This is a beautiful rendition of the Hans Christian Andersen tale of Thumbelina. It’s been so long since I read the the story that this was fresh and new. What really makes this book stand out are it’s illustrations. They are a soft art that matches the idea of a girl no bigger than your thumb. Overall the book is a success.

Lovely little story. My son loved sitting listening to me reading it to him. This is the targeted audience your after and it was a hit

This retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's story just didn't work for me. I'm not sure if the original would work for me, either, since it seems to be a very dated, sexist story. Every male in the book wants to own or marry Thumbelina (which is creepier still because she's portrayed as a little girl).

We're told her mother was very "kind" to her, but she kept her daughter in a box with a lid (and no air holes that I could see). Her mother wasn't the brightest bulb, though, as she complained about not being able to have children. As far as I could tell, she was a single woman, so it wasn't any wonder she wasn't getting pregnant! (Somebody neglected to have "the talk" with her, I guess.)

It's too bad this particular story was chosen for a retelling, because the illustrations are really pretty. They're probably the only thing I liked about this book. I don't think I'd give it to a child, simply because of the problematic messages of women as property and needing to be saved by a man.

Beautiful artwork and an interesting story came together but ultimately felt a little too long and emotionally void in its actual objective.

Thank you Netgalley for this copy.
This book is a re-interpretation of Thumbelina, which is lovely. Iove all tge fairy tales. I think that the illustrations are more than great making the story even more lovely.

For those who don’t know the classic story or need a recap, a lonely woman wishes for a child and gets a seed instead, which grows into a flower that gestates a tiny girl, who’s born fully dressed. After a happy time with her mom in their house, she gets kidnapped by a mother toad, which leads the little one on a long ride of adventures in the outside world. After some good times and bad times she finds herself in the perfect situation and goes to visit her mother, though the fact that Mom must have agonized about her missing daughter is curiously glossed over.
On the first page there’s a huge empty space and really tiny text. Annoying. The situation does not improve.
Little Thumbelina is drawn adorably on every page, though in somewhat of a 20s flapper style. It’s meant to be more stylish than anything else, and probably owes something to the illustrations from Lewis Carroll’s books.

I felt that the beginning of the story felt almost magical, but then it started to unravel. The story was out of sequence (and that could be the way the file download onto my reading device) but I couldn't find a clear message that story was trying to get across.

I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

Brave Thumbelina
by An Leysen
Clavis Publishing

"Brave Thumbelina" is an re-imagining of the Thumbelina fairy tale. The book attempts to strike a balance between traditional prince-saves-girl stories and modern fairy tales that portray the female protagonist as being strong and independent. The failure of this book to adequately strike this balance, especially in the scenes with the mole, may be a function of the source material. Due to the relatively dark themes explored by this book, it is best suited for children aged 6-8, but clever parents of younger kids may be able to successfully edit out the darker parts.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Lovely illustrations for this retelling of Andersen's classic tale. Not much changed from his version but it's a nice edition for the young ones. Appreciated that Thumbelina returns to visit her mother!

'Brave Thumbelina' by Hans Christian Andersen with adaptation and illustrations by An Leysen is a beautiful picture book of a strange fairy tale.

A woman dreams of having a child. She plants a flower and a tiny child is born. Everything is fine and she sleeps in a tiny box, until she is stolen one night and given in marriage to an ugly frog. What follows are a series of strange matches until Thumbelina finds the perfect match.

I love Hans Christian Andersen, but his stories can be so weird. This one is no exception: a young girl is born and the only reason seems to be as a series of potential brides.

The illustrations are solid, though. An Leysen has a style I really like and this book is no exception. There are some black and white illustrations throughout the book as well as full color. The color palette is softer and pastel and fits well with the drawings.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Clavis Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

I'll thank this book for pointing out that – in living memory – I had never read a version of Thumbelina. My flaw corrected, I can find little flaws in this book, for it's a delightful thing, even when half the artwork in my proof was only pencil and not the full-on, coloured article. The childless woman and the title character herself are absolutely beautiful, and the whole thing is winsome. As to the story itself, it's a girl-friendly fantasy of a tiny character who waits and holds out for what she really wants. I can see right-wingers calling it a lesson against miscegenation, bizarrely – the Aryan-looking young girl escapes the entrapping toad and the darkness of the mole for something much more like her own kind, after all. But I shouldn't be reading such interpretations into this, which is a lovely and well-presented version of the tale. Perhaps there could have been a bit more sprightliness to the telling, but visually at least this book is a strong four stars. You certainly don't have to be brave to risk buying this...

I haven’t read Thumbelina for years, so this was a sweet story to revisit.

Coming back to it after so long, I’d forgotten how strange the premise is!

The illustrations in this version are a little different, and – possibly – paint the characters as a little more childlike, which is especially obvious at the end, when Thumbelina meets the boy (rather than man) like her.

Naturally, this would be a much better read in paperback form than the ebook I read it as.

One thing: I’m absolutely shocked by some of the reviews I’ve read. It seems many people haven’t heard of Thumbelina, and think it’s a new story written to give girls a new heroine! No, folks. Hans Christian Andersen wrote it in 1835!!

I Loved this book. The story is told beautifully and I loved the illustrations. I can’t wait to read it to my granddaughters.

First of all, I loved the illustrations in Brave Thumbelina by An Leysen. The art work was clear but imaginative at the same time. I shared the story with my four-year-old granddaughter who was not familiar with Hans Christian Andersen’s tale. She loved the little girl but couldn’t exactly see why animals kept wanting to marry her. Still after reading three different books, she said Thumbelina was her favorite.

Thumbelina is brave, so the title fits the story. We looked at the many animal characters, the ones who interacted with Thumbelina. The lack of concern for Thumbelina’s wishes is evident in the some of the characters, which is not so different from people who are selfish. We found a lesson here, be a giver not a taker. Going home was a big question for my granddaughter, who kept asking, “When will she see her Mother again?” A star for this story answering that very question.

4.5 Stars
The publisher through Net Galley provided a digital ARC. I have voluntarily decided to read and review, giving my personal opinions and thoughts.

Brave Thumbelina is an absolutely beautiful book. The illustrations are gorgeous and done in a way that seem absolutely magical and for the age range 5 and up, that is important.

With a title like "Brave Thumbelina," I expected this to be a retelling or to have a little bit of a twist to it, but the plot was pretty standard to the original H.C. Anderson as far as I remember it. That's okay with me, as I like the original, but given the title, I did expect something different.

Loved it - thank you for sharing this ARC with me!

Ever since I was little, I have loved reading fairy tales. The story of Thumbelina holds a special place in my heart as this was one of my favourites as a child. Thus, when I got the opportunity to read an early copy of An Leysen’s BRAVE THUMBELINA, I couldn’t say no, even though children’s books aren’t the usual books I review.

Firstly I want to start by saying that the illustrations in this book are gorgeous. I received an e-copy of this book and after opening it on my kindle, I switched to my kindle app so I could view the illustrations in colour. These drawings really add a special magic to the story.

This book is aimed at readers aged 5 and older, and the language and writing style certainly seemed appropriate for that readership. The story itself is well-written, though the plot doesn’t differ much from the traditional story of Thumbelina, so it didn’t seem as much of a “retelling” as it could have been. It essentially was the Thumbelina story that most people know.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it and it felt magical reading it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy.

This is the standard story of Thumbelina, at least as far as I remember it (not a retelling), so the main reason to read it is the gorgeous illustrations, which really are very lovely. Don't expect a new story though.

I was so excited to read this retelling of Thumbelina. I've always been a huge fan of H.C. Andersen, so it's alwyas fun to read retellings of his stories.
However, when I read the story, it wasn't really a retelling, it was basically just the same story. That being said it's still a great story and the illustrations were absolutely incredible!
The pacing in the book was fast-based, but suitable for kids, the font size a bit small for a children's book though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

*thank you to Netgalley and Clavis Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.

I was interested in this because I had read that it was a retelling to the original story, Thumbelina. But unfortunately it's not. It's just basically the same story. But with saying that I still really enjoyed it. I found the illustrations to be absolutely amazing. Just simply stunning that I felt almost like crying. That's how much I loved them! I would buy this book just for the illustrations alone and I would also buy it because this versions illustrations are better than any other I've so far seen.

First off, I'm a huge fan of anything related to Hans Christian Andersen. The stories that he created truly transcend way beyond his time. They, at least to me, always have a life lesson in them and even though they usually end on a more sad note, they still stick in your memory years later. I love fairy tales, as a kid and even now and probably will when I'm in my late years. So, when I saw a re-make of one of his famous stories, I simply had to read it.

Now, overall I liked it. There are great characters, plot and you simply get a nice feeling when reading this story. But since this book is meant for ages 5 and up, I'm not so sure how they'd like the font. To me, it was too small and children usually like bigger and more simpler fonts. So you could say that I wasn't a big fan of the authors choice in regards to that. Also, and some might call me a picky reader, there were times when I wished for a better execution of the art. Again, overall it's great, but in some pages I wished for a better detail (especially with eyes). I know that the children won't mind it...but I do...

Now, the fact that this time around the main character is a girl and not a boy is a nice change. I enjoyed that. And I also liked the ending. You could say that it's a nice re-make. But for me Hans Christian Andersen is Hans Christian Andersen. And he's one of the greatest fairy tale writers that I know of. So while I might've enjoyed this story, I'd still prefer one of his originals.