The Steadfast Tin Soldier - Hardcover

Grade 1-3-- Either the hegemony of the Disney house, or the reluctance of an artist to sign rough drafts, has prevented any individual from being identified or credited for the ``illustrations from the Disney Archives'' used here. Instead of finished stills, the pictures are for the most part crude chalk sketches. The unattractive dancer recalls a Barbie prototype, and the flat-faced soldier is characterless. The pictures seem to have been composed for a storyboard, not a book. The text has been significantly altered, with small items added to fit the Disneyfied story: cliche (``. . . light at the end of the tunnel''), the imp made responsible for the soldier's misadventures, and a quite un-Andersenian ``Little Engine'' optimism (``I think it's getting easier each time I try . . .''). Several other editions are in print: try Samantha Easton's small-format version, illustrated by Michael Montgomery (Andrews & McMeel, 1991). --Patricia Dooley, Univ . of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.