Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen · 1981
84/100
👍 Worth It
Michael Hague's illustration work is legitimately beautiful — his lavish full-color paintings elevate these nine Andersen classics into a genuine collector's object, not just another fairy tale anthology. The selection covers all the essential tales, and the moral weight of Andersen's storytelling holds up across generations. Parents should preview The Little Match Girl with very young children given its sad ending, but for readers six and up this is one of the handsomest fairy tale volumes available.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: The Little Match Girl involves a child dying; The Little Mermaid involves sacrifice and death — emotionally heavy for very young children; preview recommended. We still scored it 84; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety82
substance86
craft90
originality72
accuracy88
hype78
age-fit80
human-eye88
Penny’s verdict84
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