Best Fairy Tales (Macmillan Collector's Library)

Hans Christian Andersen was the profoundly imaginative writer and storyteller who revolutionized literature for children. He game us the now standard versions of some traditional fairy tales - with an anarchic twist - but many of his most famous tales sprang directly from his imagination.

The thirty-two stories here range from exuberant early works such as "The Tinderbox" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" through poignant masterpieces such as "The Little Mermaid," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling," to more subversive later tales such as "The Ice Maiden" and "The Dryad." Uniquely inventive and vivacious in style, and with deep insight into children's points of view, Andersen established a new genre in literature.

This is the classic translation by Jean Hersholt.