The Steadfast Tin Soldier and The Princess & The Pea

Classic Treasury 2 Hans Andersen Fairy Tales #5

by Hans Anderson

Retelling of the classic Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales.

18 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Caitlin Lichtenberg]

The Steadfast Tin solider by Hans Christian Andersen was indeed a strange fairy tale. Nothing about the story made sense; everything seemed just totally random. The characters weren't connected well to the plot. For instance, there's a wizard who gets mad at the soldier for looking at the ballerina. But why? And is he really magical? Because he casts a "spell" on the solider, supposedly, but the events that follow aren't directly related to the wizard's curse. When something bad happens to the tin solider, it is made clear that no one is for sure whether it's the wizard's fault or if it's just random chance.
The message of the solider being steadfast is heroic by itself, but he doesn't do anything heroic remotely. He just stands still and "steadfast." There isn't much depth to the story at all. Everything happens by chance; there is no force of good or evil at work.
This is definitely not my favorite fairy tale.

[Breanne Driesel]

This was my favorite one today and the reason being is because I loved how adorable it was! It was a great story of love and bravery. The thing I found interesting was that he wanted the balarina to be there so he could be braver, but he was brave enough to make it back. I really enjoyed the pictures as well.

[Haley Phelps]

I thought this fairy tale was very different. Its art was beautiful but the plot didn't seem like a fairy tale to me. In the end he and his love (the ballerina die). I mean what kind of an ending is that?

[Charles Perkins]

I really liked this book. The ending is kind of sad when you look at the outcome of the soldier and the ballerina, but this could be a segue into talking about mythology or something like that to discuss afterlives.

[Amanda Ray]

Cute story.