Matchless: An Illumination Of Hans Christian Andersen's Classic "The Little Match Girl" - Plot & Excerpts
Written and Illustrated by Gregory Maguire TO GERALDINE FEGAN and to the thousands of school and public librarians who work to keep the library lamps burning during dark times PART ONE ON AN ISLAND so far north that it snowed from September to April, a boy named Frederik kept himself warm by keeping a secret. SOME MORNINGS the top of the water in the kitchen jug had frozen into a disc of ice. Frederik had to smash it with a wooden spoon. He piled the pieces of ice in a saucer, reminded of the way that harbor ice broke up in a thaw. Small ice made musical clinking sounds; large ice groaned like his mother. “Not dawn, not yet!” she protested through her morning congestion. “The troubles of another day come to haunt me. Where are you, my sweet ginger biscuit?” “I’m making your tea to warm you up,” replied Frederik. HE HURRIED to light the kitchen fire. Money was scarce, and this was the last match until his mother could afford to buy more, so he struck it carefully. The warmth on his fingers made him want—quick—to use them to make something clever before they became stiff with cold again.
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