Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Little Match Girl

by Hans Christian Andersen, Rachel Isadora (Illustrator)

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 7,329 ratings · 251 reviews

The wares of the poor little match girl illuminate her cold world, bringing some beauty to her brief, tragic life.

Paperback, 32 pages

Published 2003 by Scholastic, Inc. (first published 1845)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Most Depressing Book of all time

13th out of 675 books — 2,036 voters

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

Favorite Christmas Books

10th out of 391 books — 556 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Sep 30, 2009 Abigail rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fairy-Tale Lovers / Rachel Isadora Fans

Shelves: andersen, fairy-tales, folklore-mythology, picture-books, holidays

Review Temporarily Removed.

6 likes · like · see review

Dec 23, 2009 Ceridwen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, grandparental-overshare, christmas

I spent some time looking for the edition my grandmother read to me as a child, but I eventually realized that whatever she read from – probably a collection of Andersen's stories – had no pictures. They were all in my mind. This astonishes me now, because I can see it all: the girl's blue and black feet, the windows shagged with ice, the Christmas goose and the tree lit, dangerously, by a hundred wax candles, the way those images flicker in the match-light, guttering against the alley wall.

I d...more

20 likes · like · see review

Sep 30, 2009 Abigail rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fairy-Tale Lovers / Jerry Pinkney Fans

Shelves: andersen, fairy-tales, folklore-mythology, picture-books

Review Temporarily Removed.

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 17, 2011 Mia Queen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, kids-just-wanna-have-some-fun, lovely-cover, hadiah

Bagi angkatan 80’an seperti saya di mana jaman SD bacaan hanya berkisar donal bebek, komik Nina dan kumpulan dongeng tentunya nama Hans Christian Andersen melekat kuat di ingatan kita. Kisah tragis gadis korek api, cinta putri duyung yang bertepuk sebelah tangan, perjalanan hidup gadis mungil Thumbelina adalah beberapa karyanya yang sangat terkenal dan sudah diterjemahkan dalam berbagai bahasa di dunia.

Kali ini penerbit Atria mengemas 10 kisah H.C. Andersen dalam satu kumpulan dongeng yang diant...more Bagi angkatan 80’an seperti saya di mana jaman SD bacaan hanya berkisar donal bebek, komik Nina dan kumpulan dongeng tentunya nama Hans Christian Andersen melekat kuat di ingatan kita. Kisah tragis gadis korek api, cinta putri duyung yang bertepuk sebelah tangan, perjalanan hidup gadis mungil Thumbelina adalah beberapa karyanya yang sangat terkenal dan sudah diterjemahkan dalam berbagai bahasa di dunia.

Kali ini penerbit Atria mengemas 10 kisah H.C. Andersen dalam satu kumpulan dongeng yang diantaranya Kisah Cinta Putri Duyung Kecil, Angsa-Angsa Liar, Sang Putri Sejati, Thumbelina, Burung Bulbul, Gadis Korek Api, Ratu Salju, Baju Baru Kaisar, Kisah Rembulan dan yang terakhir Anak Itik Buruk Rupa. Favorit saya gadis korek api,kisah singkat gadis miskin yang hidupnya berakhir karena kedinginan di malam tahun baru. Tragis, sedih tapi entah bagaimana ada nuansa kelegaan dan kegembiraan di sana saat sang gadis bersua dengan arwah neneknya di atas sana. Cerita lain yang juga saya suka adalah kisah cinta putri duyung, sayangnya bayangan Ariel yang hidup happily ever after tak mampu ditepis saat saya membaca kisah yang kisahnya berbeda 180 derajat dari cerita asli karangan Andersen.
Nuansa kelam kerap membayangi dongeng-dongeng Andersen, yang mana awalnya saya merasa aneh juga. Dongeng yang identik dengan story telling dengan target pembaca anak-anak kenapa malah identik dengan nuansa suram. Mau tak mau saya menggoogling kisah hidup H.C. Andersen. Pantas saja. Ternyata perjalanan hidup Andersen yang lahir tahun 1805 bisa dibilang tidak mudah, bakkan cenderung kesepian dan penuh dengan kepahitan. Andersen lahir di keluarga miskin, sang ibu bekerja sebagai buruh dan ayahnya hanya pembuat sepatu miskin dan buta huruf. Khayalannya berkembang sedari kecil karena ibunya sering bercerita tentang dongeng rakyat dan ayahnya yang kerap membawa Andersen menonton sandiwara. Yatim piatu pada usia muda, Andersen bekerja serabutan sampai suatu kali ia bertemu raja Denmark Frederik VI yang kemudian membiayai Andersen sekolah bahasa. Happy ending? Jangan salah karena di sekolah Andersen malah menjadi korban ejekan teman-temannya, selain karena usianya yang terpaut jauh dengan teman sekelasnya, Andersen ternyata pengidap dyslexia. Tamat dari sana, Andersen mengenyam studi di Kopenhagen dan mulai meneruskan hobinya menulis. Kisah cintanya mirip dengan si putri duyung cilik, bertepuk sebelah tangan malah sampai pada akhir hidupnya Andersen tidak menikah sama sekali. Ia meninggal pada tahun 1874 karena sakit.

Every man’s life is a fairy tale, written by God’s fingers, once he said. Mungkin hanya dengan khayalannya dan dengan menulis ia bisa melupakan semua kisah sedih yang terjadi dalam hidupnya. Ia menulis dengan penuh perasaan dan bisa jadi karena itu jugalah dongeng karyanya tak lekang oleh waktu dan masih dapat saya nikmati walaupun sudah lewat ratusan tahun lewat. Luar biasa. Bahkan beberapa waktu lalu Google juga memperingati hari lahirnya dengan doodle Thumbelina selama lima hari berturut-turut.

Bintang 4 untuk keseluruhan cerita dan cover indah hasil karya @curutsalto. Saat nulis review ini saya baru memperhatikan lagi covernya, ternyata latar dari sketsa gadis korek api juga seakan-akan ada tetesan darah baik di sampul depan maupun belakang. Gothic, tragic yet so beautiful!

PS. Kenapa dongeng jaman dulu yang identik dengan anak-anak nuansanya horor bin gothic begini ya? Perasaan cerita dari Grimm bersaudara juga gelap bahkan lebih sadis. Jadi inget diskusi dongeng di thread goodreads yang ternyata serem-serem ceritanya :p

PS lagi, dongen Ratu Salju yang berkisah tentang 2 anak Kay dan Gerda entah kenapa terkesan sangat familiar, sepertinya dulu pernah dibawakan dalam kaset Sanggar Cerita kalau tidak salah. Ring a bell anyone?(less)

3 likes · like · see review

May 24, 2010 Chandra rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: picture-books, christmas-holiday-winter, hc-andersen

I'm a big HC Andersen fan, but this just isn't a favorite. I personally love tragic and disturbing so I'm really not sure what the disconnect is. But even though it's not a personal hit I would still recommend it for sharing with children who have an appreciation for melodrama. This is one of those stories that seems to really enthrall some children - taking root in their subconscious and helping them contemplate realities different from their own. But, I'm just a grown up fuddy duddy and it jus...more

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 12, 2011 Amy Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: younger-readers, favorites

Use to read this book all the time when I was a child... even though it always made me cry.

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 28, 2011 Fanda VIXXIO rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-sale

Ternyata dongeng itu terasa begitu memukau saat kau masih kecil, ketika pemikiranmu masih sederhana dan belum banyak dipenuhi oleh kehidupan nyata. Saat aku membaca kumpulan dongeng ini lagi saat ini, "mantra ajaib" yang dulu memukauku sudah pudar. Meski ceritanya tetap sama, aku merasa hambar saja.

Aku belum sempat membaca keseluruhan 10 (kalau tak salah) dongeng yang ada. Hanya Gadis Korek Api (favoritku waktu kecil--tapi kok singkat banget ya disini?), lalu Putri Duyung Kecil, Kisah Burung Bul...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 25, 2013 Valerie added it · review of another edition

I'm sure I have seen a standalone book of this story, but I'm also pretty sure this isn't it. But not absolutely sure, because I think I got it from a library, and many libraries remove the dustcovers.

Like many people, I first read this story as a small child, and I think in a collection of fairy tales and folk tales. If you've ever read the Brothers Grimm version of traditional stories, you'll find any number of grotesqueries. For example, in the Grimm version of Cinderella, the stepsisters, ur...more I'm sure I have seen a standalone book of this story, but I'm also pretty sure this isn't it. But not absolutely sure, because I think I got it from a library, and many libraries remove the dustcovers.

Like many people, I first read this story as a small child, and I think in a collection of fairy tales and folk tales. If you've ever read the Brothers Grimm version of traditional stories, you'll find any number of grotesqueries. For example, in the Grimm version of Cinderella, the stepsisters, urged on by their mother, literally cut off parts of their feet in an attempt to fit into the shoe.

Andersen didn't have a reputation for such vicious satire. Many of his stories are depressing (he apparently struggled with depression most of his life), and some have a little of the abusive behavior found in many more traditional stories.

This story is probably the most harrowing. The Little Match Girl is so relentlessly shut out of society, people tend to use terms like 'Dickensian'. But there's a difference. Dickens was far from being irreligious. He would be the last to deny that the Little Match Girl would be recompensed in Heaven for all she didn't have in this world. He might even have signed on to a dying girl being granted what amount to palliative hallucinations. Other authors have done the same sort of thing.

But Dickens was always a reformer. He wouldn't have considered it any kind of solution to have the child get her reward only in the afterlife. He would try to make it clear that it's just not sufficient; he would have depicted these awful stories in the hope of getting people motivated: to form commissions, and start clothing drives, and reform the Child Labor Laws, and establish foster care, and, and, and...

Not to say he necessarily expected to succeed. But Andersen apparently didn't think of even trying. The best remedy for the Little Match Girl is not that she gets to go home in her dead grandmother's arms. She'll come to that some day, but it should be long in coming. The whole time I was reading the story, even the first time, I was waiting for the rescue. For somebody to see the girl and realize how terribly she needed help, and HELP her. Even at the first reading, I remember thinking that the resolution fell flat. (less)

like · see review

Jan 23, 2013 Somerandom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Okay, I admit, I cried buckets after this tale. I remember it as a child and always felt sad for the girl.
Oh and if you haven't already, you people have to watch the Disney/Pixar cartoon interpretation from like 2004(?) It's surprisingly accurate and so SAD!!!!!!!! D'=

I am thankful there were people like Hans Christian Andersen (and all the other Fairy Tales, for that matter) in my life as a child. His books don't always have a "happily ever after" and despite his penchant for bringing inanimat...more

like · see review

Mar 24, 2012 Rain ~miss kinky knickers~ added it

I simply cannot bring myself to rate this.
It's one of those bedtime stories from my childhood, that were read to me repeatedly, and that stayed carved in my memory for good.

Only, this particular one is kind of an issue for me.
When you're a kid - three or four years old - you're bound to enjoy the numerous fairy tales, and think about... well, fairies, and princes, and frogs, and villains, and magic, and God knows what else. And it's great. Almost everything is great at that age, but still...

Anyw...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 10, 2009 SallySnowtiger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: traditional-literature

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Little Match Girl
Grades 1-4
Traditional Literature

The author and illustrator, Jerry Pinkney, is credited on the inside and back cover for the Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustration, three-time Caldecott Honor Medalist, and four time winner of the Coretta Scott King awards as just a few of his accomplishments. Hans Christian Andersen is credited for the story on the inside cover, about the poor Danish girl who froze to death during the nineteenth century. Pinkney’s illustrations appear...more The Little Match Girl
Grades 1-4
Traditional Literature

The author and illustrator, Jerry Pinkney, is credited on the inside and back cover for the Hans Christian Andersen Award for illustration, three-time Caldecott Honor Medalist, and four time winner of the Coretta Scott King awards as just a few of his accomplishments. Hans Christian Andersen is credited for the story on the inside cover, about the poor Danish girl who froze to death during the nineteenth century. Pinkney’s illustrations appear in the style of nineteenth-century paintings, and truly capture the spirit of winter because of his use of darker colors. The text is enclosed in little boxes, and fairly minimal on each page. The story is told in a way that will be easy for children to understand. The author does not use difficult vocabulary words and does not crowd the pages with writing, but tells the story a little at a time over softly painted illustrations. Pinkey really captures the feeling of cold in illustrations depicting the crowds bundled up, clutching on to their hats and coats against the wind and snow. The subject matter in this story is quite dark and sad, which is why despite it being a picture book I would say this book is for grades 3-4. Children in grades 1-2 might not enjoy a story where there is no castle, prince on a white horse, or fairy godmother stepping in to rescue a homeless girl who ran away from home to escape an abusive father, and who tragically freezes to death on New Year’s Eve. The social issues of abuse, neglect, poverty and homelessness raised in this book were a problem in Andersen’s day and still are in the present day, which makes this story a good way to introduce students to lessons related to poverty and social issues during the nineteenth century. I would not, however, say this book would rank high in child appeal for children below age seven because young children tend to like stories with a happy ending, and therefore might not be emotionally or academically ready to understand the social issues in this tragic tale.

Language Arts/Social Studies/Social Emotional Learning

Grades 1-4

Read aloud as an introduction to social studies lessons about poverty during the nineteenth century and poverty now. This book can be used for social emotional learning because it would help students learn the importance of being empathetic towards the homeless, and they can start a project through a school funded organization that helps raise money for the poor.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Feb 02, 2012 bakanekonomama rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: anak-anak, klasik, fantasi

Saya selalu menyukai kisah dongeng maupun legenda. Kisah-kisah semacam itu biasanya penuh dengan hal-hal yang menggugah imajinasi dan juga rasa ingin tahu saya. Begitu juga ketika saya membaca buku ini. Saya menyimpan harapan besar untuk dapat menikmati setiap kisah yang tertulis di tiap lembarnya, tapi ternyata saya salah...

Buku yang baru saja saya baca berjudul "Gadis Korek Api dan Dongeng-dongeng lainnya" yang ditulis oleh bapak dongeng dunia, Hans Christian Andersen. Beberapa kisah dalam buk...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 30, 2012 Dolly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: parents reading with their children

Shelves: 2012, childrens, denmark

This is a heartbreaking story about a little girl who freezes to death on New Year's Eve. I had never read the story before (and didn't preview it first), so we were all a bit surprised when there wasn't a different ending. I think we've been surrounded by candy coated pat endings in stories and on television for far too long!

The fact that she is warmed by the visions she sees and is brought to heaven in the arms of her beloved grandmother is little comfort. The illustrations by Rachel Isadora ...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 28, 2012 Cassy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-in-2012, children-s-lit, picture-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My mom read this book to me when I was little, always around Christmas time. I remember lovingly looking at the pictures and listening to the story and just sitting in my bed as she read.

****Just so you know, I'm going to tell you the end of the book. But I don't feel so bad about it because it's a picture book and you can go read it in about 2.5 seconds.******

Now that I read it as an adult, I can view it with a little more of a critical eye. The story is still fabulous, don't get me wrong. Han...more

like · see review

Mar 11, 2009 Melody Kephart rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: ANYONE

Recommended to Melody by: my mother

Shelves: lled-catalog

Illustrator: Rachel Isadora
Publisher: Putnam Juvenille
Date of Publication: 1987

Genre: Drama
Reading Level: Ages 4-8, Preschool to 3rd grade. Older children and adults will enjoy this also. It will touch the lives of everyone.

Themes: Fear, Relief, Contentment, Courage
Curricula Use: teach children about tragedy, courage, grace
Social Issues: Poverty

Text and Pictures: Pictures tell the story right along with the text. The Illustrator, Rachel Isadora, used muted blue, gray and brown colors to capture...more

like · see review

Jun 20, 2007 علی rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-books

This is the first of Andersen I've ever read. It was in our school book when I was in 3d class in primary school. We could cry for her, selling matches at Christmas Eve.
دخترک کبریت فروش، یکی از قصه های کتاب فارسی سال سوم دبستان دوره ی ما بود.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 02, 2007 Beth Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-books, picture-books, creepy

I remember this one! I remember being disturbed by it, and I remember my sister performing a play where she WAS the little match girl, and I remember it making me THINK even as a little girl. And for that it deserves credit.

1 like · like · see review

May 05, 2012 Yoel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a short yet remarkable story by a famous storyteller, Hans Christian Andersen. The story is simple, not many characters in there. Only a little girl who sold matches but no one want to buy it. She trapped in the snowstorm on Christmas Day and used the match to warmed her instead of sell it. When she ignited it, she saw miracle... and those miracles bring her to her peaceful death. The next day, people of the town found her lying on the ground, with a smile on her lips, dead. What a tragi...more

like · see review

May 12, 2012 Sheila rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, christmas, classics

This book was mentioned in a group I belong to here on Goodreads, and in the discussion, I realized I had never read this classic children's holiday story by Hans Christian Anderson. So I found a copy online, and read the story.

Not sure how to rate or review it. The story is incredibly depressing and sad, yet there is some beauty in the story. I don't know if I would recommend this for children though. But I imagine the beautiful scenes in the story would be enjoyable to children, and the death...more

like · see review

Jun 16, 2011 Theresa Bartholomew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s, fantasy

She didn't sell any matches that day. This is something that adds to the sadness of the day described in this classic tale written down in history by Hans Christian Andersen. What she sees makes her happy, and in the end the Little Match Girl does find a sort of happiness.

Because it is a classic tale, there are many versions of this book with many different illustrators. In this version, the illustrations help to connect the reader to the character, even though the audience barely knows her. The...more

like · see review

Oct 01, 2012 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children

This book was a childhood Christmas gift. I loved the story so much but couldn't bare to hear it. The story was so upsetting for my young mind that I cherished that book but never had the strength to pick it up or look through it. When Mum offered to read it to me, I declined. Never forgot the story, and repurchased it for my own children. It didn't come as a surprise when each child heard it once, and never wanted to hear it again. Even though the "Little Match Girl", was reunited with her belo...more

like · see review

Oct 15, 2009 Katie Bathke added it · review of another edition

The picture on the front and back cover of the book has a border around it. Just like all of the pages in the book have a border around them. I think maybe the illustrator did these to have consistency with each page. The rest of the pages have words on one page and a picture on the other. It has sort of a rhymn to it. It would be very easy book to read because you would know right where the words were on each page. I think the illustrated did a great job with the colors in the book. She’s using...more

like · see review

Feb 07, 2010 Angela Alcorn marked it as to-read

Shelves: 19th-century, classics, free-ebook, audiobook, kids, kids-3plus, kids-5plus, kids-picture-book, myth-folklore-fable-religion, 21st-century, kids-educational-material, ange-browse-not-owned-or-wished

Project Gutenberg has a free ebook and audiobook of a Hans Christian Andersen book with 18 fairy tales in it.

These are the stories in the Project Gutenberg files:
-- The emperor's new clothes
-- The swineherd
-- The real princess
-- The shoes of fortune
-- The fir tree
-- The snow queen
-- The leap-frog
-- The elderbush
-- The bell
-- The old house
-- The happy family
-- The story of a mother
-- The false collar
-- The shadow
-- The little match girl
-- The dream of little Tuk
-- The naughty bo...more

like · see review

Oct 15, 2009 Lindsey Johnson added it · review of another edition

Shelves: pbgs-3

Grabbing this book and looking at the front of it the girl seems creepy on it. I looked at it for awhile and couldn’t decide if I wanted to read it or not. I did read it and it ended up being an amazing book. I actually wanted to cry because it was sad. The little girl made me think about how this book is true to people who have no place to go. I would say this book is a realistic tale. The pictures were very big and were square on every picture. The illustration was neat and looked like they we...more

like · see review

Feb 04, 2013 Stephanie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I knew the story, as I think we all do. Reading this I am once again reminded of the many stories that we read our children and I wonder at the effects that they may have. Yes, it is a nice story that she get to be with her Grandmother in heaven in the end. But the story is about her freezing to death because she can't go home because her father "will beat her" and so she sits in an ally and slowly freezes to death.

This will not be on the "Must read to Grandchildren (or others)list" at my house....more

like · see review

Nov 01, 2007 Erik09 rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teens

nice dreaming story for teens

1 like · like · see review

Oct 04, 2009 Kara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pbgs-art

This book devotes full pages to pictures, which I love. The medium they use looks like oil paint. They are drawn in a 3rd dimension style, which gives them a realistic feel, and the color is what gives the book meaning. The light in the pictures is something that the little girl covets. So around her is usually dark, and it is only in places she can't go such as inside or only in her dreams with the match does she get to be in the light. The textures are very soft focused and glossy but still sh...more

like · see review

Sep 30, 2009 Abigail rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fairy-Tale Lovers / Anastassija Archipowa Fans

Shelves: andersen, fairy-tales, folklore-mythology, picture-books

Review Temporarily Removed.

1 like · like · see review

Apr 05, 2012 Gretchen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childhood-reads, childrens, fairy-tale

I think Hans Christian Andersen personally victimized me in my childhood. This is another one of his stories that had me sobbing as a child, trying to convince my grandparents that we needed to give money to the homeless orphans to keep them from freezing to death in the streets (not that there were homeless orphans in my extremely small, country hometown, but the story was quite traumatizing when read at a young age). It's stuck with me since. Few can write simple, straightforward tearjerkers a...more

like · see review

Jul 27, 2012 Ðɑηηɑ rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone - it's your initiation ceremony to life!

Shelves: children, 3-stars, pub-1840s, female-protagonist, rgc-finished

My mother used to read it to me from a fairy-tales book we had in my library, when I was around 4 and even later. I think this is one of the most remarkable stories I remember from my childhood, for it was, as far as I remember, so emotional and sad. I cried so much along with the match-girl. The only thing that upsets me, when comes to think about it, is that I can't remember her name. On second thought, no. She did not have a name. It is, as sad as it might already sound, made the story even s...more My mother used to read it to me from a fairy-tales book we had in my library, when I was around 4 and even later. I think this is one of the most remarkable stories I remember from my childhood, for it was, as far as I remember, so emotional and sad. I cried so much along with the match-girl. The only thing that upsets me, when comes to think about it, is that I can't remember her name. On second thought, no. She did not have a name. It is, as sad as it might already sound, made the story even sadder. A lonely girl. We know so little of her, but can already identify with her situation and condition, which are both, terribly, awfully poor. Dying with no title. Dying with no name. Dying with no identity or honor. The worst of the worst, in my opinion.
Dying like you are not human and does not deserve the respect - not even in a holly day: new year's eve. Do you like being a human? Sure. Do you like feeling glorified and beloved? Of course.
But what is human? On the surface, it's any one of us. Good and bad and rich and poor- we are all humans. And humans make mistakes, which they are usually forgiven for. But what if that mistake had to do with the death of another human? Could this be forgiven, forgotten, understood? Well, you'd have to think about it twice before reading The Little Match Girl. Lonely, with no family but... Would you replace your family in distant lights, unreachable? No.
You would risk anything in order to stay human, the way you are, your best form. Because you don't how to be something else. But you're wrong. Only a few of us are actually humans, and deserve this title. Title of endless wisdom and pride and love and tears and laughter. Not anyone can be called "human". But are you one? Probably not. Perhaps a little, book reader, for books are resource of humanity. But think about the next person in the street, think about it: you have a choice. You can be non-human and act with a bit of humanity - which is cherished and beautiful. You can be non-human and act like a monster. Men saw the little match girl. In a holly day, usually people are revealing bits of leftover humanity in them, but not to a little poor girl. She had nothing, not even herself, as for the cold and loneliness and people's darkest hearts took it away from her, and she was unable to reach it. They weren't human to her: No one helped her. And that it, for the simple, mean reason: because, why would you stop a celebration, a new year, and turn the good party mood into a day of sorrow, which you feel when coming in contact with such a poor pathetic helpless little creature?
If you are a rational person, you are probably not the one to care about anybody but yourself. Well, humans are not rational - they are not robots! They are not protected, as in a magic spell, from the cold, physically and mentally. And more important, they are not protected from being completely lonely and helpless! They shall claim their right of love and trust, but as she proved to you - in order to claim something you, need two variables in the equation: one to pledge and ask, and another to hear and give. Well, no one felt like doing something nice for her. Nobody even stopped for a moment to listen, despite everything. And believe me, that wasn't because it was so cold outside. Not even because of the party they were to attend at that time. As I said: they had no reason to stop. And the result, oh, so terrible.
People ignore the less fortunate. People forget that even the poorest man in the world - is fotunate comparing to another, still. Because money cannot solve your real problems and fix your emotions. I wonder, how hadn't they simpathy for the little girl? How could they leave her there?
Never think that this story belong to the past, because it presumably happened in the past, when people had nothing to cover themselves with, no houses and no sympathy. Because as generations go on by and this problem hasn't been asked about and solved - it will not be fixed. Not out of nothing. You need action. You need to take the responsibility and find in yourself the mental strength to let you egoism die and help someone else, who is absolutely at your mercy, begging for you to find her and save her from life's cruelty. It is a lesson we should all internalize.
It certainly broke a string inside me...
Welcome to life.(less)

1 like · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (61)

More editions...

Genres

Classics

104 users

Childrens

103 users

Childrens > Picture Books

71 users

Holiday > Christmas

48 users

Fantasy > Fairy Tales

41 users

Fantasy

17 users

Short Stories

14 users

Literature > 19th Century

10 users

European Literature > Danish

10 users

Holiday

9 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen, or simply H.C. Andersen, was a Danish author and poet, most famous for his fairy tales. Among his best-known stories "The Snow Queen", "The Little Mermaid", "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Ugly Duckling". During Andersen's lifetime he was feted by royalty and acclaimed as having brought joy to children across Europe. His fairy tales have been translated into well over...more

More about Hans Christian Andersen...

Books by Hans Christian Andersen

The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Den lille piken m...

2 trivia questions
2 quizzes

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Little Match Girl

“Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of fire. “Someone is dying,” thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had ever loved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a star falls, a soul was going up to God.” — 81 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Little Match Girl
avg rating	preview: The Little Match Girl Goodreads rating: 4.01 (7329 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/342994.The_Little_Match_Girl?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1254321582l/342994.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/342994.The_Little_Match_Girl?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen[/url]

The Little Match Girl

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website