The Hans Christian Andersen Center

Growing up, I liked to ready fantasy type books. Not the sophisticated types, but ones that were simple, entertaining, and often had a point or lesson in them. Although I found many that were a good read, there was one author's stories that stood out from the others. He was the subject of a Danny Kaye film musical in the 1950's, and he is also the subject of today's Family First Site.

The site is called The Hans Christian Andersen Center and is about, as you have probably guessed, Hans Christian Anderson. He lived in Denmark from 1802 until 1875, and is the author of many of the best known fairy tales and short stories every written. Some of his titles include: "The Emporer's New Clothes", "Thumbellina", "The Little Mermaid" (which was the basis for the same named Disney movie), "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", and "The Ugly Duckling", among others. I remember many of these stories from the Danny Kaye film and the songs that were used to tell the stories. "Thumbellina" was well presented, and was my favorite.

This site provides a wealth of information about Hans Christian Andersen. There is in-depth analysis of all of his writings, including his early poems such as "The Dying Child", plays, and full-lenght novels. There are extensive links that tie all the material together. Translations into English are featured, as well as in the native Danish language. Thare are many biographies, papers, contemporary press stories and more recounting his career. One interesting portion of the website is a greeting from famed entertainer Victor Borge to the Hans Christian Andersen Center, written in 1998.

This is site represents what I feel will be the defacto resource center of the future. No longer wil we be going to the library to research projects or find information about a subject we are interested in. Instead, we'll fire up the old computer and look for sites such as these, ones that are well maintained and provided a wide variety of information.

http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/index_e.html

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