Hans was not the most skilled comparing to the super detailed silhouettes (see page 61) but certainly incredible and creative in sharing his very impressive talent (see page 58 and other samples in book) ( )

Though the book reads somewhat like a biography of Hans Christian Anderson, the text focuses on a more obscure talent of Anderson's--the art of paper cutting. We know Anderson was a skilled story teller; what I did not know until I read this book was Anderson's ability to cut his story out of paper. Using photographs of the existing paper cuttings, Brust shares how many of the existing pieces came into being: Anderson would tell stories for children while he stayed in their homes, and as he told the story, he would cut paper in particular places. When he finished the story, he unfolded the paper to reveal intricate artwork. I enjoyed the use of pictures in the text; it would be difficult to appreciate Anderson's skill with scissors without the photographs.

I could easily use this book in a nonfiction unit for a middle school ELA course or an early high school ELA course. I would use it to teach the research and writing processes, since Brust takes a familiar topic, Hans Christian Anderson, and then shares something the audience likely does not know about the topic. I could have students take a familiar historical figure and use the research process to write about a lesser-known area of his or her life. ( )