Description
This wintry tale has warmed the hearts of children around the world for almost 200 years. It was written by master storyteller Hans Christian Andersen (1805--1875). The tale describes the amazing adventures of Gerda, who goes off in search of her friend Kay after the Snow Queen takes him away. The illustrations to the book were created by Vladyslav Yerko, a well-known Ukrainian illustrator and recipient of many awards at prestigious art and book fairs. He also received the title "Man of Books" when he was named best artist for 2002 by the Moscow "Book Review." His illustrations became widely known through his work on the books of Paulo Coelho and his work on Andersen's The Snow Queen, which won the Grand Prix award in the "Book of the Year" competition for 2000. Well-known writer Paulo Coelho said of Yerko's The Snow Queen: "This is the most wonderful children's book I've seen in my life.
About the Author
Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, on April 2, 1805. Andersen achieved worldwide fame for writing innovative and influential fairy tales. Many of his stories, including The Snow Queen, "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Princess and the Pea," remain classics of the genre. He died in Copenhagen on August 4, 1875.Andersen's work first gained recognition in 1829, with the publication of a short story entitled "A Journey on Foot from Holmen's Canal to the East Point of Amager." The promising young author won a grant from the king, allowing him to travel across Europe and further develop his body of work. In 1835, Andersen began producing fairy tales. In 1845, English translations of Andersen's folktales and stories began to gain the attention of foreign audiences. Andersen forged a friendship with acclaimed British novelist Charles Dickens, whom he visited in England in 1847 and again a decade later. His stories became English-language classics and had a strong influence on subsequent British children's authors, including A.A. Milne and Beatrix Potter. Over time, Scandinavian audiences discovered Andersen's stories, as did audiences in the United States, Asia and across the globe. In 2006, an amusement park based on his work opened in Shanghai. His stories have been adapted for stage and screen, including a popular animated version of "The Little Mermaid."Vladyslav Yerko is an acclaimed master in Ukrainian graphic arts.Yerko, a member of the Union of Artists of Ukraine, was born in Kyiv. He studied in the Faculty of Book Graphics at the Ivan Fedorov Polygraphic Institute in Kyiv from 1984 to 1990. He worked in film poster design. In 1987 he received the 2nd Award in the Moscow International Poster Competition. He is a laureate of the Lesia Ukrayinka Award. In 1989 he started working in book graphics and illustrated the works of H. C. Andersen, W. Shakespeare, E.T.A. Hoffman, J. Swift, Lewiss Carroll, Paulo Coelho, Richard Bach etc.Nowadays Vladyslav Yerko is the leading Ukrainian maestro of book graphics, the winner of numerous prestigious art and book exhibitions, the holder of the title "Man of Book" as the best artist of 2002 according to the Moscow's "Book Review." His illustrations to the books "Snow Queen," "The Tinderbox," "Child Roland and Other Knight's Tales," "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," "Alice in Wonderland," "Gulliver's Travels" etc won the general recognition. Here is how Paulo Coelho responded on Yerko's "Snow Queen": "It is the most amazing children's book that I have ever seen in my life." The rights to Yerko's books have been acquired by publishers in 15 countries all over the world--from the UK to South Korea and Australia. "The Tales of the Foggy Albion," illustrated by Yerko, won Ukraine's "Book of the Year" award for 2003.
