The Book: Matchless: An Illumination of Hans Christian Anderson’s Classic “The Little Match Girl”, by Gregory Maguire

The Story: The first part of this story introduces a young boy who is very poor.  He is struggling to help keep his stove lit at the house that he and his mother share.  It is important that it not go out because they have used their last match.  We are also shown his “escape”.  In his upstairs room, he has used bits and pieces that he’s found in the street to make a little miniature city.  He is always on the lookout for new parts for his little town.

Part Two really is just a retelling of the classic story, The Little Match Girl.  She is trying to sell matches, no one will buy them.  She loses her shoe.  She sits in an alley and lights matches and sees visions.  The author changed very, very little from the original.

The second half shows these stories intertwining in an unexpected and beautiful way.  I’m not even going to give away a smidge!

What I Thought: When I was younger, one of the books that my mom read to us a lot was The Little Match Girl.  I remember once in high school, it was unpacked with our Christmas stuff and was laying on the table.  A friend asked what it was about, so I read it out loud to him.  He cried.  He was like, “How is that a children’s story? Why would parents read that to their children? It is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”  And it is.

This version, while still very sad, adds a little bit of hope with the addition of the boy and his story.

I loved it. I loved how it was written and I loved how the original story was left alone, but that there was still innovation taken to expand the story.

One page I marked and read out loud to my husband. “The family was still hard-pressed for money, and dreamed of savory treats to eat, but they had the warmth of one another, and enough on which to live, and in most parts of the world that is called plenty.” I love that.  Pefection.

Conclusion: If you’ve never heard the original, read it first.  Then read this.  It is really short and easy to read.  You could probably read it standing in the bookstore, but I recommend under a blanket in front of a Christmas tree.