The Glass Heart

by Sally Gardner

The story of three princesses with glass hearts is told by Sally Gardner in her own original and uniquely appealing way. With a glittering heart on the cover and stunning artwork, this truly exquisite picture book is set in the Venice of fairy tale.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2001

About the author

AKA Wray Delaney

Sally Gardner grew up and still lives in London. Being dyslexic, she did not learn to read or write until she was fourteen and had been thrown out of several schools, labeled unteachable, and sent to a school for maladjusted children. Despite this, she gained a degree with highest honors at a leading London art college, followed by a scholarship to a theater school, and then went on to become a very successful costume designer, working on some notable productions.

After the births of twin daughters and a son, she started first to illustrate and then to write picture books and chapter books, usually with fairytale- or otherwise magical subject matter. She has been called 'an idiosyncratic genius' by London’s Sunday Times.

Reviews

[Lauren Qi · Rating 5 out of 5]

immaculate vibes

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

starting 2023 off right

[Roseby Valencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never thought it's possible to swoon over a children's book... no... it's not a children's book. 😅😅😅... 2nd princess rocks! I feel u... 😅🤣😂

[The Styling Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Glass Heart – A Tale of Three Princesses by Sally Gardner – What a beautiful story- reminds me of a folk tale. Love the setting in Italy. My favorite line in the book is: “Sometimes hearts with cracks last even longer than hearts without…”

[Ange · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are simply stunning. There is so much too look at in The Glass Heart, which makes it a great pity that the story is not quite up to the same standard. Frankly, the story is a little weird. The first Princess with a glass heart dies because the Prince she admires does not even look at her. When the second Princess sniffs a beautiful rose her glass heart cracks and she spends the rest of her life on a sofa. The third Princess finds a likely candidate for a husband who is not a Prince but he does have hands like velvet and is willing to prove himself by learning how to blow glass (and care for the glass blower's children) for three years. Strange indeed. On the whole the book has the feeling of the story being written to fit the illustrations rather than the other way around.

[Isobel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The moral of the story is about the power of love; a broken heart can be fixed if a man truly loves a women. The part of the story of the princess dropping dead symbolises that if a man does not pay attention to a women their heart will break and they will be heart broken. But if a heart is cracked due to love it can still mend from the love of people. A heart can still whole and not become cracked if a man loves a women enough, the third princesse’s heart stayed strong because a man tried to become worthy for the princess by learning about how to make glass and look after children, he had proved to her that he had a good heart that would be good for her hand in marriage and good throughout the rest of her life they spent together.

Picture book - I liked the beautiful illustrations in the book showing Venice and the people. But I did think the book had a strange plot but a powerful message about love.

[Benjamin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story and the grammar used would be good in Year 3, but it just wasn't a spectacular story. The illustrations are lovely however.

[Gabriel Alexandru · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5,⭐.

[Andreea · Rating 4 out of 5]

childhood read

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A delightful fairytale for children all about the fragility and strength of the human heart.

[Irina Trancă · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely story! There are moments when I really like to read children stories, and this one is great, it is full of sensibility. And lovely pictures :D

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE this book. It is a picture book, but the illustrations are amazing!

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book when I was younger and the illustrations are beautiful