thumbelina?
This is a great book because it is full of interesting creatures that have
many adventures, as well as excellent illustrations.
I would recommend it to ages 7 to 11.
Faith 9 years Barham Primary School, NSW
