The Steadfast Tin Soldier

by Hans Christian Andersen, Cynthia Rylant, Jen Corace

Overview

With her signature warmth and lyricism, Newbery winner Cynthia Rylant has crafted a new version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a tin soldier who falls in love with a ballerina. As in the original story, the tin soldier's love for the beautiful ballerina is thwarted by a goblin. The tin soldier is separated from the other toys and washed down a sewer, where he encounters a rat and gets swallowed by a fish, but somehow, against all odds, he manages to end up back home only to be cast into the nursery fire. Rylant adds her own twist to the end of the tale, however, for in this version, the tin soldier and the ballerina are melded to each other, rather than melted, in the heat of the fire, so they'll never be parted again. Rylant's expert storytelling paired with Corace's stunning illustrations create a beautiful, unforgettable tale of everlasting love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613124987
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	03/12/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is a two-time Newbery winner and the author of more than 100 books for children, including All in a Day. Jen Corace received her BFA in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and has illustrated a number of children's books, including Little Pea. Visit her at jencorace.com.

Date of Birth:

April 2, 1805

Date of Death:

August 4, 1875

Place of Birth:

Odense, Denmark

Place of Death:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/10/2016
In a visually striking and fittingly dark interpretation of a tragic fairy tale, a one-legged tin soldier falls in love with a paper ballerina. After falling from a window, the soldier begins a circuitous journey, eventually swallowed by a fish. Colored in bold reds, blacks, and grays, Yoon’s angular mixed-media prints highlight the soldier’s stoicism and the perils he faces. Yoon (The Tiger Who Would Be King) confronts the story’s darkest moments head on: when a cook cuts open the fish and discovers the soldier inside, its blood and entrails pour out grotesquely. And, as in the original Andersen, the soldier and ballerina’s relationship ends in fire, as they are incinerated in a stove. Ages 6–9. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Colored in bold reds, blacks, and grays, Yoon's angular mixed-media prints highlight the soldier's stoicism and the perils he faces." — STARRED REVIEW, Publishers Weekly

"Hans Christian Andersen’s iconic tale of love, loyalty, and loss, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, is retold by Joohee Yoon using classic printmaking artistry with an avant-garde edge. In gray scale with vivid scarlet splashes, the story of the soldier and the ballerina unfolds, maintaining all the tragic dignity of the original while infusing a fresh and thrilling air of suspense and emotion, ideal for those experiencing the tin soldier’s journey for the first time or the fiftieth."— Foreword Reviews

"Yoon faithfully retells Andersen’s literary fairy tale in sober prose and dazzling illustrations, created by hand drawing, relief printing, and computer techniques. The story of the one-legged toy soldier who falls in love with a paper ballerina and accidentally embarks on a series of adventures certainly has its grim moments, and Yoon’s art—with its layered patterns and textures, limited palette (red, black, and gray), and dynamic perspectives—revels in these. ... Yoon’s art, with its intentionally static feel despite all those eye-catching patterns, evokes the heart of Andersen’s tale: the tragedy of the soldier’s steadfastness and enforced passivity."—Katrina Hedeen, The Horn Book

From the Publisher

★ 12/01/2016
Gr 2–4—The steadfast tin soldier has only one leg. There was not enough tin to fill the mold, but this soldier can stand just as well as the others. The soldier falls for a beautiful paper ballerina in the child's playroom and catches the wrath of a frightening jack-in-the-box troll. This tale has love, envy, adventure, and the traditional tragic Andersen ending. Yoon has retold the story for a new generation of readers and illustrated it with her distinctive graphic-style mixed-media art. Done with a limited palette, the intense visual elements complement the high drama of the plot, and the detail and use of perspective are exquisite. There are many other picture book versions of this story, yet Yoon brings a fresh look and an accessible narrative. VERDICT This imaginative and appealing interpretation of the classic story is a must-have for any fairy-tale collection.—Kris Hickey, Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH

School Library Journal

2016-10-08
Relief-print illustrations in red and black give this retelling of Andersen’s unhappy love story between a one-legged tin soldier and a ballerina doll a particularly dark edge.Yoon makes only minor changes to Andersen’s narrative, but her choices for color and imagery add naturalistic, even brutal notes. These are highlighted by the soldier’s encounters with a nightmarish jack-in-the-box “troll” and a huge, vicious sewer rat, followed by his later rediscovery amid the guts and gore of a fish being chopped up for the stew pot. Mirroring the soldier, the ballerina, frozen in midpirouette, is angled throughout so that only one leg is visible. Yoon’s figures are all flat, with fixed eyes and mottled surfaces. The deep black and vivid red color scheme casts a perfervid glare over jumbled settings and piles of antique toys (including, anachronistically, a retro-style robot) and looks particularly hellish in the depiction of the flames in which the lovers are climactically united…for an instant. Or maybe that’s supposed to be the consuming flames of love? This is not recommended for bedtime reading. A disturbing but, considering the storyline, entirely justified interpretation. (Picture book. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews