The Little Match Girl

An unnamed girl is sent out into the cold by her abusive father to sell matches. He beats her whenever she fails to bring in a satisfactory income for her work.

One night, after a day of no sales, the child, frozen to the bone, lights a match. A glorious vision of a Christmas tree appears. The vision fades away when the match burns out. The second match the girl lights shows a Christmas feast. This feast of illusions dies too, with the match.

The third time she lights a match, her beloved, deceased grandmother appears. The girl runs to her, never to return to the cold again. The next morning she is found frozen to death in the snow.

This story gets to me 100% of the time. To this day it makes me get misty eyed. It is truly the saddest Christmas story I have ever come across.


Heart wrenching, but really important   October 30, 2000
Mark Grindell (Shipley,West Yorkshire)
21 out of 22 found this review helpful

Everyone need to hear this. Even if you find afterwards you can't breathe for a moment, and you find yourself stumbling in a haze of tears and grief. I don't think that we were ever told that we would be spared such things if they would bring good.

The whole point of this story is to bring the searchlight of compassion and charity into the heart. Too often we tend to think ourselves poor. In Andersons day we would all be considered rich compared with most of those about. And fortunate. We are enlightened enough (at least in Britain) to help people with no jobs and who don't quite know what to do next.

This is quite a stern message and a wake up call to everyone. Perhaps it is the very sternest message which can be given to some people. It is very, very sad, but you have to remember that the girl does reach paradise, as do many every day, and if this is too sad, then, well, there is no answer beyond the consolations of heaven.

The story speaks much about the sanctity of human life on earth, and I suspect that this will become a more pointed message in the Western World as time goes on this century. If death happens in this way, if there is ANY possibility of this happening in your city (there is in the one I am in, but small), we should be listening to Christ:

"I was hungry and you gave me no meat, thirsty and you gave me no drink, naked, and ye clothed me not, sick.. and in prison.. and ye visited me not..."

We .. I .. should be there, aware that once the beggars were once little boys and girls, who have now grown old. SOme have lost their parents, some have lost other things, but they should not be forgotten. This winter it might be very cold.


"The Little Match Girl "   October 8, 2005
Marda V. Barton (Seattle, Wa)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

"The Little Match Girl" by Hans Christen Andersen was the first book I read as a child that affected me profoundly. I was able to make a personal connection to the text because I too was a young girl who was impoverished at the time. I knew what it felt like to be cold and hungry and I related immediately to the main character.

I came away from reading this book with empathy, sympathy, and knowing the truth: Not everyone has been blessed with having their basic needs met. In addition, I experienced a great joy when her grandmother takes her up to heaven to a better comforting place.

I came away with the concept that death was not something to be feared or a bad thing, but something that might be comforting and
positive. I have always loved this book. Because even as a child who was struggling I too had many things to be thankful for in comparison to what the little match girl had. The underlying message is powerful and real.


My Favorite Book   March 14, 2004
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This book is very sad, but it has beautiful pictures. It can make young children cry at some times. This girl had to sell matches, and if she didn't she couldn't go home because her father would beat her. It took place at Christmas time, so it was very, very cold. The little girl sat between two houses and lit a match. The first match lit up a big iron stove. The next match revealed a beautiful Christmas dinner. The last one revealed a beautiful Christmas tree. This story is one of my favorite stories because it has beautiful drawings and it teaches you a lesson. The lesson is that some people don't have it as good as you so you should always help them.


The Little Match Girl Review   March 13, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This was the tale of a poor young girl that was trying to sale matches to people on the streets to make money to keep her family warm. One night she went out and was told by her father not to return without selling all the matches she had. No one wanted to buy any matches and she didn't want to go home because she was afraid that her father was hit her. She decided to curl up on the street corner and light some matches to try and stay warm. When she lit the matches magical things happened. She saw really pleasant things within the flames. In one of them she saw a great feast and all her family together. In another match she lit she saw images of her grandmother and this was something that she really treasured so she lit the rest of them to see if she could see the images of her grandmother again. This time it was like her grandmother was right there with her. All of the sudden something happen, she had a warm feeling and she flew off with her grandmother to heaven.
This is a really great story. It is very sad but it is one of my favorite tails. The way that the images in the matches are described are great and you really get a feeling of the cold and what the girl is feeling. There were great pictured to accompany the story. When the end of the story comes around and she is flying off with her grandmother I have more of a feeling of happiness because she is now happy up in heaven with her grandmother. I think the author got across a great array of emotions within this book and the book is one that you could read over many time and still have that feeling time and time again.