On the last night of December, a little girl huddles in the bitter cold, unable to go home until she has sold her bundle of matches. One by one, she lights the matches to keep warm, and, as each match lights, the girl's cold, gray world dissolves into visions of light and warmth. Isadora's luminous paintings tell this classic story of a valiant spirit set free at last. Full-color illustrations.
The luminous art of three-time Caldecott Honor recipient Jerry Pinkney transforms the nineteenth-century Danish girl of Andersen's tale into a child plucked straight from America's melting pot, shedding new light on the invisibility of the poor among the prosperous-a circumstance as familiar in Andersen's day as it is in our own.

" A] beautifully illustrated version of a classic tale."(Booklist, starred review)