The Little Match Girl

Andersen, Hans Christian. The Little Match Girl. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. New York: Phyllis Fogelman Books, 1999.

The Little Match Girl is a retold tale by illustrator Jerry Pinkney about a poor girl in 1920’s urban America who walks through the city on New Year’s Eve trying to sell matches knowing that if she goes home without any money she will be beat by her father. When night falls and she still has not sold any matches she curls up in an alley lighting the matches for warmth. In the light of the matches she sees visions a holiday feast and a Christmas tree while she slowly freezes to death. Her last vision is of her grandmother, the only one that loved her carrying her away to peace and warmth.

Pinkney’s drawings of this child who freezes to death in the city are stunning. He conveys this New Year's Eve tale so well that readers may not realize that the little girl is dying. The sights she imagines as she strikes her matches for warmth is a stark contrast to her dying. At the end readers are comforted when they see her being carried off by her grandmother to peace. The illustration of when people find her dead, with a smile on her face is a heart wrenching scene. The little girl's cherry-red grandmother and the fancy clothes of harried passersby is a great contrast to the stark gray sidewalks and brick buildings. The watercolor drawings make one feel as if they are beside the little girl feeling the warmth and smelling the great feast.