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 All About Art
Hans Christian Andersen's Magical Fairy Tales
published: April 2007
By Tamar Burris, Contributing Writer
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Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author who wrote many of our favorite fairy tales.
Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805, the child of a poor shoemaker. As a boy, Hans had a vivid imagination and loved literature. He spent much of his youth putting on puppet shows based on famous plays. When Hans was still young, his father died, forcing Hans to work to support his family. He apprenticed as a weaver and a tailor before leaving home at 14 to pursue an acting career in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
 Hans had little luck on stage and turned instead to writing. But Hans was lucky in other ways. He published his first story, and he also met some very wealthy men while working in theater, including the king of Denmark! These patrons paid for Hans to attend grammar school, and so Hans went back to school for several years. But, instead of enjoying himself, Hans was miserable. He was older than the other students and was tall and awkward-looking, which made him feel like an outcast. He was also dyslexic and had difficulty keeping up. However, his feelings about being different helped him create some of his best-known fairy tales, including The Ugly Duckling.
Hans published several works of poetry and stories before releasing his first novel in 1935. The book was an instant hit, and that same year, Hans published his first work of fairy tales. While the fairy tales were not an immediate success, they steadily gained in popularity, and Hans put out two more treasured volumes in 1838 and in 1845. He continued to publish his large collection of fairy tales in installments until 1872, and over the years, these stories became more and more celebrated.
By the time of his death in 1875, Hans had become a well-known author. His fairy tales continue to delight kids and adults alike, and his birthday is celebrated around the world as International Childrens Book Day.
Written by Tamar Burris, a former elementary school teacher who now works as a freelance writer and curriculum developer for PBS, the Discovery Channel and other education-related companies. Sources: Andersen Fairy Tales, www.andersenfairytales.com; Fairy Tales Collection: Hans Christian Andersen, www.fairytalescollection.com; Wikipedia, Hans Christian Andersen, en.wikipedia.org.
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